Kinta Restaurant on Belmont

Posted By Lauren

Kinta Restaurant, a Malaysian inspired restaurant, is located on the ground level of that very authoritatively new looking apartment building on Belmont, called the Belmont Street Lofts. The building screams, ‘I am the future of Portland and “The Future of Portland” is not limited to the Pearl anymore.’ Kinta Restaurant shares the ground floor of this looming chic building with a necessarily hip salon called KOiPOD.

I hardly ever see anyone in Kinta Restaurant. I don’t think they’ve done a very good job of advertising and their street presence needs some work. They have fairly large windows, but they don’t put anything very attractive near the windows to draw people in. Also, KOiPOD is so blindingly bright, I think it eclipses the Kinta Restaurant almost totally. Right now, what Kinta has in the window is a fake Christmas tree which gives the restaurant a homely homey appearance, incongruous with the modern exterior.

It also belies the modern interior. Once I finally ventured in, I was completely and pleasantly surprised. The first thing to catch my eye was strings of little orange lights across the ceiling. Each light is surrounded by white petals. The dark green ceiling looked like it was covered in tiny glowing orchids. Except for the ceiling, the restaurant is painted in strictly warm colors: reds, yellows, and oranges. Local Asian-inspired art is presented for sale. This month, an artist with a love affair with the color red is showing paintings of beautiful white flowers (that go well with the little ones on the ceiling). The big hang up in the restaurant’s interior design is the kitchen located in the center of the room. This wouldn’t be a bad thing if the kitchen was exciting looking, but it’s quite reminiscent of my elementary school cafeteria: lots of steel, sneeze protection glass, little plastic bins holding food, etc.

Despite the functional eyesore in middle of the restaurant, I’m charmed by Kinta. The restaurant has such a vibrant interior in contrast to the gloomy appearance in its windows. I’m not sure how it’s possible to look so different from the outside.

3450 SE Belmont St
(503) 234-2623
www.kintarestaurant.com
Careful, the webpage automatically plays New Age sounding music.

There is a coupon for Kinta Restaurant in the Chinook Book.

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