Eleanor Hoh

Good News for Asian Food Lovers: Baoshi Food Hall fulfills your cravings

April 8, 2024 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

Good news for Asian food lovers! Baoshi Food Hall fulfills your cravings and opened in Pembroke Pines, a redesign of popular dim sum restaurant favorite, Gold Marquess. You’ll still get your favorite dim sum plus 4 distinct and delicious Asian street food concepts from Japan, Korea, and of course China. Check my Instagram Reel at the bottom.

HOW DID BAOSHI START?

Baoshi Food Hall is the brainchild of Fil Ip, the eldest son whose parents opened popular dim sum restaurant, Gold Marquess in Pembroke Pines eight years ago. Fil is a chemical engineer turned restauranteur.

Fil Ip’s parents are from Venezuela where his mom’s family owned a supermarket and his Dad started as a busser at a Chinese restaurant called King House! The restaurant still exists and is now run by his father’s brother! Wow, what an incredible story and interesting how the parents decided to open their own restaurant never having operated one themselves.

When his parents retired last year, Fil decided to convert Gold Marquess to an Asian street food hall (with parents approval, ha, ha). He figured a casual eatery requires less work to run compared to a restaurant. I think it’s a wise move not only operational wise but offering a selection of Asian street food all in one place and fulfills people’s Asian food cravings. It’s the first one in Broward and as Fil says, “Baoshi is about creating memories with loved ones.”

DECOR…

I like how Baoshi Food Hall has different areas to hang. The porch areas are wonderful for families with children or for fresh air lovers.

The main entrance opens to a market for Asian snacks like Pocky and teapots and feature rotating artists’ creations.

I absolutely love all the Indochine vintage murals dotted throughout, adding a lovely Asian touch.

Another element I liked was the cozy cocktail and bar lounge so you can leisurely enjoy those Lychee Mai Tais, ice cold beers and sakes which go so well with spicy Asian street food. The bar on the other side is open to the back porch so parents can watch their kids play while enjoying a cocktail.

And of course, the main dining area facing the food booths, watching all your food getting prepared.

MEANING OF BAOSHI?

The name Baoshi is adorable. Everyone knows and loves Bao (white pillowy bun), adding the “shi” just means you should binge on them, ha, ha.

5 FOOD CONCEPTS…

Fil tells me they’ll be accentuating the visuals next to the menu above because hey, it’s nice to see what you’re getting (eat with your eyes)! Most dishes are between $12-$25.

Temple Street Eatery: I love these two chefs, Alex and Diego (FIU graduates) who have their own restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. They are always introducing Latin-Asian fusion creations. Separate blog about them soon. Diego is also from Venezuela and his parents knew Fil Ip’s parents, amazing they both end up in South Florida.

Wonton Tacos, Godzilla Ramen(so delicious, mix of pork belly + Ropa Veja), and Kalua Pork Baos (flavor bomb combo!)

Gangnam Chikn: offering Korean Fried Chicken, Korean Street Food and BBQ and a super lunch box deal. We liked their Korean Galbi short ribs (tender and tasty).

Poke OG: serving poke and vegan bowls, sushi rolls and crispy rice, the Dante Roll was spot on, it had just the right amount of crispy texture with Panko fried shimp and avocado with torched salmon and spicy mayo. On a previous visit, we had Papa Chang’s Roll.

Gold Marquess: their famous dim sum sampler was a super delish starter, Mongolian Beef and Spicy Shrimp were cooked to perfection and brought back fond memories of Hong Kong! You’ll be able to get all their signature dumplings you love and even Peking duck served tableside.

Boba Street Cafe (too full to have any). A little sweet to end your Asian Street Food cravings…Fruit Teas, Milk Teas, Flavored Lemonades, Barbie Menu, Street Blends, Lava Lattes, Iced Coffees, Shamrock, Waffles, Cakes & Pies, Ice Cream.

BEST WAY TO ENJOY BAOSHI?

Baoshi Food Hall is the sort of place you want to take the whole family, go with work colleagues for TGIF and even pop in on your own after work! In Asia, it’s tradition to share dishes family style, this way you get to try more Asian street foods.

There’s entertainment every night with live music on Fridays & Saturdays. Check their instagram’s full schedule. Weekends are of course more busy so adjust your expectations for long lines and wait.

SHARE WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE?

Enjoy and share in comments what’s your favorite at Baoshi Food Hall?

Baoshi Food Hall
8525 Pines Boulevard,
Pembroke Pines,
FL 33024
786-898-8868
Instagram: @baoshifoodhall

PS I always try to do double duty on a trip, so drop into Kimchi Mart and pick up some yummy ready cooked food! Visit my Instagram Highlights under Lunch Ideas, you’ll see how I spice up my lunches by adding cucumber kimchi or tofu.

Note: full disclosure, this was a media dine but doesn’t sway my judgement.

Instagram Overview Reel…

@wokstar I post instagram stories everyday so don’t miss out.

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A post shared by Eleanor Hoh, Event Producer (@wokstar)

Epic Asian Street Food Night Festival hosted by Smorgasburg in Wynwood

July 27, 2023 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

If you’ve traveled to Asia, you’re probably familiar with night markets filled with stalls cooking up mouthwatering street foods. Growing up in Hong Kong, there were night markets everywhere. Night markets are a much more relaxed atmosphere instead of daytime markets.

So, in that vein, I’m thrilled Smorgasburg Miami will be hosting the first ever Asian Street Food Festival at NIGHT. It’s “the mother of all street fairs” as South Florida on the Cheap rightly claims, love that!

Smorgasburg will be decked out with beautiful lanterns lit up and the stylist is working her magic to come up with “neon looking” signs and characters. I can’t wait to see this.

You’re in for a TREAT foodwise…

Delicious bites from over 12 Asian vendors. I’ve put their instagram handles so you can go check them out. Smorgasburg’s 60+ regular vendors will be serving their regular menu. Don’t forget to visit @smorgasburgmiami for all the updates, they are super at posting food that’ll make you drool.

The BEST CHINESE BBQ @landnseamia

Delicious bites like Peking Duck Rolls with Scallions, Cucumber & Hoisin Sauce; Chicken sesame noodles and Char Siu (Roast Pork) with Fried Rice.

New dim sum concept @dimsumterminal

Slow Braised Pork Belly or Chicken Scallion Pancake Sandwich, great street food! Also Taiwanese Dessert: mango, matcha, strawberry wrapped pastry cream.

Fab Vietnamese Street Food @ykstreetfood

Street Skewers : Shrimp, Crab, Quail Egg, Tofu, Beef Meatballs; Steam Pork & Ube buns; Special Banh mi; Savory Sausage Sticky rice; Crispy Fish Sauce Chicken Wings.

Genius concept @stephanies_ crepes

Very smart, covering ALL diets and served in her unique crepe holder
Asian Savory and Sweet Crepes, 100% Gluten free…
Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Avocado for pescatarians;
Veggie Edamame for vegetarians;
Grass Fed Brisket Jang for carnivores.

Desserts: Yude Adzuki Matcha (Sweet Japanese Red Bean, whipped cream, strawberries, Mochi); Lychees Strawberries or Nutella Strawberries.

Smorgasburg Regular Vendors

Raining Boba • Boba Tea
Gangnam Chicken • Korean Fried Chicken
Korean Kitchen • Korean Bulgogi Hot Dogs
Suki Llama • Sushi
Kabuki Soba • Yakitori and Soba Bowls
Mao Bao • Dumplings
Ai Tallarin • Ramen and Dim Sum

In the Cultural department…

Thanks to Michiyo Ishii Sloane, a member of Ichimura Miami Japan Garden who organized two workshops for us, we are so honored. An Origami (Japanese art of paper folding) workshop with Miyuki Saito. She’ll start with a simple boat and move onto the popular crane.

And also an Ikebana (Japanese art of flower arrangement) workshop led by landscape designer & Ikebana artist, Akiko Iwata from Ai Creative Studio.

For Entertainment…

A young Filipino Breakdancer, Justin Medina will be showing off his creative moves, he can twist like a pretzel.

Yoshiko Taiko Dojo drummers promised to keep moving their act and have fun with the audience.

Ending the night with fun times! Who doesn’t love Karoake?

Here’s Event Schedule so you can plan ahead.

Alright, that sums up what to expect. My tip is to come with family, friends so you can share many dishes, that’s how we always dine in Asia. Bring your own chopsticks if you have them and wear something Asian looking, will ya and get into the spirit for this festival.

EPIC Asian Street Food Night Festival!

I can’t wait for you to experience this. Share with all your friends especially if they live in Broward cause Brightline is such a great alternative, hassle free and no parking issues. Thanks Brightline for mention of our event!

Tell us in comments below what you are looking forward to eating and enjoying activity and music wise!

Check here if you want to find out more about Asian Night Markets.

Leaving you with this fabulous Reels..

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A post shared by Smorgasburg Miami (@smorgasburgmiami)

New Miami food hall, Julia & Henry’s serves up Asian cuisine, all on one floor

June 19, 2023 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

Ding, ding, ding! New Miami food hall, Julia and Henry’s serves up Asian cuisine, all on one floor. The newest curated food hall with a lineup of numerous celebrity chefs finally opened in downtown Miami in the iconic art deco building that housed Walgreens. Story goes this food hall was named after Julia Tuttle and Henry Flagler, considered “the mother and father of Miami”!

About the decor:

Your first impression of Julia and Henry’s is, WOW! You’re immediately hit by the multi level, colorfully lit up wine cellar (I’ve only seen it blue and pink).

It’s MASSIVE, I like that there’s an atrium in the middle that spans all three floors. With “balconies” on each floor, this makes the food hall very open and light. There’s a modern, see through staircase and walkways which lets light in also and regular staircase in the rear back wall. The design is modern, whimsical, industrial with hints of colors especially with the bar lounge sofas and wall art.

Currently open in the food hall: ground, mezzanine & balcony third floor. Future will be a floor dedicated to music and “experiences”. The third floor balcony showcases SIX Asian Food Concepts and a craft cocktail bar, The Lasseter and that’s where we went straight to! I mean food not bar.

Scout, then action:

I loved visiting with my foodie buddy @epicurean305 we enjoy the same pacing and like exploring new flavors, do check him out on Instagram. We took a quick tour of the SIX Asian food concepts before settling on two: Fried Snapper bowl from Achar and Pork Lechon Gyozas from Hitchi Haika.

We did end up getting a third dish from Osso on the Ground Floor but that’s for another post.

About the 6 Asian Food Concepts:

@Acharstreet.kitchen
Created by restauranteur, Maher Murshed, who also opened Byblos in South Beach among many others. His vision with Achar was SPOT ON! He nailed it with all aspects for a fantastic dining experience. I mention this constantly…ambiance, presentation and of course, delicious food. Interesting Achar is tagged as Burmese but Murshed is Bangladeshi and the chef is Peruvian??? I don’t care as long as the food is tasty!

About Achar’s food:

Fried Snapper Bowl, $18 came with basmati rice, turmeric cauliflower & potato, mashed tomato with onions & a gorgeous colorful, chopped salad. I loved this complete meal and it was great value. The fried snapper was dipped in a chickpea batter so it’s gluten free and seasoned with a house mix. The snapper was perfectly executed, moist and tender. You could taste flavors of each ingredient in that beautifully presented bowl.

There were options of tandoori grilled, beef or chicken skewers which looked very tantalizing. I got to film some fiery grill action there. Definitely going back to try those! There was also a Tamarind tossed Chick Pea Bowl for vegetarians.

I managed to have a brief chat with Chef Marco who had worked at Byblos & Bazaar by Jose Andres. Chef definitely has operations organized, you could see colorful bowls laid out ready which just needed the skewered protein. Our dish was ready quite quickly.

He gifted us Sweet Rice Pudding (Firni) served in a traditional earth clay bowl. It’s made with chinigura rice, rose water and pistachios. A flood of food memories rushed at me in the first bite, this dessert reminded me of a semolina dessert my mom used to make in Hong Kong. I loved this sweet end to what was a well thought out concept and most importantly, our Fried Snapper Bowl was really very delicious. Well done Achar!

@Hitchihaika
Japanese Gyozas filled with 7 flavors from around the world by Chef Jose Mendin (Pubbelly & many other food concepts) & Chef Jorge Mijangos. Between $14-$16. We tried Pork Lechon Gyozas with citrus mojo, green herbs. 5 in an order, very tasty and lovely presentation, maybe a little bit teeny.

Lucky @epicurean305 scored a fantastic window seat right next to Hitchi Haika, it was PERFECT for photo taking.

Now, for the other 4 Asian Concepts:

@shimujaflorida Master Ramen Chef Kei San was serving authentic ramen bowl made fresh in front of you. I’ve heard so much about this restaurant. I can’t wait to try, my only issue is I can’t eat a lot of starchy noodles.

@palmarmiami described as “Dim Sum” by Javier Ramirez who also opened Alter, Bachour and Palmar in Wynwood where I’ve dined several times. Described as “blending Latin flavors with modern Asian street food and tropical Miami vibes”! The spicy pork noodles and papaya salad looked scrumptious.

@sankuay by Chef Charles Thomson. A Peruvian-Cantonese Chifa Wok concept and Asian street food. Lomo Saltado looked delightful, priced at $22. I need to try one of his Wok dishes, hey, I am a wok cooking teacher and know a thing or two about this!

@yabairolls serves Japanese hand rolls. Yabai brings the vibrancy of Kabukicho, an entertainment district in Tokyo known for their neon signs!

Conclusion:

I would love to hear what Asian dishes you’ve tried or want to try!

Julia & Henry’s is definitely a fun food hall to check out with so many options. Maybe weekday? We went Saturday, around 1:45pm and only waited 5 minutes in line to get in. However, when we came out, the line was half a block long! Or wait a couple more months when it’s not the newest and latest food hall to try?