Pok Pok

My fam and I usually don't try out new restaurants. We stick with the tried-and-true... which usually translates into dim sum. Not that dim sum isn't good, I love dim sum and Portland dim sum >>> Seattle dim sum, but we are not an adventurous family. Which made today even more fun and enjoyable. Today my parents and I ventured to Pok Pok, a highly-rated, hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant in an area of Portland we probably have never been to. I heard about Pok Pok last spring; a few friends and I had planned on trying it out, but were shocked and turned away by a 2 hour dinner wait. So this time around, I was prepared. Went for lunch rather than dinner, went on weekday instead of a weekend, went at a time past the usual lunch hour, AND called ahead to get an estimate on the wait. Even with all that forethought, we still had to sit in the outdoor patio (with outdoor heaters surrounding us). I took a glance inside at the indoor seating, and there were not more than 10 tables each seating 2-4 people, so be warned, Pok Pok is tiny and busy all the time!

Onto the food! Pok Pok isn't your usual Thai restaurant. The dishes are all quite unique, and different from what I have ordered at Thai places in the past. Rather than the build-your-own dish with choices of curry or noodles, chicken or beef, spiciness scale of 1 to 5 stars, Pok Pok has a limited menu. Each dish was accompanied by a short blurb, describing the contents of the dish and what inspired the chef to create the dish. We ordered the Pok Pok Special, Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings, Khao Soi Kai, and Pomegranate Drinking Vinegar as a beverage. Our waiter was quite helpful; since it was our first time at Pok Pok, he described the most popular items (Fish Sauce Wings) and original items on the menu (the Pok Pok Special). Most of the items on the menu are "shared" items, enough for several people. I especially liked how our waiter was friendly, without pressuring us to order more dishes or beverages. He even told us that because of the fast turnaround time from ordering to serving the dish, we could order more food if needed to later.

The Fish Sauce Wings were simply delicious... and spicy! We tried the spicy version, where the wings was rolled with a chili-type sauce. Being a spice-wimp as usual, I could only finish one wing. It's the kind of spicy where at first you don't think it's so bad, but it just gets hotter and hotter! I will order the non-spicy version next time, which comes with the spicy sauce on the side for the more daring among us. But my dad liked it (typical, he loves spicy), and I did too until my mouth start burning up! Besides spicy, the wings also had a perfect sweet and salty yin yang blend going on.

Pok Pok became famous due to its roasted game hen and papaya salad. The Pok Pok Special serves up its 2 signature dishes, half a game hen and papaya salad on the side. The salad was a bit puny, it looked like it could be finished off in a couple of bites. The game hen was really good, and it comes with 2 dipping sauces. One sauce was more spicy and salty, and the other a bit sweeter. The game hen almost reminded of Peking duck, with the crispy outside skin... yummy! I would get the game hen, and perhaps pass on the salad next time.

Khao Soi Kai is a coconut curry noodle soup. The soup came with delicate noodles, big pieces of chicken, and wontons on top. I loved the soup base, sweet due to the coconut infusion. It was a much needed rest for my taste buds after all the spice from the other dishes! The noodles were special, it almost seemed like hand-pulled noodles, with a slight chewiness to them.

The Pomegranate Drinking Vinegar combined fruit vinegar with soda. It wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds! It was plenty sweet with added sugar, but you could still taste the sourness of the vinegar. There were also other fruit flavors for the drinking vinegars (apple, Asian pear, lychee, etc.), but we couldn't taste the pomegranate too distinctly. Good to try, but I'm not sure if I would spend the $4 for it next time.

We had a lot of fun, despite having to sit outside on a winter day in Portland. Pok Pok is very chill, not formal at all. It was enjoyable to try new foods (Pok Pok isn't your average Thai restaurant!). The prices were reasonable, for the three of us we spent $48, including tip. I highly recommend Pok Pok next time you're in the Portland area... if you can put up with the wait time! I'm sad that I don't have pictures to post, since I didn't bring my camera... but that opens the door for a next visit!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars