Next to the Oregon Food Bank on 173rd and Cornell Road, tucked inside an Indian grocery store, is essentially a deli counter hawking spectacular curry and rice dishes, along with broad dosas and flavorful samosas. The move here is most definitely the Gongura goat curry, which gets its tart and punchy flavor from sorrel leaves.

Taste of Sichuan, a sprawling restaurant with numerous round tables topped with lazy susans for large groups, balances Americanized and more traditional Chinese plates. The fantastic soup dumplings or chow mein with hand-shaved noodles are always reliable, but those feeling adventurous can order from the Wild Side menu. The popcorn chicken-like Chongqing chicken offers the tongue-numbing power of Sichuan peppers, while other Wild Side staples include sour and spicy jellyfish, chile-sauce-marinated fu chi beef, and Sichuan-style crab, made with live crab.

India Sweets & Spices has much in common with Apna Chat Bhavan due to its grocery store-meets-counter service hybrid model. They both serve chaats and thalis, as well as bature, a fried puffy bread served with chickpea curry. The move here, however, is to order a pile of mithai, those often syrup-soaked, sometimes colorful, fudgy Indian sweets that aren’t often found in the Portland area. Treats like burfi, rasgulla, ladoo, and kajoo rolls are available by the pound. 

Oyatsupan, an airy, upscale bakery, makes a wide array of traditional Japanese breads, pastries, and sandwiches. Pastries are often as fun as they are delicious, like the chocolate cornet, filled with chocolate-custard cream and finished with frosting eyeballs so the whole delicious thing looks like a surprised caterpillar. Those looking for something savory can find items like a tonkatsu slider with fried pork filet or the kare doughnut, filled with beef curry.

In an assuming location behind a Filipino market off of TV Highway lies this Hawaiian plate lunch spot. The menu is straightforward: Choose from three sizes of plates, with one or two proteins and a few sides depending on size. The move here is the surf and turf, with crispy fried shrimp and impeccably seared pieces of medium rare steak, along with classic sides like mac salad, kimchi, rice, or french fries.

Home to one of the largest whisky selections in town, The Westgate also has a massive taplist of outstanding West Coast beer, along with a tight and well-crafted food menu. The chef burgers here are a standout, topped with everything from capicola to pineapple. It also features a beautiful billiard room and a good-sized bottle shop filled with beers from all over Oregon.

Sharing the same strip mall that used to house Jin Wah (r.i.p.), Happy Lamb Hotpot is the first Oregon outpost of a Chinese hot pot chain. The restaurant is big — 210-seat big — and modern. Diners can go à la carte or all-you-can-eat, and just need to fill out a card with what they want to dip into the bubbling broth. The yin-yang soup base is exemplary, with one side chili-oil-fiery, the other mild and milky, spiked with goji berries and jujubes.

Afuri and Ramen Ryoma are worthy places to get a Japanese noodle fix in Beaverton, but Yuzu, with its counter seating and slightly hidden location, feels the most like visiting Japan. The restaurant offers a few izakaya starters, as well as multiple styles of ramen. The signature is the Kakuni ramen, with a rich tonkotsu base, bamboo shoots, pickled ginger, wakame, a slice of chasu, plus stewed chunks of pork belly if that wasn’t enough. 

The Pacific Northwest isn’t exactly a hotbed of Caribbean cuisine, but if the urge for tostones or arroz con pollo hits, there’s always Borikén, a casual restaurant that transmits the tropics with its lime green and sunny orange palette. The mofongo is a standout, a dish of fried plantains mashed with chicharrones, often formed into a softball-sized orb, and topped with meat or seafood. Here, it is served in a traditional pilón de madera (wooden pestle) and fillings of choice are piled in. It’s best with a few dashes of mojo de ajo.

With its flagship location in Portland, and now a third location in New Mexico, Ex Novo Brewing shows no signs of slowing down, making sours and all types of IPAs that still manage to standout in such a crowded field here in town. While its Portland precinct pumps out a handful of six-inch pies, this location is a proper piehall first and foremost, offering both six- and eight-inch sizes of its 10 different pies, along with make-your-own options. The sauce and cheese sit atop thick, pillowy crusts with crispy edges and dripping with olive oil. Paired with a west coast IPA, this is east-meets-west in the best way possible.

The Beaverton location of this Burmese restaurant group may be one of its most popular: In a lush dining room filled with monsteras and pothos, visitors drink flower-topped cocktails while waiting for plates of sweet mango wings and crispy, light samosas. Regulars typically head straight for the thokes, tea leaf salads dotted with nuts and seeds, though the restaurant’s nuanced coconut noodle soup — the restaurant’s take on khow suey, a relative of Southeast Asian soups like laksa and khao soi — is a perpetually popular hit. The ideal summer meal ends with a frosty strawberry falooda.

This charming Korean spot on — of course – 1st Street is the city’s one-stop shop for Korean street food staples, including plump, panko-fried Korean corn dogs with satisfyingly cheesy mozzarella filling, as well as steamy-spicy soups like jjamppong. However, most of 1st Street Pocha’s devotees are there for the fried chicken, crispy-crusted wings doused in sticky marinades or served dry and well-seasoned. Order them with both sauces, with a few sides of kimchi for good measure.