Nong's Khao Man Gai (Downtown) — Restaurant in Portland

I've died and gone to Bangkok

I must have gotten hit by a car while crossing Burnside Street drunk. Too many breweries on my brewery tour I suppose. I wake from a hazy daze but yet to open my eyes. I hear music, sounds classic from the southeast Asia region. Almost midi-like music like back in the 90s. Wait...am I at a Thai wedding? Something smells delicious. I open my eyes to find myself in a restaurant with a large kitchen flanked to the side and steam coming from a massive vat with a bunch of chickens boiling inside. A glowing backlit sign hangs over the cashier similar to those on on the streets of Bangkok. Only a handful of special items, nothing more.

Yelp is always true...sometimes.

First and foremost, check Yelp, we all know that. Everyone raves about the chicken, but you know what, the pork and rice is better. Not to detract from the juicy skinless chicken, that sauce that has a flavor that you've never tasted before and amazing umami broth it comes with, but that pork is why I came back a second time in my 48 hour trip, I NEVER do that. Twice in one trip just for that dank ass (an expression frequently used by stoners and hippies for something of high quality) pork. This pig must have been God's pet pig because it's perfect in every way, and it was killed just for you to devour its delicious and fatty meat. The rice drenched in some sort of pork broth almost like a stew that comes with a nicely soft boiled egg.

Fugg, I'll see you...

Our destination #1 for food from all the YouTube vlogs/tv travel/food shows recommendation and let me say, it did not disappoint and lived up to the hype!

We ordered the Chicken and Rice (mixed) and it was fantastic!

Whole meal comes simply wrapped in brown paper and once opened, looks pale......totally contrary to the human required colorful food=deliciousness belief. But, there is also the, "don't judge a book by its cover" and in this case, the first bite was IT!!!! BTW, I had already advance knowledge (fr those tv and YouTube vlogs) on how to eat it. So, it was the complete bite. The recommended way? Chicken w/sauce and rice.

Let me say.....that sauce (ginger/garlic?), whatever it was needs to be bottled and sold! Yummy!!!!! It totally made the dish!

It also comes with a clear broth soup, which complemented each bite w/a little sip.

Because this is Food Truck heaven food, my only regret was that there was no seating area (unless we sat by another food truck's provided dining area, which was a no no) so, we ended up eating about a block away, which lessened the food "heat temp". Would have wanted hot coffee instead of the cold coffee. Not their fault, though.

Service was quick and pleasant.

Still......a MUST (!!!!!) when...

To start off, I've been a loyal customer of Nongs for almost 3 years now, I cherish the food and hope to meet Nong one day...

However! I am disappointed in the downtown locations quality and order correctness. I understand that it just reopened, however after a few weeks of being up and running, I also noticed many of the same workers present, i guess i expected more. I do want to add that while I didnt get his name, but the guy who took my order was nice, even gave me a box to hold my food in when requested.

This time around, I ordered a Piset (large) chicken and rice, and a super soup. The chicken wasn't trimmed properly and I had huge chunks of chicken skin, not a huge deal, wiggly skin just makes me squemish. I additionally recieved a normal size, which upset me as the piset size is 16 dollars. The oil from the chili paste got on EVERYTHING because it was placed at the top, tipping, which is why I asked for a box in the first place because the bag had a huge oil stain. Soup was good! Flavor felt a little off from the normal taste, was more bone brothy than normal, lacked some deep flavor.

In the end, I'll make the trip down to Ankeny, they seem to have...