Earl Ninsom has a few excellent Thai places in town, including PaaDee and Hat Yai. Langbaan is tasting-menu-only, and you enter the space through PaaDee. You walk around the back, and a bookshelf opens up, and you go through that, and it goes into this tiny tasting-room area. He always has a different theme, which changes every month. It might be Bangkok Chinatown, or a specific region of northern Thailand, or something like that. (Right now it’s inspired by Thailand’s working class.)
To me personally, it’s the number-one restaurant in the city right now.
Can’t-Miss Bites
If you’ve got time for only one meal, go to one of these spots to really get to know what Portland is all about.
You get around a dozen courses, with awesome nontraditional beverage pairings, like cocktails and sakes. The food is always really inventive, and it’s cool to see something that’s based in tradition but also playful and new.
