Babylon Iraqi

This cart seems under-​represented on Unilocal.I have thought about eating here a few times but hadn’t yet tried it as I was hoping more people would give a review so I could find out more before taking the dive. Then I realized something… that’s my job!
So last week I decided to try the Kufta Over Rice dish. Kufta (or as many mid-​eastern places spell it Kofta) is essentially a seasoned meatball or meatloaf. It is served with lightly sauteed onions and tomatoes over a bed of rice. Along with sides of hummus, tzatziki, and a small salad to round out the meal. Overall I was pretty impressed by the flavor of the food and I had them add their garlic and hot sauces over the top (which were a good addition I think). It’s on par with many other dishes of the same style I have had elsewhere.
I returned today and tried the Lamb Over Rice, which comes with the same sides as my Kufta did (minus tomatoes and onions). The lamb was thin cut, moist, and had good flavor. I couldn’t resist the garlic and hot sauces again so they were definitely used to top off the food. Another good meal down! I will certainly have to try their gyro (based on another recent review and my own experiences) so I see many opportunities to taste test their food in my near future.

I believe this business has either changed its name or a new business has taken its place. Receipts show Babylon Iraqi but it’s Al Mustafah from the advertisement outside and on the food cart. Couldn’t find it on Unilocal but it let me check in here???
One of the coolest things about Portland was that there were food stalls and food stands on every block. That’s an exaggeration but I love street food and Portland has it. Not really food trucks like LA but more of… food stalls/​stands. This was my/​our first night out in Portland and we decided to go get dinner to eat after a long day of driving (LA-​Portland in 15 hours) and a local bar. We walked to this food cart and it had all the good Mediterranean goodies like shawarma, rice plates, hummus, plus fries and others. It was located on a block, next to other food carts with other types of cuisines but they were closed that night.
I went with the lamb gyro and paid with card. The man who took my order made a joke about accepting cards instead of cash only only because I didn’t look drunk or something. LOL. The price was quite affordable. The lines were quick even though there were plenty of people ordering and waiting for their food. When it came out, oh man, it was delicious. Everything was just oozing into each other. The pieces of lamb were tender and had lots of flavor. The sauce (yogurt-​tahini sauce I assume) just pieced every veggie and meat of the gyro together and the pita bread was just soft enough. It was a heaven on a bite. We found seating right in front of the carts on the stone benches and began going at it. There were some people begging for money which made it really uncomfortable.
It was a really good gyro and Mediterranean food overall. I would come back if I were in Portland again.

In the midst of a lot of other food trucks sits Babylon Iraqi, with Mediterranean/​Iraqi offerings up for grabs. The initial reason we stopped here was that a number of the other food trucks alongside this one were closed or closing up, despite its being pretty early on a Saturday evening on St. Patrick’s Day weekend…
Okay, we figured. We’ll bite. We got a falafel, hummus, a gyro plate and a couple other items. First off, the order got kind of jumbled (we ordered a couple different plates, but were served and charged for one). Not too terrible a deal and we ended up getting what we wanted in the end. In terms of the food, the falafel was good, the gyro meat was okay, the hummus was also pretty good. We weren’t wowed by everything, but we were satisfied enough. It was decent food and the fact that they were staying open later than the others got them our business.
It’s good stuff, I couldn’t complain. Priced fine, served up quick. Pretty simple, would prob go to another truck next time, just because I would be curious about the other offerings and it wasn’t a must-​have meal.