Ping

They've got a new Happy Hour menu (calling it Ping Early), Monday-Saturday 4pm to 5:30pm.

Buns & Noodles
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steamed pork bun - house-made steamed bun stuffed with sweet shredded pork ... 3
ju pa bao - macanese-style pork chop bun -- pork loin chop fried in pork fat and served in a soft roll unadorned ... 5
spicy mama ramen - thai instant ramen soup noodles doctored with tamarind, fish sauce and chilies, with muu ding (bouncy pork), prawns, yu choy and a poached egg ... 5

Skewers
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chicken breast skewer - grilled with soy, mirin, sake and sesame oil, served with sour japanese plum sauce and shiso ... 2each
red potato skewer - salt roasted and grilled, served with spicy mayo sauce ... 1.50each
wild-caught gulf prawn skewer - brined, grilled, served with vietnamese sea salt and lime ... 2.50each

Drinks
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singapore sling ... 5
shochu cocktail ... 5
pomegranate gin rickey ... 5
well drinks (one liquor+mixer) ... 5
draft beer of the day ... 3
house sake - warm or chilled ... 4

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/memory-lapse/Content?oid=1327684

It's been over a month since my last visit to Ping, and I wanted to revisit them just to see how the place is doing.

Ordered the laksa. The broth seemed more peanut-heavy than last time, with less shrimp flavor and no more fish eyes either. It still absolutely needs a touch of the sambal hot sauce that gets served with it, but with less of a complex flavor, it ends up highlighting the blandness of the noodles more. Downgraded.

Had three skewer pairs (I still overhear them explaining to customers about the double orders... gotta hand it to 'em for persistence). The chicken breast is no longer the ume shiso variant, but rather just a grilled piece of chicken. Charred nicely, nice texture and moisture. A tad overseasoned, but that's an improvement over the last experience where it was cardboard dry. The fishballs and the octopus were as great as usual, though if you want the best grilled octopus, head over six blocks to get the pulpo at Andina. Push on all three.

A tad bit disappointed in the laksa, but I realized last night that Ping is a solid second tier Asian option in a town full of really good ones. It's not in the same stratosphere as a Pok Pok, Biwa or Tanuki in terms of culinary creativity and execution, but it's certainly on par with Departure or Hiroshi in terms of "wouldn't be upset if I ended up there". Ping warrants neither massive praise nor massive venom.

what have you had at Departure so far?

I'm just suggesting that while Ping isn't in the Top 3 it's solidly in that second tier of places that, at the moment, I wouldn't call destination-worthy, but certainly worthy to be included as part of an evening crawl. Not had anything to eat yet at Departure but even without that I'd still put it in that tier, based solely on the drinks and scene. Who knows, maybe they'll get bumped up!

Ping will now be open for lunch, MON-FRI from 11am-2pm.

The lunch menu is pretty similar to their regular menu, just truncated a bit.

There are a couple of items that seem to only appear on the lunch menu.

They're also serving the bah kuh teh (a favorite of mine; it's an aromatic Malaysian pork soup) with wheat noodles at lunch, which should be a nice touch.

The other noteworthy item is in regard to the khanom jiin, as Pok Pok has switched over to only serving the southern thai style of this noodle dish, which is much more sour and fish sauce-driven. If you were a fan of the KJ at Dang's Thai, you'll like it here at Ping for lunch.

I'm just now noticing that they've added a Macanese baked half game hen to their dinner menu. That sounds pretty good, too.

Had lunch here the other day with Tidings of Sylvan and Joy. They'd never been to Ping before, and I think lunch is an excellent way to introduce people to this restaurant. It doesn't possess the hurried, hectic energy that can overcome the place at night, while still cranking out almost the same menu.

Started off with the fishball skewers, the chicken butts (I call 'em pope hats, but they're more common referred to as the pope's nose.) and the kopitiam toast, which thankfully is now pre-sliced up for you.

The centerpiece of lunch, though, were our three soups. We shared bowls of the laksa (coconut curry), the pet pha lo (stewed duck leg) and the bak kut teh (pork soup). Having three mini-bowls as "share" bowls was great, as it allowed the three of us to bounce around among the soups.

The best of the three was the kuaytiaw pet pha lo. The duck leg and mushrooms had a delicious deep and earthy flavor. The wide rice noodle was a bit neutral, but there was a sour sauce served with the bowl that helped to brighten the dish as a whole. I actually thought the sauce had bits of garlic, but re-reading the menu online, it turns out it's yellow chile. Also, watch out for big hunks of lemongrass in the bowl.

The laksa was solid as usual. It's served with a spicy sambal on the side. Their sambal is a must for this dish, as otherwise the coconut curry is so rich as to give you palate fatigue.

I wasn't a big fan of the bak kut teh at first, but (again, a recurring theme), it was much improved by the addition of the spicy soy sauce that's served with the dish. They also brought out a Thai white pepper shaker with the bak kut teh, so I think my initial perception of the dish had to do with the fact that it was underseasoned at arrival, and could be augmented to taste. I'd personally go heavy on the spicy soy and light on the white pepper. The chow mein-like egg noodles tasted great with the pork broth, and the pork rib meat was really nice also.

I'm really happy that Ping expanded to lunch, and I'll definitely be back to try more of the lunch-only items.

Hmm, I remember a [url=http://www.portlandfood.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=7897&view=findpost&p=114211]similar statement being made[/url], perhaps over a meal at DST, that resulted in denials and accusations....

btw, in the home countries, bak kut teh is often almost overwhelmingly spiced with white pepper. It's worth remembering that peppercorn was the source of most heat prior to colonials bringing their post-conquest chiles east, so there's a strong tradition of it's use. It's hard to imagine Thai and Malay pre-chile, but a lot of white pepper in bak kut teh, probably gives you an idea.

Ping is quickly becoming one of my favorite lunch spots. I was here with Olive Oyl and Angelhair, and we split appetizers of the kopitiam toast and fishball skewers. We also got an order of the quail egg skewers, wrapped in bacon and served with a spicy mayo.

It was funny that OliveOyl suggested it as AH and I along with a few others all partook of some canned pickled quail eggs brought back from Japan. The quail egg skewers here at Ping, needless to say, are much much better. It's a perfect bacon and egg bite.

In addition, we shared bowls of the bak kut teh (pork bone tea, served at lunch with the chow-mein-like noodles) and also the pet pha lo (stewed duck leg, served with wide rice noodles). The stewed duck leg in particular is one of my favorite dishes here at Ping, but I gotta say that the stewed pork knuckle, served over rice, gives it a run for its money.

It's incredibly aromatic, you get this really pleasing combination of five-spice plus pork, including some pieces of stewed pork skin. Growing up, my mother would often take leftover roast pork and make a lechon stew, so this was deliciously familiar. A tea egg and stewed mustard greens complete the dish. This pork knuckle ends up getting deep fried instead of stewed during dinner service, offering a brand of fusion rarely seen: Thai-German.

I seem to be coming in here about once a week for lunch, and there are still a handful things on the lunch menu I've not yet had, so I'm eager to return soon.

I'd love to go at dinner and get the whole knuckle entree sometime.

Yep, i loved all of it, especially the pork knuckle. Total comfort food, but so many different explosions going on in the mouth. Every bite was different.

Since it was my first time here, i was kind of steeling myself up for getting the waiter lecture as it has been noted often that they give a bit too much preamble to the dishes, but the food came swiftly and without much (if any comment) other than a few offerings of condiments and spices to augment the dishes.

A really nice lunch, and I think Sauce may be right in that it is a better lunch spot than dinner; just guessing since it was my first visit. It was pretty low-key and nice.

Food stop #2 (and overall stop #4, after leaving M-Bar and waiting at Davis Street Tavern for our table) was at Ping. I'd never ordered the miang kham เมี่ยงคำ at Ping yet, so it was a perfect time to try something new for myself in addition to sharing more great food. Unlike the spinach leaves used at Red Onion and Dang's, Ping uses the actual cha plu ช้าพลู betel leaves. The same usual array of finely chopped items were included: toasted coconut, tiny dried shrimp, peanuts, chile peppers, ginger, and lime.

By this time the troupe had grown to include Jarvitron and CO, and so you know various skewers like the "pope's nose" chicken butt, chicken livers, quail egg wrapped in bacon and fishball were lustily consumed, though by this point in the evening I had switched to whiskey so I was pretty ready to chow down on anything.

I wanted to post another photo of the pork knuckle served at lunch here at Ping. While I think their noodle dishes are their biggest strength (yeah fine skewers great), Ping does an excellent job with the ข้าวขาหมู khao kha muu, and it's certainly what I like to order when I'm feeling a bit noodled out.

khao kha muu (stewed pork hocks)

While the skewers (and Skewer-gate) got a lot of attention when Ping first opened, for me those dishes have been relegated to the backburner in favor of other menu items that are more fun, interesting and delicious. Here are two items of note from a trip last night:

One was the sliced and fried pork ears. These pig ears were quite addictive to eat, and didn't have the chewy texture I'd expected from my experience with pig ears in the past. On the contrary, it was light and crisp but meaty as well. It was served with a smoky and spicy dipping sauce that would go pretty damn well with any fried item as far as I'm concerned: I dipped the fried spring rolls in there too with tasty results.

The other is the Vietnamese style short rib. This is a cut of meat you'd normally find in at a Vietnamese com tam shop, served with "broken" rice, egg and a host of other meats. Here at Ping, it's another rich, meaty bar snack. Picking it up with a chopstick can be a bit unwieldly. My advice would be to let it cool off a bit then pick it up by the bone and eat it caveman style.

I haven't pulled the trigger yet on the specials menu, but it looks tasty. One is a Singaporean chili crab, likely the same buu phat phong kari served at Pok Pok which is amazing. The other is a duck breast, beef tongue and pork cheek dish. That's like the holy trinity right there! I've still not yet had the African chicken dish (available only at dinner), but you know I'm intrigued by it.

Ping's late night menu starts tonight. Among the things there will be their "Japa-dog" (familiar to those who've visited Vancouver BC). From their press release:

Named in honor of the Japanese hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, the Kobayashi Dog will feature an all-beef Sabrett frank, teriyaki grilled on a sesame bun, with wasabi mayo, cucumber sunomono, bonito flakes and toasted nori.

http://guiltycarnivore.com/2010/03/08/ping-2/

We had the lamb already…why not the beef? I am an equal opportunity, craven consumer of ungulate flesh, especially that of the artiodactyl. I assume one day I shall explore perissodactyls with the zeal and attention they deserve.