Khao Man Gai appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Khao Man Gai · Portland
Thai poached chicken and rice: rice cooked in chicken stock, poached breast on top, with the house ginger-soybean-garlic sauce that finishes the plate.
Khao man gai is the Thai version of Hainanese chicken rice: poached chicken over rice cooked in chicken stock, with a fermented soybean-ginger sauce. Nong Poonsukwattana arrived in Portland from Bangkok in 2003 with two suitcases. She opened a $5,000 food cart at SW 10th and Alder in 2009 selling khao man gai for $6. The cart was an immediate sellout. She has since expanded to two brick-and-mortar locations (SE Ankeny, SW 13th), retail bottles of her sauce in Whole Foods and become the canonical Portland Thai-immigration story. The sauce is the dish.
Where to eat in Portland:
- Nong's Khao Man Gai