A Taste of The Sweet Hereafter

Despite the fact that I live in Portland, I’m not a vegan nor am I a hipster. So when Sam asked me to try Sweet Hereafter, a new vegan restaurant on SE Belmont, I was doubtful and almost didn’t bring my camera along.

It turns out I have to give the man some credit. Sweet Hereafter is a pretty sweet (ha!) new joint in SE. It opened across from Zupans, where a slew of new restaurants and bars have opened. Sweet Hereafter was opened by the owners of the Bye and Bye, another classic Portland spot (and one of Sam’s favorite night time hangouts). Like the Bye and Bye, the Sweet Hereafter has:

1.    A catchy name
2.    Really rad décor
3.    A cool outside patio
4.    An interesting drink list
5.    Vegan-only cuisine
6.    Dim, mood-setting lighting
7.    Lots of really beautiful regulars

It's a good thing we were accompanied by Christine Matsuda Smith, the lovely lady behind Lilikoi and Thyme, who was visiting Portland for the week. Note: her fab blog is temporarily down, but the girl just finished planning a wedding so we'll give her some slack.

The outside patio was full by the time we arrived for dinner on a Tuesday night, so we ordered at the bar and then found a table inside the dimly lit bar. Sweet Hereafter has a unique list of beers on tap, plus a nice cocktail list that’s longer than the actual food menu.

Dinner items consist mostly of rice bowls that range from $7-$9. We also ordered chips and salsa for a few bucks extra. Not sure if we were just really hungry, but the chips were extra crunchy and the salsa seemed super fresh. It was a good start to the meal.

{Chips & Salsa}

I ordered the Jamaican Bowl – which was filled with brown rice, black beans, coconut kale and jerk tofu. We eat a lot of brown rice and beans at home, so it was the coconut kale made this dish really special. It wasn’t that the kale was so coconut-y, but that the extra coconut milk soaked onto the beans and rice for a really delicious and creamy bowl of goodness.

{Jamaican Bowl}

Mmm... I got hungry just uploading that image. Anway. Sam ordered the Eastern Bowl, which was made of brown rice, broccoli, peanut sauce and tofu. He ate the entire bowl – but claimed that the Jamaican Bowl was better.

{Eastern Bowl}

Christine was a bit more creative. Instead of ordering an entrée, she ordered a number of side dishes including rice, beans, tofu and chickpea salad. Despite beinga bit more plain, she was happy with her dinner with the exception of the chickpea salad, which she mentioned could have used more warm spices. I agreed that it was missing something.

{Chickpea Salad}

Although Portland is an affordable town, it can be tough to find inexpensive dinner spots. For roughly $10 per person, I have no doubt we’ll be back at the Sweet Hereafter soon. But, don't tell Sam he was right all along.