Buddha Bites

(Update on 9/12/11: Food Carts Portland informed me that Buddha Bites has closed)

Buddha Bites, located on SW 4th Ave. between Hall St. and College St., is a food cart selling organic, homemade food. They also offer several gluten-free items.

Buddha Bites has a fairly large menu, serving breakfast items all day (8:30 am to 5 pm on weekdays) and lunch for most of the day.

Breakfast menu

Lunch menu, part 1

Lunch menu, part 2

Lunch menu, part 3

Drinks/sweets menu

I ordered their mango curry lunch plate ($5.50): butternut squash, potatoes, mangoes, and coconut in a mild curry sauce, served over brown rice.

Mango curry served with brown rice

The dish was cooked fresh to order, which I really liked. A pretty large portion for $5.50.

The food was OK. The presentation looked boring, not much color on the plate and nothing that really made me "happy" to eat the dish. The potatoes, squash, and mango were cooked very well. The potatoes especially fell apart wonderfully in my mouth when I bit into them. A nice, slight sweetness from the mango here. It was indeed a mild curry flavor as advertised. I would have liked bolder curry flavor and a lot more spice to liven up the taste buds.

Perhaps I should have also added chicken or tempeh for an additional $1.50. I appreciated the nuttiness of the brown rice and the red quinoa (or barley) on top of the curry, but other than that, there was really no texture contrasts in the dish. The service was pretty straightforward, nothing to write home about there. I'd give this experience an average score. 5/10