Hash S.
Yelp
I hadn't been here in more than a decade and the last time I was, it was a bit... Pok Pok-y.
It's been a while since that's meant anything, so let me explain.
At one point in its history, Portland was known for restaurants specializing in some of the best cuisines from around the world--but almost as if viewed through a gauze filter.
Pok Pok was the first place I remember it: Highly stylized decor and dress, menus built around signature items, less traditional and more interpretive. Other concepts like P.R.E.A.M., Bollywood Theater and Screen Door fell into this category--"hey, it's regional, but it's Portland!"
Shandong had that Portland filter for a bit. There were wait staff supplementing graphic design or marketing gigs by dressing in silk and reenacting some of the more awkward scenes from Garden State. There was a floor show made of the dipping sauces and a spareness to the room and its decor.
I don't think owner Henry Liu meant it this way, but it made it feel as if Shandong was ironically distancing itself from the Northern Chinese-inspired Chinese-American cuisine it was serving.
That's gone now. Shandong survived the pandemic by switching to a takeout-heavy business and, in many ways, has kind of stuck in that mode. During that transition, the dining room itself became a lot cozier and more lived-in. It looks more like a neighborhood place, where the staff works on orders and prep out front and customers have free rein to make mistakes with their sauces.
The future Julliard students are gone, replaced by an attentive and knowledgeable crew that still works with the familiar menu. Judy's Noodles are still there, as are the homemade Xiaolongbao, shrimp dumplings and pot stickers. The curry fried rice remains a can't-miss starch, and the spicy dry fried chicken remains one of Portland's best dishes.
I've seen the knocks on Shandong as it exists and, honestly, they seem a bit myopic. No, this isn't Chin's Kitchen, but looking at that place's menu since its visit to "Flavortown" tells me the divide is no longer as wide as it once was. No, it isn't the food theater it once was, but should it be? If you look around Hollywood at Gado Gado, the Bulgogi, Chimcking, Happy Bimbimbap or even Chin's they aren't anything more than they have to be... and almost all of them followed Shandong's lead.
After seeing post-pandemic Shandong, I can understand why those who loved its first incarnation might be disappointed. But Henry Liu has Kung Pow! for you across the river if you want a show and a place that looks good on Insta. If you want a comfortable spot that knows its customers, knows its menu and knows what it's about, the real Shandong has arrived.
