| rev:text
| - I'd say it's a 3.5/5 Review.
I discovered Hawker Bar one day as I passed by the Ossington strip learning that the Crepe place that was there before had closed down.
Tables are seated with tall barstools or re-purposed tree stumps used as seats; Not the most comfortable but he decor is somewhat to be expected from trendy Ossington. I do appreciate that they now added a bench by the window which looks a lot more comfortable than those stumps.
Since my first visit to Hawker Bar I've visited it at least 4-5 more times; so my review will primarily be about my food experiences in each of my visits.
In my first visit I was greeted and seated with cardboard menus; the menu itself isn't very big on selections but it offers a wide enough variety for an establishment of this scale. Upon looking at the menu I was immediately drawn to the Hainanese Chicken Rice dish. I've had this dish before in other "Asian" restaurants and it's usually a pretty safe and tasty dish. Needless to say the poached chicken was succelent and juicy, and the accompanying sauces (sticky sweet soy and homemade chili sauce) paired very well with the dish. I finished my meal with dessert, the ice Kacang. It was interesting eating flavoured bits of ice from various syrups, which would be new experience to some. I, on the otherhand, was neither impressed nor unimpressed by it.
On my next visit, I was a little bit more adventurous and tried their seafood special which was a whole deep fried Sea Bream drizzled with sticky soy sauce and paired with a Banana Blossom slaw. The fish was very meaty and juicy also and the slaw provided a much needed crisp that contrast with the crunchy fish.
On my third visit I decided to try the Hawker Laksa Lemak, a coconut curry soup with rice noodles, snow peas, eggplant, red pepper and puffy tofu; and I added chicken to mine. This dish however wasn't as exciting for me. I found the coconut soup a little too tart that it was hard to really distinguish the flavours of the other ingredients.
On my fourth visit I ordered the Rendang Curry which had coconut rice and braised ox cheeks. Before ordering I remembered my experience with the Laksa Lemak and inquired whether it used the same curry base. The server happily helped me adjust the curry to a flavour I could enjoy more which I greatly appreciated. However, I found that in general I wasn't a fan of the coconut rice, and it was too dessert-like for my tastes. It was a great dish all around, but it wasn't suitable to my palette.
On my fifth visit, I decided to try another of their seafood dishes, the "Singapore style" noodles. This is a twist another very safe and common asian dish, but I found it was a very alluring innovation. The shrimps are juicy and plump, the noodles were tossed in a very flavourful range of spices, it was certainly a delight to eat.
Finally in my most recent visit I had went back to try the Hainanese Chicken again. This time I ordered a side of Yellow Soy broccoli to broaden my diet. The broccoli itself was a bit disappointing. The soy mixture is flavourful and reminded me of miso, however the way they prepared the broccoli seemed lacking. It was explained to me that they boil the broccoli then sautee it with the sauce I assume. However, it seemed the boiling process may have made the broccoli lose it's crispiness/crunchiness. I think the dish would have been more successful with a little less boiling to remain a firmer texture for the broccoli.
All in all, I love the new addition of Hawkerbar to the Ossington strip. It provides a very different type of menu to the area and I always try to recommend people to give it a try!
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