I came here for Dad's chicken! The grilled chicken pod, that's in this little food pod area behind Walgreens. They seem like the talk of the town too! Well, after finally getting a chance to browse all the pods, I found Dad's chicken, but nothing was grillin'. So I came back here to Pares PDX Express instead. Checked out the side menu, checked out the prices, and out comes a brutha from anotha mutha! Welcomes me, so I asked my pare "What's good?" He said, "Everything!" smh, "Damn!" A good sign :(but not a good sign for me healthwise:) haha! I asked how long he's been open, and he said, "Since September." Still fresh and new to me, so my yelpie duty was to support my locals. Here's what I ordered:
Drawn to the Crispy Kare-Kare ($15), this caught my eyes!
(Optional read) Typically, the Filipino kare-kare meat used is with cuts of chuck steak and boney beef neck. Some like using pork hocks. Sometimes kare-kare will have beef tripe added. But personally for me, I love my mom's version using oxtail. I don't like the neck, I don't need tripe, it's gotta be OXTAIL!!! Besides, it's all about the stew and the saucy peanut buttery flavor.
About Pares PDX kare-kare version... I saw "Crispy" and knew this was referring to either crispy pata or lechon kawali (aka deep fried pork belly with skin). They serve their kare-kare with crispy pork belly, bok choy, long string beans, and eggplant. The stew of peanut sauce was drizzled on top. With the home-made shrimp bagoong (fried shrimp paste) in between.
I would have stayed outside on the patio tables, but it was going to rain. So I rushed home, and mmm mmm mmm the pieces were still nice and crispy indeed! I haven't had pork belly in so long that I was in heaven, not worrying if I needed to go to the hospital afterwards lol. You can have the dish with plain rice or garlic rice. I chose the garlic rice, which is almost a given.
A bit of more information:
~ They've got a QR code to view the menu and/or place an order.
~ Majority or nearly all of the dishes were $15 average.
~ To feed your eyes, there are pics of the dishes on the side of the truck.
~ Service was pleasant and fast.
Can't say I'll ever order what I can make myself, like adobo, sisig, pinoy style spaghetti, or lumpia, but I will definitely be back to try their version of pansit palabok, laing, dinuguan, and turon. I'll even try their "halo halo" next time! The Filipino authenticity, kinda like mom's style is here! Come check them out! read more