"Hoh Wok Club"

HOH WOK CLUB, Shokudo

July 25, 2013 By Eleanor Hoh 12 Comments

I’m delighted to announce the first HOH WOK CLUB gathering of 2013 will be held at Shokudo, a beautiful Japanese restaurant in the up and coming Buena Vista area. So, I look forward to seeing you, bring your family and friends and join me for a 6 course tasting lunch, Sunday, August 25 from 12-3pm at an incredible price of $35 including tax and tips.

Thanks New Times for a fantastic writeup about this event and Brenda Benoit for her amazing recap.

Everything in this restaurant is created with such thoughtful elegance from the reclaimed wood counters and saki bar, to the zen bamboo garden. It’s totally charming! I’ve always said it’s not just about the food, the ambience, space, and decor are just as important and I think we’ve found it at Shokudo. There’s a nice mix of foods from all over Asia, so you’ll get a mini taster.

Yoko Takarada is the owner and general manager of Shokudo and formerly owned World Resource Cafe on Lincoln Road and Toni’s Sushi Bar, both in South Beach. I love that she’s continuing her family’s legacy with Shokudo. This is the reason why I like to support smaller, independent family owned restaurants and want them to succeed.

From food critic, Victoria Pesce Elliott, Miami Herald: Executive chef Armando Litiatco cooked at Boulevard in his native San Francisco and at Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel in New York before being lured here by the Takarada clan. The culinary team is on view in the vibrant kitchen.
Chef Armando is Philippino/Chinese and so jovial and easy to work with! He and I have put together a menu I know you’ll enjoy. I took some photos during my tasting to give you a flavor of what to expect…

DETAILS:
Sunday, August 25
12-3pm
$35 pp incl. tax and tips
Separate tab for drinks and can be added to your final bill.

Shokudo
4740 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami (Buena Vista), FL 33137
305-758-7782

Ta da, here’s the menu:
Special Cocktails during meet and greet, 12-12:30
Sakitini $5 or bottomless Mimosa $18

Tasting Menu
$35 incl. tips and tax

Vegetarian Roll served during cocktails

Grilled Pork Belly
Heart of palm salad, orange, edamame & yuzu

Soba Noodle Salad
Green tea infused soba noodles tossed with arugula, edamame, Bermuda onions,
shiitake mushrooms in house sesame dressing

Manila Ceviche
Cobia, mango, tomato, red onion, jalapeno,
calamansi, coconut milk & taro chips

Kalbi
72 Hour Marinated Korean ribs, Asian vegetable and rice

Banana Turon
Sweet spring roll of caramelized banana, chocolate,
jack fruit, cream cheese and caramel

RSVP & PREPAYMENT DETAILS:
Mandatory:
1) email me (wokstar at eleanorhoh dot com) so I can send out confirmations and any last minute details or if we have to cancel due to storm.

2) reservations and prepayment is on a first come, first served basis as seating is limited to the first 50 lucky guests.
3) Call SHOKUDO directly, 305-758-7782 and mention HOH WOK CLUB, Sunday lunch, August 25.
You know the drill…Shokudo will take your credit card number (you will NOT be charged till after your lunch.)
You will be charged if there’s a no show on the day of. If you want to send someone in your place, your replacement needs to call ASAP with their credit card number.
If no answer, leave your name, telephone number plus the number of guests in your group so they can call you back to confirm.
PARKING:
FREE street parking all around or valet for $4 especially if raining or too hot!
Make sure you do NOT park in front of gates, fire hydrants, the usual.
Look forward to seeing you there for some yummy Asian nosh…

HOH WOK CLUB: Little Lotus

August 27, 2011 By Eleanor Hoh 3 Comments

Join me, Wok Star Eleanor Hoh at my upcoming HOH WOK CLUB gathering (it’s a sorta Asian supper club) at Little Lotus, Saturday Sept.17…Great way to meet people who share the love of food and always a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
Little Lotus is such a cozy Japanese & Indonesian Tapas restaurant in downtown Miami. They opened not that long ago, you can read my restaurant review. They’ve been featured on ABC, Ocean Drive, Urban Daddy, Daily Candy, New Times, Miami Herald, etc.

If you are my newsletter subscriber, you had first dibs getting in before I made this event public. You can subscribe in the right side bar. Anyway, CALL NOW because there’s only 38 seats for this event, details below. Well, I don’t know what the last count was.

WOW! What a GREAT DEAL for 38 lucky people on a first come, first served basis!

Sat. September 17, 12:30pm – 2:30pm
$25 incl. tips and tax. Drinks not included, cash bar, separate check.

Little Lotus Restaurant, downtown Miami

Here’s the lowdown:
1. Call 305-533-2700 and ask for manager, Andi
2. Mention Wok Star Event: Sept. 17
3. How many in your group? They will try and accommodate you as best they can but it’s a tiny restaurant, so you may not sit together. It’s a good time to meet new people!
4. Prepay with your credit card
5. Provide your email AND telephone number (this is ESSENTIAL in case there’s last minute announcements and we need to get hold of you.)

The team, Andi, Chef Nyoman, Sari and Chef Michael helped me create this exotic and tantalizing menu with dishes from Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. I know you’ll LOVE it and want to go back and try more dishes from the talented chefs. And if you can’t make this gathering, you can always go on your own and tell them Wok Star sent you.

Here’s the incredible 5 course menu we put together for you!

Appetizers

– Salmon Bola: Baked Salmon with seaweed salad.

– Crispy Bok Choy: Deep Fried Chips with garlic sauce.

Second Course
– Beef Rendang: Indonesian Stewed Beef, slightly sweet.
– Gado-Gado: Indonesian Steamed Vegetable Salad with peanut sauce dressing (see photo)

Third Course
Crispy Paratha Tuna: Japanese/ Malaysian Pizza Style with sweet onion sauce.

Fourth Course
Laksa Ayam: Malaysian Chicken Curry with coconut milk and rice noodles

Dessert
Natalie Portman: banana wrapped with sushi rice deep fried, topped with coconut flakes and served with wine glaze sauce and fresh strawberries.

Look forward to seeing you there!
Wok Star Eleanor
Explanation of HOH WOK CLUB.

Little Lotus Restaurant

April 28, 2011 By Eleanor Hoh 2 Comments

Chef Michael Asalie’s Black cod

All the folks who made Little Lotus Restaurant’s opening successful!

I absolutely loved getting to know this group of folks at Little Lotus Restaurant Miami! It’s an Asian and Japanese Tapas Restaurant, we totally need this here! How they pulled it together in 3 weeks is a miracle, so enterprising and a delightful ‘hidden treasure’ in downtown Miami. The two chefs are both well known in their own right: Sushi Chef Michael Asalie used to be with Morimoto, New York and Indonesian Chef Nyoman Atmaja was and still is part time with Yakkosan.

The brains behind getting this all up and running is Sari Maharani, a paralegal by day and restauranteur, shop owner and as well as a foodie by night! With another restaurant, Banana and Leaf in the works as well, opening June. I’m not sure when she sleeps but I love her energy and ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude. Better hang with her a lot more.

Chef Michael has a baby face but don’t let that fool you, he’s very talented and creative. All the dishes he made for us last night were not on the menu. Each one was like a piece of sculptured art work like the chive through a raspberry! The flavor of the fish was so delicate and perfectly paired with a light sauce. Not the usual generic sushi served around town with wasabi and soy sauce! They were ALL outstanding but the one that stood out most was the Hamachi sashimi which he topped with fried shallots and then Jalapeno peppers and capers! Wow, did that pop in your mouth. I love how he fused Indonesian ingredients with Japanese.

Tuna Sashimi, beautiful presentation

Chef Nyoman Atmaja’s Crispy Baby Bok Choy
with garlic soy dressing

We didn’t get a chance to sample too much of Chef Nyoman’s dishes except for his Green curry shrimp and Crispy Baby Bok Choy. I’m so looking forward to trying more of his other Indonesian dishes, many very familiar to me as I grew up eating them like Nasi Rendang.

Over the top dessert with unusual addition of Cruller with coconut ice cream, coconut sorbet in a coconut shell and fresh mango.

I like this simple decor, focus on the food!

Well, Miami, I highly recommend this little ‘hidden treasure’ and do go and try their introductory lunch menu for $4.99! How can you beat that? By the way, I always think of more stuff to add, so I hope you’ll subscribe to my feed for the latest updates. Little Lotus Restaurant doesn’t have a website yet but visit their Facebook to get the latest scoop. Just realized they don’t have address on their page! 22 NE 1st Street, #107, Miami, FL 33132, it’s in an odd location, International Jewelry Center, opposite Macy’s downtown, use this entrance, the other is harder to find at night. Oh, tell them Wok Star sent you, gotta get my brownie points up, ha.

Sari and I already discussed having a HOH WOK CLUB gathering there sooon, so if you’re interested to join us, email me: wokstar at eleanorhoh dot com

"Hoh Wok Club"

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