Hawker Fare: More Than Fair

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I finally got a chance to dine at Hawker Fare this weekend. It’s been open for about five months. Hawker Fare is the second Oakland restaurant by Chef James Syhabout. His first restaurant is Commis. I have yet to try the only restaurant in Oakland that earned a Michelin star. I guess I’m waiting for the right occasion to dine there. You don’t need an occasion to dine at Hawker Fare as the cuisine is Southeast Asian street food, predominantly Thai.

Uptown Oakland was bustling on Friday night. My friend and I walked into what I found to be a lively, trendy place. With loud music and a disco ball, I thought I was at a nightclub rather than a restaurant. After about a fifteen minute wait, we were given a nice corner table.

My friend ordered a Thai ice tea while I had a Singha (Thai) beer. The tea came in a cute mason jar mug.

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We decided we were going to eat family style. We ordered two “snacks” and two rice bowls between the two of us.

My friend loves beef larb so it was a must try when we saw it on the menu. Beef larb is a beef salad with red onions, mint, and cilantro. This meaty dish was fresh and flavorful.

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The blistered green beans was cooked with smoked bacon and dried shrimp. It had a hint of spice which was really nice.

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Many yelp reviewers rated the 24hr pork belly rice bowl as one of the best dishes so I had to have it and add a fried farm egg on top. This dish was glistening and beautiful. I had to break the egg yolk and mix it in with the pork and rice. It was OMG good! I would come back for this alone!

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The other rice dish we ordered was their special which was a shrimp curry rice bowl. The large plump shrimp was cooked nicely and the flavor of the curry really popped.

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It’s become trendy for restaurants to make soft serve with Straus dairy. Hawker Fare joins that group, but to make it fusion, they flavor it with condensed milk. I ended my delicious meal with a soft serve on a cone. The condensed milk flavor was very subtle. I admit it was fun to eat.

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Hawker Fare is definitely a winner. Lucky for me, it is close to work. I can see many more meals here for sure.

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