Rika Huang Photography

Habibi Restaurant, Portland, Oregon

http://www.habibirestaurantpdx.com

Habibi- Traditional Syrian-Lebanese Cuisine
1012 SW MORRISON
PORTLAND, OR 97204
503.274.0628
M-F: 11am-3pm | W-Sat: 5pm-9pm

My boyfriend and I went to Portland’s vegan-friendly Habibi restaurant about a few months ago during the early afternoon. We have always been wanting to try some vegan Lebanese foods these months, but we couldn’t find one. Overall, the restaurant was small and very nicely decorated and modern like. It was mostly clean and very laid-back.

We ordered two dishes: vegan falafel sandwich (falafel, lettuce, tomato, onion & tahini) and the vegan spinach pie (chopped spinach marinated in olive oil, lemon juice & secret spices mixed with onions & pines nuts and brushed with fresh pesto). The spinach pie was surprisingly salty and interesting, but it was a huge “calzone-like” pie, thought I would expected a Trader’s Joe vegan spinach pizza, but it was just a huge calzone-like pie! The falafel sandwich was unexpectedly boring; it was not even better than any other falafel sandwiches we had in Berlin or even Hamburg (Germany)! It was bland, tasteless, yet it was still healthy. The texture of the falafels was completely different, maybe mushy or fried in a way. My boyfriend has a thing for perfect falafels (crunchy, tasty, not mushy). I didn’t quite take a nice photo of my vegan spinach pie dish, unfortunately.

The total was $12 plus tips. We are a fan of Lebanese foods especially hummous and pitas, but we didn’t like it in the end because they weren’t that special. We knew we had authentic Lebanese foods somewhere else like Hamburg of Germany or elsewhere in Europe, but it would be absolutely fantastic if we have gone to Lebanon and try their authentic foods. Service was superb and quick as expected. I wouldn’t say it would be the best authentic Lebanese food ever served in the downtown Portland, but it would just okay and decent. But I wished these dishes were more flavourful and unique in the end.

For more information about Los Gorditos, go to the earlier post: HERE. The address is at: 2512 SE 12th Avenue Portland, Or 97202. It’s pretty good stuff, mates!

vegan foods at los gorditos