A Project for Family Togetherness and Cultural Understanding

Greetings to any of you who might be interested in ethnic dining in Portland. I was not particularly interested in this topic, but I was out with my son Willow one day in April 2025 when we stopped in a small pod of carts at 28th and Glisan. We were looking around for options, and my son got really excited when he saw a cart called  "Kyrgystan Food". We were both intrigued. What the heck would this food be like? We certainly had no prior experience. 

Willow went up to place an order, but luck was not on our side. We were early on a Sunday and they were temporarily closed because of a shortage of ingredients. We were disappointed but not in the least discouraged, Portland has any number of options for a hungry person even at the most modest of cart pods. We walked over to Gyro Kingdom, I had a delicious lamb wrap and Willow had a falafel wrap. Generous portions, very tasty, we wanted to go back!

We did not think much of the experience, but a couple months later after church Willow was thinking that he wanted to go out for lunch, but not to the same old options--he was bored with the neighborhood restaurants. He thought of the Kyrgyz place but also thought--what other types of places might there be? Portland is full of interesting ethnic restaurants, right? So, like any good Millenial, he asked ChatGPT--where to go for an unusual ethnic dining experience? The most intriguing possibility that popped up was Mirisata, a Sri Lankan restaurant at 2420 SE Belmont. Off we went. The date was July 20, 2025.

Mirisata was awesome! The restaurant had a mixed indoor and outdoor seating area and a walkup counter to order. The friendly hostess said that Mirisata was the only Sri Lankan restaurant on the entire West Coast. We certainly believed this--we had definitely never had Sri Lankan food before.I had the hot buttered prawns and Willow had a mixed vegetarian plate. Everything contained a bunch of tastes that were completely new to our experience. After a delicious lunch Willow went back to the counter to express his appreciation. Willow is highly adept at entering conversations, before I knew it he was getting a tour of the kitchen. The kitchen was big--clearly this was a popular spot and a pretty large operation, although we had happened upon the place on a relatively calm Sunday.

It was striking to us just how fun this outing was--pick a random restaurant from an obscure cuisine, see what happens. Willow was inspired--he would go on to compile a list, continent by continent--of candidates for our next outings. What followed was a journey literally around the world, full of unique tastes and friendly hospitality. I have since been inspired to record the journey so you might yourselves be inspired to try some of the locations. Most of the first part of the blog is a reconstruction--I am writing this introduction in November. However, something within me feels like you all should know about these experiences; for me, it has been an opportunity to come together with the wider world and experience it with beloved family members. Try it and see!

Locations: 

Gyro Kingdom -- 28th Parallel Food Carts, 2810 NE Glisan St., Portland, OR 97232

Mirisata -- 2420 SE Belmont Ave., Portland, OR 97214