First Look: Hawkers Asian Street Food in Deep Ellum is a Trip

If you travel around Southeast Asia, there is no doubt you will encounter some of the best street food on the planet. However, there are many obstacles getting to these places in this seemingly never-ending pandemic world we’re living in. Hawkers Asian Street Food is giving Dallasites a local option in Deep Ellum.

While it’s not globe-trotting trip, there definitely are some adventures here. Like the bathrooms. And the patio where they’re doing sake bombs at 1:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon and the bartender is banging a gong as the shots go down.

Hawkers was originally founded in 2011 in Orlando by four friends who would regularly travel to Asia and eat from street vendors who “hawk” their food in places like China, Malaysia and Thailand. The spot has expanded to 12 restaurants, including this location, which opened in November. It’s located in the former The Curtain Club space, which was the oldest continuously operating music venue in Deep Ellum since 1997.
For our first look, we focused on the menu’s small plates so we could taste a variety of dishes. The plump and spicy Sichuan wontons ($9.50) are served six per order and are stuffed with chicken, shrimp and mushrooms and topped with a peanut chili sauce.
Korean twice-fried wings ($11) come five to an order but it’s easy to share between two people. To get the crispy crust, they add a little cornstarch to the batter, double fry it and toss it in a sauce of garlic gochujang topped with peanuts, sesame seeds and cilantro.
Next, we had the Seoul hot chicken steamed bao ($9). Two boneless, tender and crispy pieces of chicken stuffed in a fluffy bun with a pickle. It was a nice twist on the hot chicken trend raging through the Metroplex. This level of spice will not cause you to sweat profusely but is flavorful enough that you may contemplate placing another order versus a main entrée.

Finally, we had roti canai, their Malaysian flatbread served with a side of their signature curry sauce ($7). This dish was the surprising star of the show. Flaky, buttery and addictive. The order comes with two pieces of toti and we ordered extra to soak up the delicious curry sauce.

We will be back to try more of their menu, including the curry laksa ramen ($13), pad thai ($13), yaki udon ($12) and Singapore mei fun ($12). We also look forward to trying some of their specialty cocktails like Pretty Fly for a Mai Tai and Tropic Like It’s Hot, because we feel clever ordering clever cocktails.

The atmosphere is fun, bright and relaxed. Everyone is in a great mood. There is also an open kitchen that lets customers interact with the chefs.
As for the bathrooms: All are gender neutral, and you get to pick a door and get a new neon sign in each one that will make you smile. Try all four of them. We did. The wallpaper on the ceilings is cool and they play funky music in the bathroom that will make you want to hang out in there longer than you should. The only thing that could have improved this restroom experience was a heated bidet.

They do have a brunch and happy hour menu at other locations and rumor has it that both will arrive in January and we can’t wait. Because how can you say no to Korean fried chicken biscuits, soup dumplings and fancy cocktails right? But, really those bathrooms.

Hawkers Asian Street Food, 2800 Main St., (Deep Ellum). Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday - Thursday; 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday