Hawker Hall is the latest edition to Ben Cooper’s restaurant empire and it’s located in Windsor. It’s a happening place with a big open dining space. Good food and good vibes is what keeps this place so busy. It embraces the bold casualness of hawker style food from Singapore and Malaysia and the flavours pack a punch.
They make homemade soda, raspberry and mint was refreshing. They also have a range of alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and cocktails.
The Nyonya style fried popcorn chicken is a good beer snack. Bite size fried chicken pieces w chilli mayo.
I know the words ox-tail can be a bit frightening when you see it on the menu but rest assure these pan-fried ox-tail dumplings were anything but. The dumpling skin was thin and the filling had a meaty beef flavour with fresh herbs. They were nice.
The Malay coconut beef rending is their signature dish and it only takes one mouthful to understand why. The flavours are big, bold, intense and balanced to perfection. The meat is tender, the curry is incredibly flavoursome and I love the touch of toasted coconut on top. I first encountered this dish when it debuted at the night noodle market as per the photo. Totally recommend this dish.
The Otak Otak came in a little wrapped banana leaf parcel. It was salmon with a fragrant indian curry and coconut. The salmon melted in you mouth, the texture was amazing. The aromatic flavours with the soft salmon were beautiful.
The char kway teow a.k.a CKT was yum. It wasn’t the thick flat rice noodles I’m used to in a CKT but it was still hella tasty. It had a smokey soy flavour and was mixed up with prawns, bean shoots and lup cheong (chinese sausage). I loved that it had chinese sausage.
The Penang duck curry was yum. The shredded duck was moist and it had a nice flavour. It had those mini eggplants that are so super cute and was topped with chopped peanuts.
The sticky red date pudding with coconut caramel was delish. It was soft and pudding like with a sweet, sticky coconut caramel poured over it. It was accompanied by the softest, creamiest coconut ice-cream ever. It had a really lovely texture. We ordered an extra bowl of ice-cream because it was so good.
Hawker hall is very popular like the other Lucas Group establishments, so just a heads up if you’re planning a dinner I suggest to go early otherwise you may have to wait an hour or two.
I heart Hawker Hall!
Olives x
Hawker Hall
Address: 98 Chapel St, Windsor VIC 3181
Website: www.hawkerhall.com.au
Phone: 03 8560 0090
Trading Hours: Mon-Sun: 11am-1am (everyday)
