Hawker Bar exterior, back garden & menus
Hawker Bar focuses on foods from Southeast Asia, with an emphasis on street food like skewers of chicken hearts dunked in sake and soy sauce. This space used to be the Sunburnt Calf, where many locals adored this bar to have a drink and conversation in this Prospect Heights neighborhood.
Cocktails No. 1 & 3
Their cocktails were very refreshing for the humid evening we were there. The No 1 (on right) made of 42 Below Vodka, Thai Basil infusion, rhubarb bitters, lemon juice, and soda. The No 3 Zu Bison Grass Vodka, lychee puree, fresh lime juice, Bundaberg Australian Ginger Beer was generally on the sweet side and had a nice zip from the ginger beer.
Skewers of Thai sausage, chili Montauk squid, chili cumin lamb
With our drinks, we had skewers of of Thai sausage, chili Montauk squid, and chili cumin lamb. Of the three, we liked the chili cumin lamb the most as it’s the most flavorful of the bunch and it was incredibly tender. The Thai sausage was fine but the yogurt sauce kind of distracts the flavors of the meat. The squid was cooked well that it’s chewy yet tender and it’s more of a mild kind of spicy.
The shrimp toasts were delicious, especially with the hoisin sauce glazed on top. The green mango salad with chili Montauk squid was very tasty – good amount of acid and refreshing. The squid, we found out, was a repeat of the skewer we had earlier.
I should note, I learned that what is considered “very spicy” on their menu is considered mild for my palate – and I can’t handle very spicy foods (especially if a habanero pepper is involved). Even the servers who told us of the sauces on the table, their spiciest was the coconut sambal – and it’s more of a flavorful sauce with a twinge of smoky kick.
Clay pot chicken
The clay pot chicken was a soup-y version of braised chicken dish. It felt nourishing as we ate it since the clear chicken soup was flavorful and we do like the accompaniments of enoki and fresh shiitake mushrooms, bitter Asian greens, and perfectly hard boiled egg with lots of shredded chicken on the bottom of the large bowl.
We did like the Wrap and Roll, a take of the Korean ssäm. There’s leaves of butter lettuce and small rounds of freshly made roti served with various fillings to top them with like crispy Thai duck, shrimp, fresh mint and parsley, avocado puree, pickled carrot and daikon. This was a fun dish and it was delicious.
The Hawker Bar is a very good spot to have a fun time to have a well made drink or beer and have decent Asian inspired bar food if you’re around the neighborhood.
To view more photos of this meal, please view the slideshow below (or CLICK HERE for my photo set):
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Information:
Hawker Bar
Official website
611 Vanderbilt Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Map
Phone:(347) 915-1000
