Thai Champa — Restaurant in Portland

Just ordered from here, and they get pretty busy, so I recommend calling ahead.

We got: Cashew Chicken Pad Thai Pad Kee Mao Champa Fried Rice Yellow Curry

Cashew Chicken: Decent flavor, but it was loaded with veggies and onions—perhaps too many.

Pad Thai: It tasted okay, but it lacked the authentic flavor, especially the depth that fish sauce typically adds. It was also a bit dry.

Pad Kee Mao: The flavor was fine, but the ratio of noodles to veggies was off. There was an abundance of veggies and onions, but very few noodles, though the tofu portion was generous.

Champa Fried Rice: Unfortunately, it was really soggy and not enjoyable. The soggy rice overwhelmed the dish. It seems the steamed rice was too dry and undercooked, so they might have added water to soften it, which just made the dish worse.

Yellow Curry: This was probably the only consistent dish, with a good balance of everything. It leans on the sweeter side.

Steamed Rice: Dry and undercooked, with lots of hard pieces. It wasn’t Jasmine rice—it tasted like long-grain white rice.

Although this is a Thai truck, and the dishes came close to taste like Thai flavors, there was something missing. We believe it’s the lack of fish sauce. The seared of the wok, the quality of ingredients.

The gentleman mentioned they don’t use fish sauce, which is unusual since Thai cuisine typically relies on it heavily. Maybe he meant they don't give out fish sauce?

Fortunately, we ate this at home and were able to mix in some chili oil and fish sauce to add more flavor. Without it, the food would have been quite bland.

Overall, I’m surprised by all the 5-star reviews. While the location is convenient and open late, several aspects need improvement, particularly in portion sizes, balance, and the quality of...

I have been eating Thai food for 20+ years and I know exactly how every dish is supposed to taste. I've had bad, mediocre, good and great Thai food in my time. I fly to Portland for no reason at all once a year just to eat here for as many night as I am staying. Believe me when I say this. This is the pinnacle of Thai Food. You cannot find better elsewhere because you can't go any higher. Speaking for the Eggplant, Kra Pow, Pad Kee Mao and Pad See Ew, they cook each dish exactly the way they were originally intented to taste. The sauces are nuanced. The wok they cook from is OLD and seasoned. The Chef knows exactly how long to cook each component of the dish for the perfect noodle and vegetable texture. I don't believe the owners realize that their recipes/food are flawlessly perfect. Portions are also great even with prices going up. You can get good Thai food elsewhere but this is Thai perfected in some random corner of a parkinglot off Burnside in...

Found this little food truck by chance when visiting Portland ~1 year ago. Fast forward to just this last weekend and it was top of my list to try again. They open evenings around 6pm until 2am most every night except Sunday so I had to get my fix on Saturday night. I ordered the chicken pad thai - medium spice (again) and it was amazing. Great flavors, perfect ratio of noodles, chicken and sprouts/carrots. $15 currently. This time I also got mango sticky rice, which was good as well. To be fair, I have traveled around Thailand and also am fairly spoiled with quality Thai food in the Seattle area where I'm from. But the pad thai here is pushing toward my top spot ever.

The owners in the truck were also super nice, playful and seemed like they loved to be cooking great food and interacting with customers. Makes the food even better. I'll be a return customer every time I visit Portland and have spread the word to anyone I talk to when visiting. So definitely...