As the mercury continues to leap up the thermostat during this week's heatwave, it's definitely way too hot for warm food. Turning on the oven or stove? Out of the question. One surefire way to cool down: a refreshing meal of chilled noodles. We've compiled this list of cold, slurpable dishes for your consideration, from ramen dishes like tsukemen and salads to Korean specialties like naengmyeon. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide.
Afuri
The popular Tokyo import offers a cold, refreshing yuzutsuyu tsukemen, with chashu pork, a seasoned egg, bamboo shoots, yuzu, mizuna, scallions, sesame, chili oil, nori, and yuzu soy tsuyu sauce on the side for dipping.
Southeast, Beaverton
Pickup, delivery, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
Always Spring
Like
List
Located within a Korean grocery store, this pint-sized restaurant's seasonal menu includes mul-naengmyeon, a cold Korean soup with thin noodles, radishes, an egg, and sliced beef in an icy beef broth, as well as bibim-naengmyeon, a version with a spicy broth.
Beaverton
Pickup, delivery, or limited indoor seating
Boke Bowl
Like
List
Boke Bowl has reprised a seasonal favorite: its chilled sesame noodle salad, featuring chilled ramen noodles, lemon soy vinaigrette, greens, seasonal vegetables, pickled carrots and cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, crispy shallots, a sesame drizzle, and a hard-boiled soy sauce egg. Choose between smoked pork tenderloin or tofu.
Southeast
Pickup, delivery, or limited indoor seating
Baka Umai Ramen House
Like
List
Two cold noodle dishes grace this ramen shop's menu of June specials: hiyashi shoyu tsukemen (cold Hakata-style noodles served with a ponzu broth for dipping) and hiyashi miso chuka (Tokyo noodles with a cold shiitake mushroom-based broth). There's also a year-round menu of multiple brothless ramen dishes.
Southeast
Pickup, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
Gangnam Korean BBQ
Like
List
This Korean barbecue spot in Hillsboro also serves mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon.
Hillsboro
Pickup, delivery, or limited indoor seating
Hapa PDX
Like
List
The Japanese-Hawaiian ramen joint has introduced two summer menu items: tsukemen with chilled noodles, pork, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, an egg, and the "signature G special broth" for dipping, and a hiyashi chukka noodle salad featuring chilled ramen noodles, organic green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, an egg, and seasoned sprouts in a miso ginger dressing.
Southeast
Pickup, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
Izakaya Kichinto
Like
List
This izakaya's signature soba noodles, which are made fresh in-house daily, are available cold in a bonito and kombu broth.
Northeast
Pickup, delivery, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
JCD Korean Restaurant
Like
List
This Korean restaurant also offers both mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon, as well as makguksu, a similar dish from the Gangwon province of South Korea that uses more buckwheat in its noodles.
Beaverton
Pickup, delivery, or limited indoor seating
Kinboshi Ramen
Kinboshi's hazelnut hiyashi ramen is vegan and consists of house-made hazelnut milk, white sesame, bok choy, pickled purple cabbage, spicy mushrooms, roasted hazelnuts, sesame chili oil, and negi (Japanese long onions).
Southwest, Southeast
Pickup, delivery, outdoor seating, or limited indoor seating
Ramen Ippo
Like
List
This food truck is serving up a chilled noodle salad topped with mixed greens, cabbages, sweet corn, tomatoes, fried onions, and avocado, which is drizzled with a sesame dressing.
Northwest
Pickup or delivery
Toki
Like
List
The Han Oak
Like
List
sibling restaurant's take on bibim-guksu, a Korean cold noodle salad made with chilled somen (thin wheat noodles), also features kimchi marinated in pomegranate molasses, shaved vegetables, and nori. A gluten-free version is also available.
Southwest
Pickup, delivery, or outdoor seating