po piah (fresh spring rolls with yambean, shredded omelette, tofu, cucumber,
mince, crispy shallots and chilli paste)
Lots of people have blogged about Hawker. I read, I drooled, my eyes fell out of my head. I could not wait to get my face into the apam balik, rojak, po piah and the supposedly amazeballs assam laksa. I mean, I’m Malaysian and all that, but I really love Malaysian food. Despite the fact that I can’t actually cook any of it (oh wait, I did make char kuay teow that one time!) we eat Malaysian at least once a week and really the point is, if there’s a good new place, I wanna know about it.
So with the hype under my belt, we checked out Hawker last weekend… and I was… not blown away.
lo bak (deep fried five spice pork rolls, prawn cakes and taro fritters)
Ok, so the lo bak was good. The prawn cakes were awesome. Some places give you just the pork rolls without the extra bits but it’s the bits, people, it’s the prawn cakes and taro fritters that make this popular hawker dish and this Hawker got it right.
rojak (salad of fresh yambean, fried tofu, cucumber, pineapple, guava,
dough crisps, coated in a dark sticky sauce and chilli paste)
The rojak was also good but you know, I’m a bit lenient on rojak. Anything doused in this sauce I’ll lick up off the floor. Maybe.
wat tan hor (stir fried rice noodles in a thick egg gravy
with prawns, pork slices and choy sum)
Meh. Average. My girl friend who normally loves wat tan hor didn’t rate it.
assam laksa (thick rice noodles in a spicy, sour and pungent fish-based soup,
with shredded fish, fresh cucumber, lettuce, pineapple and mint)
Oh the assam laksa. Stab me through the heart. This was what I really wanted to try, given it’s one of my all time favourite everything, and I’d heard so many good reviews about it. But it was all wrong. The thick soup, which I prefer clear, ruined it for me.
apam balik (crispy ‘turnover’ pancake with crushed peanuts, butter and creamed corn)
And oldie but goodie. As a child, I could never walk pass an apam balik stall at the pasar malam, and as a adult, I can’t go pass one on a menu. The more peanuts, butter and creamed corn the better. It was a bit skint on this one but I am terribly forgiving when it comes to apam baliks (not so much assam laksa), and I probably could have had two more serves to myself.
So all in all it evened out. Three good dishes (lo bak, rojak and apam balik) and three average (wat tan hor, assam laksa and po piah). Oh, I didn’t talk about the po piah. It was fine, they were nice and full, but my dad makes a better po piah any day Would I go back to Hawker? Sure I would, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over it and certainly wouldn’t queue too long for it.
Hawker
Shop G.02, 345B-353 Sussex Street,
Sydney, NSW, 2000
(02) 9264 9315
website
