Dave K.
Yelp
I've wanted to write a review of Uncle Tsang's Kitchen since first ordering food from this food cart. After all, I eat vegetarian and how many all veggie food carts are there, even in Portland. But given the sheer scale of the place's ambition, it seemed inappropriate to pen a review without sampling "more of the goods." So I have held off--til now. It's still not really possible to do a comprehensive review, because to the best of my knowledge, this is the most extensive menu of any food cart in all of Portland. In fact, if you think about old school Chinese restaurant menus that go on for pages, your head will be in the right place. Not that there are any pages to their picture menu. But I counted over 70 options. To pull that off in a food cart is remarkable, especially since this is a fully vegetarian Chinese restaurant with dozens of vegetables and countless treatments. All the old standards here, made with plant-based protein which is really well done. Beef with Broccoli? Check. Sesame Beef? Check. Cold sesame/peanut noodles? Check. Potstickers, dumplings, scallion pancakes? Check, check, check.
But there are also Chinese mustard greens, yu choy and bok choy. Crispy pumpkin. Cauliflower. Cabbage, cucumber, green beans. Szechuan pickle. Quinoa. I think they must have a fourth dimensional walk in refrigerator hiding out in the cart, because all the vegetables are fresh and vibrant, and I've never yet been told that they are sold out of something.
First off, I've never yet had a bad dish here. Some may not be my favorite, even as they are authentically* correct. For example, their eggplant chow fun with black bean sauce has nothing to do with thai noodles. Meltingly delicate eggplants bathed in a thick, savory Cantonese sauce are slathered on top of the noodles. You the diner have to extract some noodles to eat with the eggplant. I haven't been to China, so can't say if you'd find this there, but it's authentically right at home from a 1970's style American Chinese. It was tasty, but not the sort of dish I go for. Too gloppy. But it is a perfectly executed example of its type.
Compare that to this lovely couple's pan fried dumplings. The dumpling dough is thin, yet remains toothsome. There's a slight crispiness where the shell has cartelized in the wok, but without ever turning crunchy. The filling itself, redolent with ginger, is packed in there--so many placed put a half or full teaspoon in and call it quits. This generosity appears in almost every dish. Did I say how delicious these were? They are.
The Chinese mustard greens are neon green, tender and al dente simultaneously, oozing in garlic, without it ever tasting raw or overpowering. The chef knows his trade.
Salt and pepper tofu? Crispy shell. Mild salt hit to the tofu, but then a bite into a spicy green pepper. Perfect.
The curry sauce for a few of the dishes is definitely old school. Not how I would make it, not my preference. A little too much corn starch leaves it thick--but never lumpy. A touch powdery from an overly generous hand with the turmeric. Despite all that, it can't be faulted--and it is what it is.
This place isn't trying to set the world on fire. They don't aspire to be a hipster food cart or present a modern fusion approach. What they do want, and it oozes out of the couple, and out of every dish, is to provide you with really tasty, satisfying food in generous portions at a fair price.
And then there's this. Portland sucks for Chinese. Not sure why that is, and I have had that discussion with many people. Within that universe of mediocre Chinese, or places trying just a bit too hard, this food cart rises to the top. Whatever they make, they make well--and even if it isn't quite how I'd like it, and even when a dish lacks some elegance--you will always feel good for having tried it.
Some caveats. They don't take phone orders. This leaves you with two choices. Order from Postmates, and have your options restricted to a handful of dishes. Or go to the cart, order to your heart's content, and then wait as this older couple gets to work. As far as I can tell, he's the only one manning the wok. On a recent go around, I was told a 25 minute weight. So I skeedadled to the vinyl store around the corner, thumbed through the racks, picked up my food and heroically arrived back at home with food for days.
Go. Check it out. Drop me a note and let me know what you think.