Oun Lido's

About Oun Lido's

Chef Bounahcree "Bones" Kim grew up eating Cambodian food that tasted like home — lemongrass, palm sugar, fermented shrimp paste — and Cantonese food that tasted like belonging. At Oun Lido's, his tiny counter on Market Street in the Old Port, he has found a way to make both memories edible. Esquire named it one of the best new restaurants in America in 2024, and the praise has not been wrong.

The menu is tight and personal. Spicy lemongrass beef skewers arrive fragrant and slightly charred, the kind of thing you eat standing up and immediately want another. The twice-fried lemon chicken is a revelation of crisp and sweet and sour. Mi goreng noodles with sweet soy curry and pickled shiitake carry the kind of layered depth that takes years to develop. The fresh rolls are made with Maine seafood and herbs that smell like the garden they came from. Nothing here is overworked. Everything is precise.

The space itself is still finding its feet — a counter downstairs, expanded seating upstairs, the unmistakable energy of something being built with intention. Kim and his co-founder Vien Dobui, a James Beard Award finalist from Cong Tu Bot, are doing the opposite of trying to impress. The cooking does it for them. This is the most exciting table in Portland for anyone willing to eat outside the expected.

Oun Lido's occupies a category of its own in Portland's dining scene. It is not a date restaurant in the traditional sense — there are no tablecloths, no sommelier, no theatre. But for a first date with someone who values discovery over spectacle, it is perfect: specific, surprising, alive with personality, and priced at a level that removes any financial pressure from an already charged evening.

Why Oun Lido's is Perfect for a First Date

A first date at Oun Lido's is a statement about who you are. You are not the kind of person who books the obvious restaurant. You know what Esquire wrote. You have been watching the Portland food scene. You chose a 30-seat room on Market Street because you want the evening to be about discovery, not performance. The shared plates format breaks down formality naturally — you try everything, you talk about what you're tasting, the conversation starts before it needs to. The bill will not alarm either of you. And you will both remember the lemon chicken.

Practical Information

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