I was cleaning up the blog archives when I noticed the many entries for Asian restaurants. Enough that I decided to purge them from the general restaurant list on the Best Eats page and give them their own column. Seeing them like that I realised that for a city with poor pickings in this category, I’ve managed to find most of them.
I’m always looking for a kick in my food. An I-can’t-put-my-finger-on-it flavour that makes me keep borrowing into the dish in search of enlightenment. Spice. Heat. Magic.
At home, my kitchen trinity is not onions, celery, carrot but garlic, ginger & spring onions.
When I heard about Hawker 45 opening and claiming to do street food I thought: “Hello!”. Then when I read on their menu that their influence came from Brasil, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Singapore (Are you still with me here?), Thailand and Vietnam I thought “Oh dear. Another one of those.” Lets face it, you wouldn’t go to a “European” restaurant and Europe is not nearly as flavour diverse as the places listed at Hawker45.
Anyway – I’m there, my bum is on the seat. I order. The server with honey coloured eyes from The Dominican Republic tells me the Laksa (15€) is her favourite. When it arrives, a dainty portion of rice, garnished with two large shrimp and a couple of clams I wait for her to realise she’s given me the wrong dish. Afterall I know Laksa to be a noodle based dish and this is rice. My server explains that this is how Laila makes it.
Laila Bazham is the petite head chef with roots in the Philippines and Brazil. She is calmly bustling around the open plan galley kitchen with her sous chef (also a woman) from Senegal working seamlessly alongside her.
There are two things about the scene playing out in front of me that I love. First, women cooking professionally, together. Second, diversity. Fusion food created by these women, who grew up eating different flavours from what is typical in Spain and who can manage an arsenal of challenging ingredients? It’s more likely to work than a Spanish chef who spent sometime in Asia and liked what they ate.
It does. My not noodles but rice Laksa is a beautiful dish (even for a non-soupy rice lover like me who suffers from same bite fatigue). The nutella dessert (6€) interpretation – fried bananas with house made chocolate ice cream and a mysterious white fluff – fab.
Prices? A la carte works out quite steep for lunch but you can opt for either the 12€ or 15€ lunch menu (the latter includes 3 courses, coffee and a glass of biodynamic wine). Another option is “6 dishes, chef’s choice – 35€. That’s my plan for the next visit.
From what I saw at Hawker 45, what Laila is making seems to be more high-end than street food, a glance at the kitchen kit she is using is proof without even tasting her food. If anything, the food at Hawker 45 reminded me a little of another Filipina chef Tatiana Levha at the much celebrated Le Servan in Paris.
Hawker 45 is doing something different, quite special and much-needed in this city. I am coming back for the 35€ menu. And I’m bringing friends.
***This post was changed to reflect the feedback provided by the management at Hawker 45. See the comment section below to read some interesting facts about Hawker 45 like USB chargers under the table and complimentary reverse osmosis, and gently re-mineralized at a low level.***
Hawker 45
Carrer de Casp, 45
08010 Eixample
facebook.com/Hawker45
Hello! My name is Suzy. This blog is about discovering Barcelona through its eateries. I take it one restaurant or shop at a time and post on the blog once a week. I vary where I eat to have a have a mix of high and low end places. My goal is to find the special places, the ones worth seeking out and show and tell you all about them.
Hi Suzy,
Thank you for your lovely review! We are glad you liked Hawker 45, and appreciate your sharing your experience with others on your blog.
Two small corrections if we may, with your permission.
First, we *do* have a lunch menu, Monday through Friday 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – 12 Euros for an entree, main course and dessert or coffee, or 15 Euros with dessert, coffee and a glass of biodynamic wine from the region. We change our lunch menu every day to offer continuous variety for our friends who live and work in the neighborhood. We also offer our full menu at lunch.
Secondly, our water isn’t just filtered, it’s purified by reverse osmosis, and gently re-mineralized at a low level. It’s available free of charge, cold or room temperature, plain or carbonated, with or without ice (pet peeve of mine that restaurants outside the US don’t always serve free water).
One other minor thing to mention, which you might not have noticed (which addresses another pet peeve of ours when we travel!). We have USB ports and 2-pin European plugs chargers under the bar and next to the tables at nearly every seat in our restaurant. We also have plugs along the wall to charge electric scooters (we have 4 of them ourselves!)
We really appreciate your kind words – thank you again for such a lovely review! We hope you’ll come visit us again soon and look forward to seeing you.
Warm regards,
Laura
Hi Laura –
Thank you for clarifying all that. I will amend the filtered water bit and also the lunch menu part and refer people to your comment at the bottom of the entry.
I think you have a great concept there and wish you well.
(I will be back!)
Suzy