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JULY NEWS

July 19, 2026 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

ASIAN THINGS TO DO AND EAT IN JULY…

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Wednesday, July 22, 6pm till soul’d out

SoulPhil Popup at Magie Bar

Now that’s interesting! Chef Tiana Gee’s Soul and Filipino fusion food is popping up at Magie Wine Bar. I love this! Reflects my philosophy of mixing different countries’ food and make it your own. I’ve tagged all the Filipino friends I know. Check SoulPhil’s instagram for full menu & prices. Can’t wait to try this unique combination.

Smorgasburg hosts Fast & Flavorful…

Closing out Smorgasburg’s first season in Ft.Lauderdale with Fast & Flavorful Asian x Latino Street Food and Fast Cars! and plenty of activations, music with over 30 street food vendors!

NEW: Casual, Affordable, Delicious Korean Brickell restaurant

Gangnam: NEW Korean no-frills, casual restaurant rolled into Brickell. Loved it! So happy they’re focused on affordable, authentic and delicious, something that’s missing nowadays. Have you noticed prices are skyhigh and portions are shrinking at restaurants, even casual fast food places? Catch what owner and manager want you to know about Gangnam! I also got to meet Chef In.

Perfect Crispy Dumplings were nicely filled, $9 for 4. Galbi (beef short ribs) came with Korean rice and Kimchi and were spot on with flavors, $36 but enough for two. Banchan $6 for two, on day we went were spinach and bean sprouts.

Closed Mondays, check website for hours of operation and full menu.

Give them a try and let me know what you think? I’m already booked with two different visits with friends, hope to post more dishes, stay tuned.

NEW: Double Luck’s Happy Hour Specials

Double Luck Chinese introduces $8 Happy Hour Specials from 5:30pm -7pm! Soon after I brought my “sold out” Wok Star Supper Club there, they received their first Michelin Guide Recommended plaque, so well deserved and so happy for them. If you attended my supper club there, here’s another chance to enjoy small dishes during their Happy Hour! Dumplings, wings etc. sound good! And Chef Adrian always has new dishes to try!

MAHJONG, EATS, SAKE FUNDRAISER FOR VENEZUELA

888Mahjong, good eats, Shojo Dojo’s saki at Temple Street Eatery After Hours to raise funds for Venezuela! Thanks Chef Diego for organizing this.

Cook with What You Have

America’s Favorite Chinese Dish → Beef & Broccoli

I didn’t specially choose to cook this dish. I happened to have some very nice Bavette Flap Beef from Wild Fork Foods and I had broccoli and cooked it Wok Star Way by adding yellow bell for a pop of color. It goes along my series…Cook with What You Have! And turned out to be America’s Favorite Chinese Dish: Beef and Broccoli! Watch out for more posts on Cook with What You Have!

EXCITING CHANGES WITH WOK STAR

Sharing this but haven’t even publicly announced it yet except to my loyal newsletter subscribers, over 2,500! I’m phasing out my WOK STAR KIT and need to revamp my website to reflect this. WOK STAR is NOT going anywhere, I’ll be focusing more on my Wok Star Supper Club dining experiences, hyper focusing on marketing and programming efforts to support Asian businesses and Asian community events! Stick around for upcoming monthly NEWS!

And a chance to promote your business on my website in right sidebar!

How to make boring Rotisserie Chicken into a Delicious Coconut Curry

July 15, 2026 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

Here’s how to make boring rotisserie chicken into a delicious Coconut Curry! Rotisserie Chicken = one of the EASIEST and TASTIEST weeknight dinners you’ll ever make! Good for singles, couples or family of four.

Scroll down for Reels at bottom!

About Rotisserie Chicken

Grab a $4.99 rotisserie chicken from wherever you shop at, mine is Costco. You can’t beat that price. Use whatever vegetables are hanging around your fridge, and dinner is ready in about 30 minutes.

About Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is one of my favorite pantry staples and instantly makes a dish tasty. It’s creamy, plant-based, packed with flavor, and instantly transports me back to Asia. I like Trader Joe’s brand cause it’s pure coconut milk not just “coconut flavored milk”! There’s coconut milk and coconut cream. I get both and sometimes mix.

Trader Joe’s Coconut Milk & Coconut Cream

Look at all the gunk in this coconut milk!

What is Rempah?

Rempah is a Malaysian word for aromatics and seasonings. Typically use shallots but yellow or red onions are good.

About Curry Powder

I mix my own spices that are most commonly found in curry powder: chili, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, anise, cardamom, ginger.

My favorite ready made curry powder is a Malaysian brand my mom used: Baba’s. Finally available on Amazon. Here’s my affiliate link.

You can also find many Curry Powder on Weee, not an affiliate yet.

Cook with what you have

The beauty of this dish? There are NO rules. Cook with what you have, the Wok Star Way! Whatever vegetables you have will work! OR add frozen peas near end of heating, this will add pop of color & get your vegetable fix!

All you really need:

🥥 1 can coconut milk

🍗 2 bowls chicken stock

🌿 2–3 tbsp good curry powder

🧂 Salt to taste

Optional if you like a bit of tang:

I added torn kaffir lime leaves and squeeze of lemon to taste for extra brightness.

Directions:

• Shred the chicken (freeze the carcass for bone broth!)

• Wok-fry your vegetables

• Fry the rempah (onion, ginger, turmeric & curry powder)

• Add the chicken

• Mix everything in the pot with coconut milk, stock & salt to taste

• Heat through and dinner is served!

• Garnish with Fried Shallots (also from TJ’s in the coconut milk section! See photo)

Why cook in a wok?

I love cooking vegetables in my lightweight cast iron wok. The wide opening gives me plenty of room to toss everything together without making a mess. More about this soon.

I’ve decided to make one coconut curry dish every week using different proteins and vegetables. Let’s see where this delicious challenge takes me!

🥥 Are you a coconut curry lover? What ingredients would you add?

PS I haven’t figured out how to remove caption from Instagram! But blog has a lot more helpful information!

View this post on Instagram

Why Larb Thai-Isan deserves a mention in Michelin Guide!

July 6, 2026 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

Larb Thai-Isan is a Michelin Guide recommended restaurant 2 years running! I can see why!

It’s the kind of restaurant my husband and I adore. Full of personality, not too big, reminiscent of cafes in Asia.

Decor

They made use of cheerful beer boxes, posters and popular, colorful enamel dishes. Cheers to Tuk Tuk, a great way to travel in Asia.

Tip for Getting In

We didn’t have to wait in line cause it was after lunch hours. So, just know if you can go outside of lunch or dinner hours, you can get a table easily.

We only ordered Khao Soi and Mango Sticky Rice because we were on our way to another event. But definitely will return to try other dishes.

Tender Beef, al denté noodles topped with crispy noodles!

WHAT TO ORDER?

Khao Soi was excellent & loved how they served with little condiments and chili sauce if you need more heat! It’s a lovely coconut curry based soup with noodles and beef topped with crispy noodles. Ha, ha, their menu claims it’s the real deal from Chiangmai! It had the right consistency & texture. The flavors were spot on and brought back great childhood memories of Thai food.

MUST ORDER DESSERT

Of course, we couldn’t leave without ordering Mango Sticky Rice. It was rather a small portion but enough for us to end our lovely dining experience at Larb Thai-Isan.

View this post on Instagram for some nice videos!

A well deserved Michelin Guide mention.

We also went to its sister restaurant, Gai Chicken Kitchen, so watch out for that review soon!