What Kind Of Food Do They Eat At Hawkers?

Urban Hawker was conceived, in part, by Anthony Bourdain—to bring Hainanese chicken rice and spicy chili crab to New Yorkers who didn’t have their own travel TV shows. The Singapore-style food hall is sandwiched between 50th and 51st, and it’s one of the best spots for an affordable lunch or dinner in Midtown, if you can lock down a table. It's like a game of musical chairs at prime meal-time, and there are currently 15 vendors, so here's the move: Designate one person to grab a table, another to get drinks from the Sling Bar, and then use this guide to narrow down which Southeast Asian specialties you want to try first.  

The pan-Asian restaurant Hawkers started as a small, hip, industrial-looking modern space on Mills Avenue, in what may be Orlando’s best neighborhood for dining out, Mills 50.  Since 2011, it has expanded into ten locations in multiple states, and for good reason: it’s terrific.  We’ve gone countless times since it opened, almost always to that original location.

Hawkers specializes in diverse street food specialties from China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, and more.  Portions are relatively small, so it’s a great place to go with a group and share lots of dishes.  And very few items on the menu are over $10, so you don’t have to worry too much or feel too guilty ordering more than one dish to sample new things.

Hawkers is a real treasure, and it has emerged as one of my favorite restaurants to bring out-of-town visitors — a perfect distillation of Orlando’s multicultural culinary scene, especially its Asian influences.  It has impressed good friends from far and wide when they come to visit, and in the meantime, it has become a safe, reliable place to bring my wife when one or both of us have a hard time deciding what sounds best.  If you want something healthy or heavy, meaty or veggie, cool or spicy, noodles or rice, soups or salads, and now even a sweet treat of a brunch, Hawkers will have something you like.

Easy Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef Recipe

For my most recent visit, I caught up with an old friend with connections to my old Miami friend group, who I then got to know better while we both studied in Gainesville.  I hadn’t seen him since 2006, which is insane.  In that time, we both met amazing women and got married, and he had kids.  It’s crazy!  Life happens.  He happened to be in Orlando for work that day and looked me up, hoping to meet for dinner and remembering I’m the guy who knows where to eat around here.  I was so glad to catch up with my old friend, and I knew Hawkers would be the perfect place to get together.  I have yet to meet anyone who isn’t amazed and astonished by it.

I also requested an order of Korean twice-fried chicken wings ($8), which are my favorite wings anywhere, ever.  My wife agrees, and so does my best food friend (BFF) who lives in Miami.  And now, so does this old friend.  These are huge wings, with the thickest, crispiest breading, slathered in a sticky, sweet, spicy, garlicky gochujang sauce and topped with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and fresh cilantro.  An order of five wings costs $8, and my friend liked them so much, he ordered more.
 These wings made my Orlando Weekly list of five favorite dishes of 2017.  They are perfect in every way.  They’re thick, meaty, juicy, crunchy, sweet (but not too sweet), and spicy (but definitely not too spicy).  I hate the tiny, dry, burnt-to-a-crisp sports bar wings that too many restaurants and bars serve, slathered in oily hot sauce designed to burn on the way in and the way out.  To me, there’s no point to even eating wings like that.  They’re just sad.  These Korean twice-fried wings are the opposite: pure happiness.

Mug Cake (Classic Chocolate & Apple Oats Cake)

Next up were the chicka-rones ($6), crispy fried chicken skins tossed in jerk seasoning.  The menu says these are Filipino-style.  I loved them, especially as a nice alternative to pork rinds (AKA chicharrones, hence the clever name of this dish), which can sometimes be too hard to bite through, or so crunchy they can shred the inside of your mouth.  For the first time ever, I recently fried up my own chicken skins at home into a crispy Jewish delicacy called gribenes, and rendered the fat (schmaltz) for cooking with later.  Fried chicken skins are so much lighter and less oppressive-feeling than pork rinds, so I’m definitely a convert.

My friend was craving something spicy, so he went with a dish I had never tried before: Kin’s prawn mee ($9), a hot noodle soup with spicy prawn broth, shrimp, chicken, wheat noodles, hard-boiled egg, yow choy (Chinese greens), bean sprouts, and fried shallots.  He was sweating, but he loved it.  I might order this in the future, since he was so enthusiastic about it.

And I also picked a new noodle dish, knowing those are always safe bets.  This was the Yaki udon ($8.50): thick and chewy udon noodles (always a favorite), chicken, eggs, onions, spring onions, and carrots.  It comes with bean sprouts too, but I am not the biggest fan, so I asked them to hold the bean sprouts — never a problem at Hawkers.  It had pretty mild heat, but it was pleasant.  We both enjoyed this one, and I’d totally order it again.  In the past, I have loved so many of Hawkers’ noodle dishes: curry-seasoned Singapore mei fun with chicken and shrimp, beef haw fun (with wide, flat noodles, similar to the beef chow fun I order at almost every Chinese restaurant that offers it), char kway teow, and spicy pad Thai.  Now I’m adding the Yaki udon to this all-star lineup.  The only problem in the future is what to choose: an old favorite or an exciting new possibility.  You can’t go wrong either way, trust me.

Anyway, I parted ways with my old friend after dinner, determined to keep in touch better and not let thirteen more years go by.  He seemed to really enjoy the restaurant and our menu selections, which I totally expected, but the last thing I ever want to do is recommend something that disappoints, staunch Saboscrivner subscribers included.  A bad meal always depresses me, because not only is it a bad meal, but there’s the opportunity cost of not being able to enjoy a good meal in its place.  I can safely say that Hawkers is a crowd-pleaser, and if you haven’t given it a chance yet, you won’t be sorry.

Hainanese chicken rice at Hainan Jones

I made a beeline for Hainan Jones, a stall in which Seetoh himself is involved, that specializes in Hainanese chicken rice, one of the most popular hawker dishes. It originated on an island off the south coast of China, and NYC already has several cafes specializing in various versions of it. This manifestation ($19) was a revelation: The steamed chicken so delicately spiced, the broth-soaked rice so rich, the chile sauce so orange and nuanced, that the dish was exceptional. I could eat it for lunch every day.

Easy Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe

Lontong at Padi

Next up was Padi, descended from a full-service Malay restaurant in Singapore. It showcased one of my favorite Malaysian and Indonesian ingredients, lontong. Like creamy white dum-dum bullets, compressed rice lozenges lie in a thick yellow chicken broth with boiled eggs and fish cake with crunchies on top. At $10.90 it was one of the better deals at Urban Hawker.

Stingray fried rice at Mr. Fried Rice

One stall, Mr. Fried Rice, specializes in multiple forms of the dish like tom yum and salmon teriyaki. The stingray fried rice ($17), though, was one of the best dishes we tried and very Singaporean — a fish wing heavily coated with a dark paste that burst with sour, salty, sweet, and fishy flavors.

White bee hoon at White Restaurant

White Restaurant is descended from a restaurant that was founded as a hawker stall in 1999. Its specialty is white bee hoon, a dish of fine rice noodles (“bee hoon”) in a pale broth said to be simmered for eight hours. The dish is stoked with egg, squid, and shrimp and comes alive with added chile sauce. (Most things we tried at Urban Hawker were well seasoned but not as spicy as we’d hoped.)

Cherry And Almond Crumble Recipes

Murtabak and lamb biryani at Mamak’s Corner

The stall that excited us most as lunchtime customers began to throng the space was Mamak’s Corner, which presents Indian food as it has been adapted on the Malay peninsula. Everyone is probably familiar with roti canai (a flatbread with a small serving of chicken curry), but that dish represents a whole class of recipes that include murtabak ($13), a roti folded around a filling of ground meat and egg presented with a chunky peanut sauce. The lamb biryani ($16) was also fab, more like a lamb curry poured over pilaf rice, with an elusive flavor that hinted of camphor. Dosas were also available, but we were already feeling stuffed.

Chicken with peanut sauce and roti john at Ashes Burnnit

Ashes Burnnit is a chain that specializes in burgers and other sandwiches, including a chicken breast slathered with peanut sauce ($13) that was pretty good and very filling. The roti john ($12) is also intriguing, a gut buster filled with a shaved-beef omelet and various sauces, the appearance of which slightly scared us before we tried it. It proved nearly impossible to eat.

Newbie? 5 Things To Try At Hawkers Street Fare

Korean Twice Fried Wings

These super crispy wings are sauced in garlic gochujang and topped with peanuts, sesame and cilantro. Even my 5 year devours them. I highly recommend getting them as is. However, substitute as you see fit. I never go here without ordering these.

Tips for Perfectly Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake

Thai Iced Tea

If you’re wanting to be booze free, give the Thai Ice Tea a go. This classic treat is slightly sweet but packs the traditional asian flavor it should. Make sure you have it topped with whipped cream and whatever they sprinkle on top.

Roti Cani

This Malaysian fried flat bread is heavenly. You know how you get dinner rolls or bread at a fine dining restaurant? This is that when it comes to Hawkers Street Fare. I don’t know what the signature ingredients are, but it’s highly addictive. If you’re dining with someone, have them get their own, this is one of those dishes that’s hard to share. Don’t be afraid of the curry sauce that comes with it. Rip, dip, and repeat.

Best Cherry and Almond Crumble Recipe

Chicken Lo Mein

Yes, I’m sure you’ve had chicken lo mein and just about every Chinese spot you can think of. But there is something about the authentic taste of the Hawkers version. Made with sliced chicken and veggies and tossed in a traditional sauce, this dish is delish. Another fave of my daughter.

Chow Faan

If you’re not into noods, give this house fried rice a try. Classic fried rice packed with chicken, shrimp, char siu, eggs, onions and soy sauce. It’s tasty and sure to leave with you with a happy tummy.

A Few Things To Know Before You Go. If You Haven’t Already Been Of Course.

Weekends and evenings are BUSY. There are no reservation meaning you’ve got to wait it out I’ve waited as long as 45 mins, it’s well worth the wait.

They are a credit card only establishment. cash is not king here. Be sure to bring plastic to pay.

Everything is made to order and comes out as it is ready. It’s not uncommon to get things at random. Be patient, this is the way it works.

Wrapping Things Up: Hawkers Street Fare

Whether you’ve been to Hawkers 100 times or never, this place has proven its self through the test of time. If you’re not in Jacksonville, their flagship location is in Orlando Florida. They have popped up every where from Florida to North Carolina, and they now have a location in Dallas, Texas. Visit them online to find a location near you and to learn more about this bomb unique eatery.