Definitely "Good Taste"

Met Ken and Lent in Chinatown for lunch today. A guy from Ken's office loves this place and says it's one of the most authentic he's found.

The place is a little hole in the wall right off of Burnside. They have fried duck, roasted pork and spare ribs in the window as well as a giant butcher block and cleaver behind. The restaurant was pretty empty with only one or two tables filled. We sat and they brought us some hot tea. Lent ordered the chow fun special that had barbecued pork, chicken, squid and all sorts of veggies. Ken had the bbq pork over rice with baby bok choy. I had the meat dumpling & noodle soup. And it was awesome. Best broth I've probably ever tasted. The ground meat with small black mushrooms were wrapped in wontons and added to the steaming soup along with thin noodles and green onions. Overall, what a great dish. And it was only $4.95. Lent also loved his whereas Ken I think was hoping for more meat and less rice. That said, the meat was great. I think it's the first time I haven't left a chinese restaurant feeling gross. I actually felt better than when I went in and I can't stop thinking about that broth. Definitely a place I'd love to go again.

Apparently reviews on Craigslist and the Mercury agree.

Good Taste Restaurant (via Portland Mercury)
18 NW 4th Avenue, 503-223-3838

Back in Portland Chinatown, you'll find perhaps the only proper Chinese noodle house in the Portland area.

At Good Taste, you can't go wrong with any plate containing hacked up BBQ pork. Particularly popular is the BBQ Pork Chow Mein; pan-fried egg noodles topped with the fragrant, anise-scented meat and stir-fried Asian vegetables. Another to-die-for item is the Scrambled Egg with Shrimp, or BBQ pork if you prefer. It's a heavenly three-egg omelet, fried in the wok so that it comes out crispy on the outside.

The noodle soups are also pretty good, as are the rice porridges, which will only set you back $3.20. In fact, most of the menu falls into the under five-dollar category, making Good Taste an official "Portland Mercury Best Buy."