Baon Kainan is a Filipino restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. It has garnered a positive reception.
Description
The restaurant Baon Kainan serves Filipino / Filipino-American[1] cuisine in Portland, Oregon. The business has operated from a food cart on Alberta Street called Alberta Carts,[2][3] and later on Couch Street in the north Portland part of the Kerns neighborhood.[4][5] Baon Kainan has used the tagline "Not your tita's cooking".[6][7] The restaurant's website says, "Our goal is to share our perspective on Filipino food through the lens of Filipino-Americans. Growing up predominantly in the U.S. and having a Filipino heritage makes our story unique but common to what second and third-generation Filipinos have experienced."[8]
The restaurant is owned by spouses Ethan and Geri Leung.[11] The business started as a pop-up in Seattle.[12] In 2021, the couple relocated to Portland and moved Baon Kainan to a lot at Metalwood Salvage on Northeast Prescott Street.[9]
Andrea Damewood of Willamette Week wrote, "While there are a few stellar representations of Filipino cooking around town, Baon Kainan's casual and boundary-expanding take on the classics fills a slot that's gone unfilled in Portland (and likely the Pacific Northwest)."[17] Michael Russell included the business in The Oregonian's overview of Portland's best new food carts of 2021.[18] Alex Frane included Baon Kainan in Thrillist's 2021 overview of Portland's "must-hit" restaurants.[19] Baon Kainan was named Cart of the Year by Portland Monthly in 2021.[20] The magazine's Katherine Chew Hamilton included the business in a 2022 list of twenty food carts that define the city.[5] In 2024, Nick Woo and Janey Wong included Baon Kainan in Eater Portland's overview of the city's "most outstanding" food carts,[2] and The Infatuation's Krista Garcia also included the business in a list of Portland's best food carts.[21]