WHAT IS NONG’S KHAO MAN GAI?
My name is Nong. It’s my nickname. I’m originally from Bangkok, Thailand. I moved to USA in 2003 and Portland, Oregon is my home! And my food cart serve Khao Man Gai.
WHAT IS KHAO MAN GAI?
It is one of the most popular THAI FOOD that you can find almost everywhere in Thailand especially Bangkok. The original Khao man gai is from Hainan province, China. You can also find it called Hainanese chicken. It is chicken poached traditional cook with whole chicken. Then use the chicken broth to cook the rice with all aroma thaiherbs. That’s also the reason to use whole chicken because you want the broth to have the most chicken flavor to cook rice. Serve with the pungeon sauce that made from fermented soy bean puree mix with garlic, ginger, thai chilies, vinegar and sugar. Also serve with few vegetable to refresh the meal which is some few pieces of cucumbers and cilantro.In thai style it cannot be complete without the some clear light taste soup to balance everything together also to clean your throat making to meal so enjoyable.
WHY KHAO MAN GAI?
There’s so much good Thai food that people haven’t tried. Tourists in Bangkok are always choosing this Khao Man Gai dish so I felt I should bring this here to Portland. The dish is made of rice and chicken at the perfect spice. Good for anybody and it’s delicious. This dish does not contain peanuts.
WHY DO YOU SERVE ONLY ONE DISH?
I started up with a little money that I had and I could only afford the 8 feet by 8 feet cart.
WHAT CAN I DO IN SUCH A LITTLE TINY SPACE BUT KICK ASS?
Khao man gai was my answer. It is only one dish but there’s a lot of work that is put into it and I’m very proud of this process. I wanted to do The best Khao Man Gai that I can in USA. I did a lot of homework to find all the ingredients. The best chicken that will have to flavor that I want. All the ingredient are hand selected. And I’m telling you it’s not that easy to find. Sometimes I have to go to more than three stores to find that one ingredient.
I’m using Marys Chickens. I always try to use local ingredients that I can find as well.
WHY DO YOU WRAP IT WITH BUTCHER PAPER?
It remind me of my childhood. I grew up ate a lot of food that was wrapped in paper. It has changed nowadays even in Thailand since the plastic and foam containers became more popular. It works with some kinds of food. It’s a compact size for togo and it’s perfect. And more importantly it’s not plastic. The sauce container is compostable.
HOW TO ORDER KHAO MAN GAI
I love to keep it simple when you come to Nong’s Khao Man gai. There’s only one thing on the menu.
The regular comes with 8 0z of rice and either one whole breast or the quarter leg of the chicken. The wings meat also reserved. You can specifically ask if you don’t want any skin part or you can just easily take it out of your meal yourself.
The sauce is mild spicy but if you want more spicy than that please don’t be hesitate to ask. We will add more Thai chile (no joke) in the sauce for you. We only do Hotter not Milder. If you can’t eat spicy at all I recommended order with black sweet soy (AKA kid’s style KMG) available at all locations.
WHAT IS PISET?
Piset means Special in Thai. We use this term to specify bigger size of food. At Nong’s you’ll get more rice, more chicken,more sauce also chicken liver.
If you don’t want liver that’s ok. We’ll get you more chicken
How many locations do you have now?
3! Food cart on SW 10 and Alder street( Original location) Food cart on SW 4th and College and a restaurant.
What do you serve at the restaurant?
Khao Man Gai and few more dishes. Included Khao Kha Moo (Pork and rice), Vegetarian version of Khao Man Gai and chicken and rice with peanut sauce. Beer also available now. This is the kind of restaurant I grew up with. Doing few dishes. I’m being true to myself. We also do catering for parties. We have our crowd.
Now it cost more than $6 for Khao Man Gai?
Every time I have to raise the price is a hard decision. Food cost has risen since I open in 2009. I’m still competing in food cart category price and it’s very competitive price. But in the end, I want to serve the food with quality and integrity behind it. I don’t want to compromise to cheaper and lower quality of food. I also taking good care of my team. I pay more to compost the garbage and try to use more compostable supply. I’m doing everything American legit. I never paid for advertising. Yes! words of mouth still exist! Customers paid for quality of food and good practice business. You got the best deal!!!