Hawkers Asian Street Food

Grab a seat at one of the wooden booths where the tables are covered by Chinese newspapers and the only tools are chopsticks and paper napkins.

June 30, 2024

Sucheta Rawal,

Bright and Appealing: Hawkers’ BeltLine location has an outdoor patio. | Photo credit: Hawkers Asian Street Food

While walking along the BeltLine trail in Old Fourth Ward, you’ll detect the scent of spices simmering in hot chili oil as you approach a restaurant with red neon signs, hanging greenery and colorful walls decked with giant Japanese hand fans and busy posters. The expanded patio is filled with walkers, runners and bikers stopping for a drink at the vibrant indoor/outdoor bar. Some sip on carefully crafted cocktails and hang out with friends, while others play table tennis. Loud pop music playing in the background elevates the vocal pitch. This scene may feel like it’s out of the streets of Bangkok or Penang, but it is the backdrop of a popular restaurant called Hawkers Asian Street Food.

Four friends – three of whom have roots in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Vietnam – opened the first Hawkers in Orlando in 2011 and now have multiple locations in seven states from Maryland to Texas. The name is a tribute to the hawker street-food stalls found in countries throughout Asia. The BeltLine location has been a big hit since the beginning but had to close from summer 2021 until April 2024, due to mechanical issues that led to a grease fire.

Chicken lo mein is a customer favorite.

The atmosphere makes Hawkers a lively place to stop for a bite after a walk or work. Designed to elicit street scenes from around Southeast Asia, the restaurant has attention-grabbing views throughout, including lanterns in different shapes and colors in the dining room, manga posters in the bathrooms and crafted-wood wall dividers. Grab a seat at one of the wooden booths where the tables are covered by Chinese newspapers and the only tools are chopsticks and paper napkins.

The broad menu, which changes seasonally, also reflects what you would typically find at hawker stalls – dumplings, soups, skewers, noodles, rice, curries, etc. The dishes are cooked in woks, from scratch, and served swiftly. Order a few small plates to share – the ground-chicken-stuffed, deep-fried curry empanadas have a nice crisp crust, and the Sichuan wontons offer a balance of crunchy peanuts and fiery red chili in its fragrant brown sauce. The steamed buns are a bit dense in the Seoul hot chicken bao, but the dish’s deep-fried chicken thighs have a tasty sweet and spicy coating. The spiced lamb street skewers are rubbed with a delightful mix of cumin, coriander, fennel and Sichuan peppercorns.

Bountiful Banquet: Drinks include Hibiscus Fizz and Tiger Tail, served in Ziploc-style plastic containers.

For a lighter option, try the shrimp summer rolls stuffed with chilled rice noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, carrots, mint and basil, accompanied by a thick peanut sauce for dipping. My personal guilty pleasure is the Penang poutine – how can you go wrong with salty French fries topped with spicy Penang sauce and melted cheese curds?

Larger plates include curry duck noodles, crispy pork belly and Korean BBQ steaks. While the restaurant was sold out of tofu and duck when I visited (which is typical after a weekend’s heavy traffic), my Singapore Mei Fun hit the spot. Made with thin, curry rice noodles, wok-fried with sliced onions, bell peppers, eggs and chicken, the dish was fragrant and lightly spiced.

The seasonal Pan Asian-influenced small plates offer a variety of vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, and there are homemade desserts that you don’t want to miss. Soft serve ice cream flavors rotate regularly. My rice and deep purple ube flavors were light and refreshing. The Jo-He Bag O’Donuts dusted in powdered sugar came in a paper bag with a side of rich, salted caramel sauce. They reminded me of New Orleans-style beignets.

Fun Vibe: The seasonal menu includes a variety of options, including Po Po Lo’s curry, Singapore chili crab bao, Chinese BBQ pork baos, curry empanadas, Penang poutine, and, in the center of the table, Sichuan tonkatsu ramen top left; restaurant interior has decor from different countries in Asia, top right; customers enjoy roti canai, a Malaysian-style flatbread servedwith curry sauce, above.

Every dish at Hawkers is served on some random plating – in baskets, steel pans, ceramic plates and paper bags. Even the cocktails are poured into fun flutes and tumblers. The lemongrass mojito is literally in a Ziploc-style plastic bag, evoking memories of walking the busy streets of Bangkok with my Thai iced coffee bags. If you are a fan of the classic Old Fashioned, definitely try the pandan variety with coconut flavor or the five-spiced version – both are stiff and exciting. In addition to a well-appointed menu of specialty cocktails, there’s also a full bar with Asian and local craft beer, wine, sake and Japanese whiskey.

The food, drinks and upbeat atmosphere make Hawkers a spot where you can have a good meal and a good time, invoking all of your senses. If you go during peak hours, plan to wait for a table, just as you would for busy street hawkers.