When you hear the phrase “Hey honey, let’s get some thai food!” or “Hey (insert name for friend), let’s go grab some thai.” what is the first image that pops into your mind? Seriously, we want to know, leave your comments at the bottom. I’m sure that for many though, as with us, you think of Phad Thai or a Thai Curry. Perhaps some of you have been bold enough to step outside of our normal Thai realm and even go for some Tom Kha. Typically, when we walk into many Thai places, what we will see are noodle dishes and curry plates. (somewhere in there there are soups and fried rice as well). As accurate as this may be to Thai foods, this is just scratching the surface of Thai.
Well Portland Pedal Power has teamed up with Nong’s Khao Man Gai to bring you another delicious piece of Thailand. This is a much less well known dish that is crucial to your Thai pallet. Khao Man Gai is actually extremely popular in Thailand and can be found all over. This dish is a poached chicken (cooked as a whole) served over rice. The rice was made using the broth from the poached chicken mixed with aromatic thai herbs. It’s served with a Pungeon sauce made from fresh fermented soy bean puree mixed with garlic, ginger, thai chilles, vinegar, and sugar. Khao Man Gai from Nong’s is as authentic as you can get when it comes to Thai food, and an incredibly original dish that (unless you’ve already eaten at her cart) we can almost guarantee you have not tried before.
Nong is a native of Bangkok and has been in Portland for a little over 8 years. Since opening her Khao Man Gai food cart, she has been a huge success, gaining a load of attention from foodie press and praise from the community. When you eat at Nong’s though, its not only the food that you notice, but Nong’s personality and the personality of her staff as well. The staff seem more like family to one another and will always greet you with a big smile and a “Sawatdee”. Learn more about Nong’s story at her website, or even from her blog. You can find Khao Man Gai at any of Nong’s three locations.
If you’ve had the pleasure of eating Nong’s Khao Man Gai, and have fallen in love with Thai all over again, keep an eye out for Nong’s sauce. Rumor has it, in the coming months Nong will be releasing her very own sauce to market. A rumor on top of this rumor is that there could possibly maybe be a gluten free version of this sauce as well. As Nong has put it “Not a thing is sure”, so keep in mind that these are only rumors to spread to the masses to build hype about how awesome this sauce is gonna be!
Sure thing amber, sorry for the delayed response. It would be nice though if you were to back link to us if you can though! Thanks again for reading!