I think the world knows you go to Portland to eat! The hardest thing we found was finding the time and the stomach space to check out everywhere we wanted to. Spoiler alert: we didn’t get to. It seems Portland is a multi-visit city.

When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”

“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.

Breakfast in a new City is the best. It gets you out exploring early and if you pick the right places, gives you a glimpse into the real world of what life would be like there.

Jax and I like to pick places in some different neighborhoods to give a good look at what’s going on. So listed in order, not in amazingness, these are the places we tried (and I would go back to, for sure)

Fried Egg, I’m in Love: Pioneer Courthouse Square

This place ticked all the boxes!

✅ in the center of town and close by for 2 hungry girls coming off an early flight

✅ a great name

✅ a food truck/stall/shack/thingme

✅ breakfast sandwiches. I’m obsessed after my visit to Oz

✅ secret ingredients! Something called magic egg dust

It was delicious!!! It even distracted me from the fact that I was super cold, eating outside. From the steady stream of customers, I think it’s fair to say it’s a Portland favourite.

I got the Siracha Mix-a-lot. Not too spicy, great flavour. Messy as hell. You will need the napkins! Jax got Yolko Ono (how could you resist) which is sausage and egg with a pesto. I think this one was the winner. I honestly don’t know how people don’t eat here every day. And because it’s Portland, you can get everything vegetarian and gluten free.

City State Diner & Bakery: Kern

Wow, wow, wow. What a breakfast. I’m calling it guys: best biscuits in America. EVER!!! People keep looking at me weird ie the ‘I don’t think so’ face, but wait till you try them. SERIOUSLY AMAZING. If you think you know a better biscuit you’d better tell me where, because I’m not believing you until I try it!

City State it’s a bit outside the city center, not far in an Uber and definitely bike-able when it’s warm (we walked back it took about 40 mins, maybe more, I didn’t pay attention). They serve breakfast all day and you want to go. It feels like a place normal people go, and by that I mean you can observe Portland hipster in their natural habitat 😂.

We got the special omelette which had the loukankino sausage, mushrooms & peppers, the very nicely done potatoes on the side and of course a biscuit.

Also, the meatloaf. Ever since trying meatloaf in Palm Desert at Wilma & Frieda I am in the meatloaf bandwagon! This one did not disappoint! Why does meatloaf get such a bad rap? It was tender and full of flavour. Trust me, you want it.

Crap, I forgot we ordered a pancake too! What were we thinking! Not needed! But yum.

Of course, we had to roll out here and needed the walk back to the city to be able to breathe again.

Pine State Biscuits, Eliot (I think that’s the neighbourhood)

Can you go wrong with a place specializing in biscuits? They also seem to be big on fried chicken & gravy so I will have to get Al here.

This place was definitely in the category of local, tucked into an area surrounded by car sale lots, we were the only tourists in sight. They do have several locations though (often with a pizza place that is yum).

We went for traditional breakfast biscuits: eggs, sausage, bacon & cheese. They were huge. Literally could not get our mouths around them.

Oh, and we got a hash brown. So damn good. Also huge, I recommend the small which is what we got (about the size of a dinner plate). The biscuits were really good, but not the level of City State Diner who ate off the charts amazing.

Out the front they were setting up for bbq, so I think lunch time could be a good visit time for this place.