Ping

WOW! The food was amazing. Our taste buds are dancing. we ordered the short ribs on rice and the pork knuckle on rice with mustard greens and tea eggs. We devoured our food (in the most elegant fashion) and wanted to keep going but were too full.

We came for happy hour ages ago and I’ve been raving about the cocktails ever since! They were incredibly fresh. They said they press their juices every day and I don’t doubt it. Great environment and the bartender was very friendly!
We also tried the Chinese tea egg for a unique appetizer. I can’t wait to come back here next time I’m in Portland and try out their dinner menu, I’m also curious about their current remodel work.

Okay so this place is a fusion of asian cuisine unfortunately they don’t get it right!
Cold octopus skewers which if you know if not cooked correctly ate just rubber. Their hokkien mee which on the menu indicates its Singaporean — well it’s not it’s the malayasian version which used the black ketchup and singaporeans would gag at the thought that this version is from there.
We also had the ramen what this is packaged ramen a no no — the steam bun was cold wtf? The satay was good though and perhaps the only thing that I would order –You’ve been warned !

I’ve been here twice and have mixed feelings about the place. The restaurant is a little dark and poorly lit. It kind of works for PING? But I’m undecided if I’d like more lite… Lets say the atmosphere is definitely not a negative. I think it’s fine for a casual (maybe even romantic) date or a group of friends on their way out in china town.
I ordered the the Kari Kapitan. When it came out I couldn’t believe the dish was $ 16 and thought I would be leaving hungry. Then I took a bite and was very impressed with the flavor infusion in my mouth! Yum! I would order this again and when I left I was plenty full.
My boyfriend ordered the spicy mamma ramen as he had an inclining for soup. He took a bite and I could tell he was dissatisfied so I tried as well. To me it tasted like drinking a bottle of fish sauce.
Our very attentive, attractive and well presented waitress came by to ask how our first few bites were. I mentioned that there was possibly too much fish sauce in the ramen. She immediately offered to replace the meal with something else. This was the first time in our lives we had sent a meal back but this one deserved it. The replacement dish bak kut teh (pork bone tea) was much better. Not the greatest Asian soup of all time but delicious none the less. The doughnut that accompanied the soup seemed to be missing something? But not sure what…
The manager came over to make sure we ended up happy with our experience which I say we did. With so many eating options in portland I’m not so sure how often I will be eating at PING but if you’re planning a night out in china town or downtown you could stop in here on your way out.

i think i am more critical of asian food just because i eat a lot of it, and i was also most recently on a trip back to taiwan, which just has amazing dining (and not just chinese food either).
in any case, i think it’s a good introduction to asian street food. i got the baa mii noodle soup. it’s a clear-​ish pork broth, and i didn’t realize wheat noodles taste just like typical chinese egg noodles. i didn’t taste any pepper in the broth. and it was way salty… several hours later, i definitely needed to drink a lot of water. probably typical of most street food, but still. and it was $ 11! (although it’s not a fair comparison, i feel like i could have gone to kenny’s noodle shop and felt more fulfilled…)
i think the descriptions were better than the actual food…

We were excited to finally try this restaurant but after lunch were left wondering why it is so well regarded. We went with a sweet group of friends and universally everyone was wondering why such accolades.
The stir fried noodle dish was oily with a meh flavor while the satays were dry and flavorless. The pork bun was the one star of the meal and really yummy. The roti and lentil dish was good as well but given that I regularly make that same yellow daal at home weekly it’s a dish that super easy to make well.
Glad we tried this but won’t be coming back.

Serradura. I’ve been haunted by this dessert since leaving Ping with a belly that felt like it was getting fuller by the second. After sharing two appetizers, a small salad and two soups, I wasn’t sure we should be getting dessert, but after all the exciting flavors we had experienced, we just couldn’t resist trying one last dish. I am so glad that our mutual distaste of coconut led us to trying this amazing dessert! I thought about Serradura everyday for about two weeks. I even found a recipe for it so I can try to recreate its creamy goodness at home sometime.
What’s in this so-​called amazing concoction you ask? Well, it seems to be just layers of whipped cream mixed with condensed milk and crushed biscuits. At Ping they also added a layer of cacao. Seems too simple to rate such a fawning response, doesn’t it? Call me crazy, but I think I will come back here many times just for the Serradura!
What about the other food? I don’t remember much expect that the duck egg salad was super salty (but in a good way), the Sam was surprised that the ramen was basically a dressed up instant noodle dish, and I felt that the prices were a little on the expensive side. Definitely a splurge kind of place as opposed to a cheap eats one.
I did feel sorry for the two women sitting next to us. They seemed to be adverse to «spiciness» and had an altered satay plate served to them along with another dish. They didn’t eat much. But when our Serradura came and they were paying they complimented us on our choice of dishes. They said it looked like we knew what to order and seemed jealous. We said we really didn’t know and just guessed at what sounded good. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that if they thought the chicken satay was «too spicy» they probably wouldn’t have enjoyed what we ordered any better than their own meals. I’ve never considered the Sam and myself being adventurous eaters, but I guess we are open to trying new things.
The Serradura is actually not that adventurous of a dish once you know what’s in it, so don’t be turned off by the American translation of the name: «sawdust pudding.» I encourage you to order it and hope you will love it was much as I did!

After many years I’ve finally made it back to Ping. I owed them a revisit a LONG time ago after one of the owners (no, not Mr. Ricker) reached out to me in regards to my original 3-​star review and tried to make things right. Like an ass, I ignored that offer and went on my merry way, not even updating my review to indicate how nice it was that the business cared about my less-​than-​stellar experience and wanted to address the issue.
Fast forward from 2009 to 2012 and I can say that between the original follow-​up from management, some changes in policy, and my retrying the food, I’m squarely impressed.
Ping no longer has that strange policy requiring you to order a minimum of 2 skewers of each type. Yay! We sampled a ton of different items for that reason alone and were summarily impressed by most, including the grilled shishito, the grilled pickled octopus, the quail eggs wrapped in bacon, muu sateh pork, shrimp and more. The only real dud was the eggplant — fairly boring. But that goes for most eggplant on a grill. I’m convinced grilling is not a great way to cook eggplant.
The other dishes we sampled were also quite moving — the pork steamed bun, the fried fish with spicy red sauce, the «egg salad» (a hard-​boiled egg chopped with various herbs, scallions and a nice tangy fish sauce) and the yellow curry. While the Yellow curry was a little heavier on the lemongrass than I like, I’d easily order everything else on our plate again in a heartbeat.
The space is fun, the service is nice, the drink selection is good, especially if you like whiskey. That’s one thing I always appreciate about Andy Ricker’s bars… heavy on the whiskey.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Asia and maybe that distance has made it easier for me to spend $ 3.5 on street food skewers. It still stings a little, though (depending on which skewers I’m ordering). I think that the skewers here are a treat, but I’m actually even more impressed by the other dishes I’ve sampled, and I plan to return soon to make my way through even more of the menu.

While on my first trip to Portland, the Unilocal app was super-​handy for taking care of those mid-​day hunger pangs that would strike after hours of walking. When I typed in «food damnit», I happened to get Ping!
How did it go? Well, enough for me to write a review about it. It’s hard to describe what this place is. Chinese? Japanese? Korean? Their menu seamed to touch about a little bit of everything Asian, which totally got my curiosity. The food was fresh, complex and satisfying and made me wish I had room in my stomach to try more.
My best tip? Save room for dessert, they’ve got some pretty awesome stuff hidden in there. My pick is the serabera… or seraterra… or… Damnit, you’ll know what it is when you see it. :)

Umm. Pass the salt. as in — I would like to pass on the salt.
I was digging the menu with all their different descriptions and combos of flavors and spice. Very excited to try some of their items, only to take bites and have it all masked by flavor of salt, as in soy sauce maybe? Or fish sauce maybe? Not sure, as I’m not cooking back there.
I ordered the Chinese tea egg and though that had soy sauce it was not too bad in comparison to my Yam Mama salad. The sauce was supposed to be a sugar sauce, hmm, maybe they mixed up salt for sugar? The prawns were not the size I am accustomed to as they were smaller than prawns I’ve encountered. The tea egg was pleasant and actually very photo worthy.
The ambience, not so much, felt cramped and more about the servers and cooks being busy.
I would like to come back again because there are a lot of interesting entrees on the menu. Maybe it was just the cook that night.

We were excited to try this place out, since we are huge fans of Pok Pok and were walking around in the area one day and decided to venture in here for their happy hour.
We started off with a couple of drinks. She got the lychee vinegar and it was pretty good. First time trying a drinking vinegar for me. I got something alcoholic. Obviously, that was good.
We decided to get all three skewer options: Chicken, Octopus, and Prawn. We really enjoyed the octopus ones; the other two were good, but would not order again.
We also got a hot dog and a bowl of the Spicy Mama Ramen to split. The latter was a major disappointment and tasted like what you’d get out of a microwavable bowl at home. The hot dog wasn’t anything to go ape over either.
Good ambiance and clean space. Portions are small in comparison to the prices, even for HH standards.

Remember when you were a kid and someone said they were going to give you a knuckle sandwich? I do. If that someone were to ask me if I wanted a pork knuckle sandwich I would’ve said, «Where do I sign?» Pork Knuckle will be the words most used by me in this review of Ping.
It was Friday. I was out of food at home and ready to treat myself to something yummy for lunch. Upon talking to one of my co-​workers who mentioned Ping, I took a look at the menu and wondered if I really wanted to spend $ 9 or more on lunch. At first I wasn’t sure, but upon convincing by him and by the eyes in my head as I read the menu online, I decided to splurge (a bit).
What do you choose though? Everything looked like it had the potential to be a taste explosion in my mouth. After a long deliberation I decided on the Khao Kha Muu which was under the rice section. This is thai-​style pork knuckle (there are those happy words) stewed in spices, herbs, soy and palm sugar, served on jasmine rice with sour chili dipping sauce, stewed mustard greens and a tea egg (steeped in black tea, soy sauce, ginger, star anise and cinnamon). First off, do not be afraid of pork knuckle. It is full of all of your fatty and porky daily needs. This was some really good food and the egg was a revelation. Look at me like a chump eating my hard-​boiled eggs without ginger, star anise and cinnamon. Never again folks.
The prices are a bit high for lunch. The portion wasn’t huge, but not small either. As my co-​worker said, sometimes you have to treat yourself. Being a big fan of eating in general, I am not upset that I spent a few dollars more for my meal today and I imagine I will try Ping again sometime.

Goal: Comfort Food Lunch on a Rainy Portland Day
End Result: Comfort Food Lunch on a Rainy Portland Day
Stars for:
1) Laksa on the menu — even if it wasn’t the greatest Laksa I’ve ever had. It was more like Laksa for beginners, but I’m okay with that — hell, I finally found Laksa on a Portland menu!
2) Good service and relaxed vibe.
Point taken off for:
3) I have to agree with Don B’s review and say that this is supposed to be street food, and is overpriced. While I chose a single dish menu item that I enjoyed, I chose NOT to have apps, etc., because they were overpriced. I am all for going out for a spendy meal, but for bite-​sized portions, they were overpriced. Couldn’t do it.
Will be back for: Lunchtime Laksa, as it is the perfect comfort food.

Menu to dark to read at night!
One person in our group had a food allergy and Ping provided a specific menu calling out items that would work for her!
Pork shank, HomBao and skewers were all great. Excellent cocktails too.
More 3.5 Ghana 4.

Great sticky rice, great noodles, great satay set… I would like to see a few additional items on the menu that are a little more mainstream, but I really enjoyed what I ordered.
The waitress was very attentive and really gave us some good suggestions… We really liked her…
The place was a little cluttered as far as décor (I like a cleaner appearance when I’m in a place for the first time), but overall it was okay.
We went a little early for dinner (615pm) and by the time we left the place was packed and everyone was having a great time. The outdoor seating was a nice touch for those of us that smoke, but also caused some issues with blinding me when they went in and out (I know where not to sit next time I go… & I will be back)…

I super liked this place!
I super liked my pomegranate cocktail, I super liked the small, share-​able plates, I super liked that we snagged a seat at the bar right away, and I super liked our bartender.
The bartender made some recommendations, and we were happy all around. The carrot cake dish was an unexpectedly great combination of flavors and textures. The octopus skewers packed a nice punch, while the chile skewers were a little more tame, and the toast with coconut jam was nice and cooling after the heat.
I didn’t fall quite as hard as I did for Pok Pok, but Ping has some definite plusses – not only is it on my side of the river, it’s easy to snag a table. Ping, I’ll be back!

I am not a vinegary person, I am an olive oily person. That being said, I am now a changed (drinking vinegar) person per Ping, a Southeast Asian style drinking food restaurant in Old Town although I was initially scared when my lunch buddy insisted we order a round with
our mid day meal.
It turns out drinking vinegars were made for me: not too sweet — allowing the true fruit flavors to shine, with plenty of carbonated water for 200% refreshment — especially when parched by way of a yam khai khem, the house salted duck egg with chilies, cilantro fish sauce, shallots, ginger, Chinese celery and cilantro. And especially when the drinking vinegars are made with rhubarb and raspberry.
The salapao, a thai style steamed bun stuffed with sweet shredded pork and topped with fried shallots was also on the ladies-​who-​lunch menu. I don’t always eat meat, but when I do, I like it shredded. And stuffed into a soft carbohydrate. Delish!
It seemed every other person lunching at Ping was munching on yam yais: a thai style green leaf lettuce adorned with peanuts, shrimp, shredded chicken, tofu, hard boiled eggs, cucumber, and bean sprouts laced in a tangy peanut dressing. It could have been because this was the warmest days of the year (hitting 71 degrees). This salad was refreshing and nutritious. Something I could eat every 70+ degree day.
I am excited to return to Ping. Most likely for happy hour and a cocktail spiked drinking vinegar. The rhubarb drinking vinegar, just recently introduced to the menu, is seasonal. Get it while it’s (not) hot!

Yesterday at Ping I had one of the best meals that I’ve ever disliked in my life. Now usually when I write a review and say that I didn’t like the food it was because the food was insipid and the service lousy.
That was not the case at Ping!
The food was well prepared, tasty and the service attentive.
Best I can figure is a culinary bias against Thai food. I eat at a lot of Thai restaurants because my wife and friends like Thai food and usually I’m happy with salad rolls and Thai beef salad neither of which are on Ping’s menu. To be honest I’d prefer to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant over Thai any day.
Now that you know my biases let’s look at the meal.
First Ping is not your typical Thai restaurant. There wasn’t an order of Pad Thai Noodles to be found on the lunch menu. Ping specializes in Thai street food so it tends to be lots of simple single bowl dishes. If your only exposure to Thai food is places like Thai Orchid your in for a treat.
We ordered two two entrées and three appetizers.
Spice House Roasted Red Peanuts: These peanuts are a house favorite and are really quite good. Yes I might have like a little more lime leaf flavor and maybe a little spicier but overall they were tasty and well balanced. I’d definitely order them again.
Salapao: This is a Thai style steamed bun stuffed with shredded pork. Its very similar in to the dim sum steamed buns that you see all over Portland but the pork is not BBQ flavored. You can actually taste the pork in the bun and it doesn’t glow in the dark. The Salapoa is a little on the bland side so they serve it with a condiment tray that has three different types of chillies. A Thai chili in a salty fish sauce, a Serrano chili in a sour vinegary liquid and the typical crushed red peppers. Both the Serrano and Thai chilies added a nice zing to the buns. Definite reorder.
Kopitiam Toast: Of all the food we had this was my least favorite. But I should admit that I really dislike coconut in any form other than shredded. Kopitiam has an insipidly sweet coconut jam on top. That said the toast was crisp and the jam smooth and creamy, it just isn’t my cup of tea. My lunch partner said that the dried chili added a lot to the toast, I don’t know as I couldn’t bring myself to try a second piece.
Unfortunately, Ping hasn’t updated their website to reflect their new menu so I don’t have the names of the entrées that we had so I will have to describe them as best as I can.
My lunch partner ordered ordered the first item on the lunch menu and said that he had made the dish several times from different recipes and found it to be well executed. My lunch partner is an on again off again Portland cook/​caterer and has eaten and cooked a lot of Thai food so when he waxes eloquently about how good the food is I believe him. (He plans on going back to Ping and working his way down the menu item by item.)
I had an entrée about four or five items down the list. The easiest way to identify it was that it is described as being served dry with broth on the side or as a soup. I ordered it as a soup. It was good with just the right sour overtones to make it interesting. The dish is described as spicy and I suppose it was for the average American but I ask for some of the yummy house chili sauce to spice it up.
If I had a complaint about my dish it was that it was served a little too tepid for my tastes. I like my soup served hot and steaming but this was neither when it got to the table and barely warm by the time I was half way through it and I’m not a slow eater. I didn’t finish my soup as I don’t much care for tepid soup. Ping needs to warm their plates or make sure that the soup is hotter when served.
One other thing that should be mentioned. Ping is not an inexpensive place to eat we dropped over $ 40 for a lunch for two and one of the soup bowls has a big chip in the rim of the bowl. This is inexcusable for a restaurant of Pings stature.
I didn’t find Ping to be particularly exciting but it is definitely a solid 3.5−4÷5 and I would certainly recommend it to someone looking for good Thai street food. But remember my culinary bias probably affects my enthusiasm.

Super cool vibe. Great Asian tapas style eatery. Expensive for street food, but I guess it’s like when I used to have friends throw halibut at me back home in Alaska for free and now I can’t find it for less than 15 $/​lb. You have to be there to get the deal. So if you need to get your chicken butt fix in high volume for cheap, travel to Thailand! Otherwise you gonna pay a bit extra.
The wait staff was friendly and attentive. I imagine that when you spend your entire day answering questions about chicken butts, you develop a lighter more relaxed side if you didn’t already have one.
Onto the skewer chicken butts and hearts! The butts were poppy and phatty and the hearts were tender and mildly flavored. I wanted to yell, «I am Conan the Barbarian» when I ate these, but I didn’t. I just chewed my butts and hearts with silent mirth. I would order them again, but overall was underwhelmed with them for their price.
We enjoyed the spring rolls which were small, four to a dish and tasty! You assembled your own outer wrap out of leafy greens that they supplied to aid in its clean-​finger transportation from plate to mouth.
We ordered some noodle dishes that were very tasty and just about everything came with a little dish of pale yet flavorful sauce or neon bright spicy sauce. Everything was dipped or bathed in the juices of tranquility!
Great experience and great vibe for our table of 4 (larger groups might have a problem with seating) where the food was good but not great. We will be back but not often as the price per lb of flesh is a bit offsetting.

After eating at this restaurant, I would describe my subjective experience as thus:
The food is high quality. It is, however, grossly overpriced. The service is attentive. It is, however, somewhat lecturing and overbearing.
My subjective recommendation would be to enjoy this dining establishment if someone else is paying.
There. Is that «relevant» enough for you, you flagging turdhole?