Bhuna (restaurant)

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Bhuna
Bhuna logo.png
Portland, Oregon, US - August 2025 - 404.jpg
The restaurant's exterior, 2025
Bhuna (restaurant)
Restaurant information
Food type Kashmiri (Indian)
Street address704 Northwest 21st Avenue
CityPortland
CountyMultnomah
StateOregon
Postal/ZIP Code97209
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 45°31′40″N122°41′39″W / 45.5279°N 122.6942°W / 45.5279; -122.6942

Bhuna is an Indian restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Northwest District, in the United States. [1] [2] [3] Established by chef Deepak Kaul in 2018, Bhuna has been described as the city's first Kashmiri restaurant. [4]

Contents

Description

The Indian restaurant Bhuna operates on 21st Avenue in northwest Portland's Northwest District. Eater Portland has described the business as a "blue-tinged, window-lined" [5] and "sparsely decorated fast-casual spot". [6] The interior has blue-green walls and white subway tiles. [7]

Bhuna serves "Kashmiri soul food" such as rice bowls with kholrabi and collards with Kashmiri dried chilies, lamb rogan josh with black and green cardamom, and chickpea-fried calamari. [8] Among cocktails are negronis, old fashioneds, palomas, and rum lassis. [9]

History

Chef Deepak Kaul started Bhuna as a pop-up restaurant at Culmination Brewing in 2018, [10] [11] before moving into a brick and mortar space on 21st Avenue on October 17; [4] [12] the space had previously housed Dick's Kitchen. [13] [14] Like many restaurants, Bhuna operated via take-out at times during the COVID-19 pandemic. [15] In 2023, Bhuna celebrated its fifth anniversary by hosting a potluck party featuring dishes from other local chefs. [16] For Diwali, the restaurant hosted a candle- and lamp-lit dinner after sundown. The dining room had a shrine to the Hindu gods Ganesha and Lakshmi, and the menu included gulab jamun, kheer, cardamom chocolate chip cookies, and mango kulfi. [17]

Reception

Chicken Chettinad with rice BhunaChickenChettinad.jpg
Chicken Chettinad with rice

Kaul won in the Chef of the Year category of Eater Portland's annual Eater Awards in 2018. [18] Nick Woo included the Chettinad chicken in the website's 2019 list of thirteen "stellar" curries in the city, [19] and Waz Wu recommended Bhuna in a 2021 overview of recommended restaurants for "standout" vegan curries. [20] Eater Portland's Brooke Jackson-Glidden included the masoor dal in a 2022 list of sixteen "sick day delivery standbys to order" in the city, [21] and Ron Scott included the business in a 2024 overview of "exceptional" Indian food in the Portland metropolitan area. [22] Rebecca Roland included Bhuna in the website's 2025 overview of Portlnad's best Indian food. [23]

In 2019, Willamette Week called Bhuna "a boon to the Portland area's small but vital group of worthwhile Indian restaurants", [24] and Portland Monthly said the restaurant had "the ambiance of a Chase Bank lobby, but don't let that stop you from sampling its simple, spice-laden bowls". [25] Krista Garcia included Bhuna in The Infatuation 's 2024 list of the city's best restaurants. [26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Acclaimed Pop-Up Bhuna Finds a Permanent Home for Its Addictive North Indian Cuisine". Willamette Week. November 28, 2018. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  2. ↑ Walsh, Chad. "Deepak Kaul's Bhuna, and His Unlikely Path into the Restaurant World". Portland Mercury. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  3. ↑ Piech-Gitenstein, Nicole; Gitenstein, Eric (June 1, 2020). Portland, Oregon Food Crawls: Touring the Neighborhoods One Bite and Libation at a Time. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4930-4569-3. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (October 15, 2018). "Portland's First True Kashmiri Restaurant Opens Wednesday". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  5. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (December 22, 2017). "Jaw-Dropping Happy Hours Spotted Across Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  6. ↑ Reed, Conner (November 15, 2019). "How Eater Portland's 2018 Chef of the Year Redefined Indian Dining on His Own Terms". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  7. ↑ Russell, Michael (December 19, 2018). "13 new Portland restaurants you should know about right now". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  8. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (August 28, 2018). "The 10 Most Anticipated Openings in Portland This Fall". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  9. ↑ Frane, Alex (January 15, 2021). "14 Portland Bars and Restaurants Still Offering Cocktails To-Go". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  10. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (March 20, 2018). "A Bunch of Pop-Ups and Carts Are Finding New Homes". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  11. ↑ "You Can Now Eat Spicy, Funky, Kashmiri Soul Food at One of Portland's Best Breweries". Willamette Week. March 7, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  12. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (October 18, 2018). "NW Portland Explodes With Three New Spots in One Day". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  13. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (July 30, 2018). "Indian Pop-Up Bhuna Will Find Its Own Home in Northwest Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  14. ↑ Walsh, Chad. "Deepak Kaul's Bhuna, and His Unlikely Path into the Restaurant World". Portland Mercury. Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  15. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (March 16, 2020). "Where to Find Takeout and Delivery During Portland's COVID-19 Outbreak". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  16. ↑ Wong, Janey (October 13, 2023). "Salt and Straw Will Open on the Vancouver Waterfront in 2024". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on January 2, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  17. ↑ Wong, Janey (November 3, 2023). "Where to Celebrate Diwali in Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  18. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (December 5, 2018). "Portland's 2018 Eater Award Winners". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on January 26, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  19. ↑ Woo, Nick (July 25, 2019). "13 Stellar Curries in Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  20. ↑ Wu, Waz (February 8, 2021). "Where to Find Standout Vegan Curries in Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  21. ↑ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (January 5, 2022). "16 Sick Day Delivery Standbys to Order in Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  22. ↑ Scott, Ron (June 9, 2017). "Where to Find Exceptional Indian Food in Portland and the Nearby Suburbs". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  23. ↑ Roland, Rebecca (June 9, 2017). "Where to Find the Best Indian Food in Portland". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2025.
  24. ↑ "The Top Five Places to Eat in Portland This Week". Willamette Week. January 16, 2019. Archived from the original on January 17, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Where to Eat This Week: Jan 23–29". Portland Monthly. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  26. ↑ "The 24 Best Restaurants In Portland, Oregon 2024 - Portland, OR". The Infatuation. January 21, 2022. Archived from the original on April 6, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
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