We Have Cantonese Rice Rolls in Portland? Yes. In the Jade District. They're phenomenal. by Andrea Damewood If you poll a New Yorker—or more likely, they’ll offer you their opinion—there are many foods Portland cannot offer a good substitute for. You’ll mostly hear bagels and pizza, but the sleeper vote? Cantonese rice rolls. This street food delicacy, also known as cheung fun, is a street food in China that exploded in popularity in NYC over the last decade. It’s understandable why: Cheung fun in its true, freshly-handmade form is miles away in texture and quality from the rice rolls you’ll find languishing on a dim sum cart. And now there’s one place to get them in Portland—Steam Rice Roll King in the Jade District. The bright orange building is hard to miss, and the parking lot is generally pretty packed. Steam Rice Roll King's bright orange exterior. SUZETTE SMITH Contrary to the name, what you’re after on the menu will be called the stone rice noodle roll, which denotes the rice being stone-ground in house. This creates the rice milk that becomes the foundation of your rice roll. There is a steam rice noodle roll category on the menu as well; do not be fooled. Whereas most dim sum places feature frozen premade rice rolls with shrimp, here the menu opens into a panoply of cheung fun adventures, each freshly steamed in a square pan and served piping hot. The result is a noodle that is slightly thicker than its dim sum counterpart, and far more toothsome in texture. Upon arrival, you’ll be handed a delicious warm housemade soy milk while you ponder your next moves. While the fresh rice noodles themselves are phenomenal, the fillings are where you really get to take Steam Rice Roll King for a walk. Prices range from about $5 to $11 per order, so order to meet your whims and appetites.  Consider the five spice beef brisket: the meat is braised to a soft tenderness, rolled between the just-cooked noodles and doused in a light, sweet soy sauce blend. It is the equivalent of a weighted blanket for your weary taste buds. I was pleasantly surprised by the Spam stone rice roll, which featured small strips of salty, tender processed pork offset by ample, fresh green onion. It is perhaps the most delicate and nuanced presentation of Spam I’ve had the pleasure to eat. A sweet corn roll gives pops of kernels in the soft noodles, and the egg rice roll is perfect for your morning needs. Egg Rice Roll (left), Steam Rice Roll King's orange interior (right) SUZETTE SMITH The menu’s stable of congee (rice porridge) and noodle soups are also lovely. An order of the pork bone congee to share with two or three rice rolls makes for a nice rainy little morning. That being said, the lo mein and other fried snack dishes are largely forgettable, but they’re not what you’re here for anyway. Steam Rice Roll King has already seen some action from TikTok-ers, and word is the line gets pretty long during weekend brunch hours. Lucky for us, it’s open every day except Monday until 9:30 pm—I’ve never had a problem swinging by on a Tuesday at 1 pm.  While we may not have the millions of humans crammed onto a tiny island necessary to support dozens of cheung fun shops like New York, I’m 100 percent positive that Portland can keep Steam Rice Roll King packed for years to come. Look for me there during off hours with far too many plates for my li'l table. Steam Rice Roll King, 11003 SE Division, Tues-Sun 9:30 am-10 pm, (971) 346-2038, steamricerollking.com