2024 Is the Year of the Snack | Eater Portland

"Designed as something like a snack bar, Pasar is Feny’s Alberta Indonesian restaurant built around the single-bite treats she grew up eating in Jakarta — from sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf to crunchy fritters and springy pandan cake. Feny explicitly configured the menu so people can try one of each without being bogged down by piles of fritters, and she hopes customers feel comfortable dropping in for a single snack before a show or picking up grab-and-go items during the day. Examples called out include lemper ayam (sticky rice filled with chicken floss and wrapped in banana leaf), and market-style snacks she developed such as bala-bala (a vegetable fritter with peanut sauce) and popiah (a spring-roll–like snack filled with jicama, carrots, and shrimp powder). The restaurant opened for dinner at the end of 2023, features a massive display of Indonesian packaged crackers, chips, and candies at the entrance, and lists many snacks and desserts at around $5 or less." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden