How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Hawkers
$$
225 E. 14th St. (between Second and Third avenues)
hawkersnyc.com | 212.982.1688
Despite the gourmet truck boom and the billions of Halal food carts dotting every corner, New York (and the U.S. as a whole) doesn't have a well-developed street food scene like much of the rest of the world does. Enter Hawkers, a new restaurant headed by Malaysian-born Chef Meng and inspired by memories of the street food "hawkers" he grew up around.
While the dishes themselves may be throwbacks to the streets of Southeast Asia, Hawkers is an ever-so-slightly more formal dining experience. A U-shaped bar takes up most of the narrow room — a simple setup that, along with the open-air facade, really helps the place feel a bit like a casual bar on the street. The stool seating isn't exactly conducive to intimate moments or groups trying to make conversation, further adding to the bar vibe. The decor is a little loud, featuring colored chandeliers and orange walls spray painted with silhouettes of trendy people dancing while drinking absurdly large martinis.
I ordered the crispy duck buns ($6.75) and drunken noodles ($11.75). The duck buns were stuffed with vegetables, so each bite yielded a fresh crunch. The Hoisin sauce used on them was tangy without being too sweet, while the bun itself was delightfully pillowy. It was a surprisingly filling dish that would work well as a snack with a few drinks — especially considering Hawkers' extensive beer and wine list. The drunken noodles were more meal-sized and had a perfectly gummy texture. They were spicy, but not unbearably so, as drunken noodles often are.
The service was prompt and my glass of water was always full. But while I was there, I noticed that everyone else seemed to be more interested in the restaurant's PBRs than the food. That's a shame. You can get PBR anywhere, but good street food — or, in this case, street food-inspired dishes — is a much rarer thing indeed.
