Wajan

Restaurant · Portland, Oregon, United States

About Wajan

Wajan opened on East Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon's North Tabor neighborhood in June 2019, taking over a space that had previously housed the Laurelhurst Cafe and, before that, Mike's Drive-In. Chef Feny Lim runs the kitchen and co-owns the restaurant with business partner Ross Grimes, who oversees its bar program.

The restaurant has drawn sustained attention from Portland's food press since before it even opened. Eater Portland covered the concept in December 2018, months ahead of its debut, and Willamette Week later named Wajan one of two restaurants making the case that Indonesian cuisine was poised to become a major presence in Portland dining. That attention has continued over the years since: Fodor's included Wajan among the city's fifteen best restaurants in a 2024 list, and Eater Portland has described the menu as a tour through Indonesia's most familiar dishes, citing gado gado and rendang by name.

The dining room reflects the concept directly, with murals depicting Jakarta's Kota railway station and Javanese wayang hand puppetry, woven mats overhead, and a sign reading Selamat Makan, meaning roughly enjoy your meal. Dishes on offer include banana, coconut rice, and corn fritters; stir fried pork belly with potato; curry stews; shaved ice; a nasi campur built around curried jackfruit, green beans, eggplant, hard boiled egg, fried tempeh, and rice crackers; and teri kacang, a garlic, palm sugar, peanut, and shallot preparation. In 2024 the owners opened a second, snack focused restaurant nearby called Pasar, widely described in local press as Wajan's sister establishment.

The restaurant operates Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 2:30pm and again from 4:00 to 8:30pm, and Friday through Sunday continuously from noon to 8:30pm; it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. It can be reached by phone at (503) 206-5916 or by email at [email protected], and further information is available at wajanpdx.com. Wajan fills a real gap in the directory's US restaurant coverage, which previously had no listing anywhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Address

4611 East Burnside Street, Portland, Oregon, United States

Opening hours

Wednesday
12:00 PM - 2:30 PM, 4:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Thursday
12:00 PM - 2:30 PM, 4:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Friday
12:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Saturday
12:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed

Contact

Category

Indonesian Restaurant in United States

More Indonesian Restaurant in United States