Korean BBQ

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)

Grilled Korean Style Kalbi Short Ribs, Wok Star Way

May 4, 2020 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

If you’re craving ribs with Asian flavors and you want it fast, I’ve got the PERFECT ANSWER – Grilled Korean Kalbi Short Ribs, done Wok Star Way.

Kalbi, beech mushrooms, baby bok choy and grilled zoodles. — Sprinkle sesame seeds & Chili threads on Kalbi.
Served with beech mushrooms, baby bok choy and grilled zoodles.

My goal is always about the shortest way to achieve 3 things when cooking. Get authentic flavors by simplify long lists of ingredients and shorten the cooking process.

I got all excited when I found flanken beef short ribs at Costco recently. They cut the beef ribs across the ribs, the Asian way, so they are thinner, smaller to handle and cooks much faster. They also do this for pork ribs.

The traditional Kalbi recipe calls for Asian pears, but the Wok Star way is to improvise and substitute or do away with if not in season or difficult to find. I left out this ingredient all together. You won’t miss it, especially if you’ve never had it before.

Or you can just use any pear, it’s the sweetness you’re after. I personally don’t care for additional sugar of any kind because it masks the flavor of the actual ingredient, so you’re just tasting sugar.

I’ve prepared Kalbi two ways so far.

Here are guidelines for making Kalbi, as you know, I don’t use precise measurements for cooking!

While Kalbi is grilling, stir fry your vegetables, cook quinoa. Choose platter to serve. Lay your table.

Stir Fry Bok Choy in cast iron wok, Iwatani gas stove.

Allow 2 strips of Kalbi per person with extra strips for seconds.

Zing broiler on high. I think there’s only one setting, ON or OFF.

Place Kalbi on grilling rack on top rack, closest to broiler.

Flip Kalbi as soon as you smell yummy aromas on first side, don’t overcook.

Let Kalbi crisp up a little, again don’t overcook because it’ll dry out.

One last tip, I like to grill just the first strip for everyone and serve. While we eat the first round, I grill the second strip.

1) San-J Tamari, garlic and ginger marinade
In a glass bowl, submerge ribs in a mix of tamari, scallions, ginger and garlic overnight in the fridge as instructed by most recipes. Then I had to pat the ribs dry. Some recipes said to throw away the marinade? So wasteful and I didn’t find the flavor was worth the effort.

Tamari, Garlic and Ginger marinaded Beef Short Ribs overnight.

Kalbi, curry quinoa and stir fried baby bok choy — Sprinkle sesame seeds and chopped scallions on Kalbi.
Put small bowls of sesame seeds, chili threads, salt to give guests option to add more.
Serve with Stir Fried Bok Choy and Curry Quinoa.

2) Dry spice rub
This is my preferred method for grilling meat. It does away with long marinade times, ribs are not wet making them tough when grilled and yields BETTER FLAVORS than the overnight marinade. I literally sprinkle dry spice rub on both sides of Kalbi and grill, that’s it.

I sprinkled Rufus Teague Spice Rub on Beef Short Ribs and grilled under broiler.

Kalbi, Chinese Broccoli, quinoa, pickles — Sprinkle sesame seeds and chopped scallions to garnish Kalbi. Served with quinoa, stir fried Chinese Broccoli, carrots and side of homemade pickles.

Try both and share in comments which you prefer or if you’re tried making Kalbi and your results. Food is all about personal taste.

I like the explanation of Kalbi/Galbi here.

Beef Chart shows all the different cuts…

Kalbi goes well with these dishes…

Curry Quinoa

Mango, Pineapple Salsa

Stir Fried Bok Choy and Mini Sweet Peppers — Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy, Mini Sweet Peppers in my cast iron wok and gas stove setup.
Add dash of tamari and sherry.

Sakaya Kitchen Nails Korean Banchan

July 22, 2011 By Eleanor Hoh 1 Comment

My trip to Hong Kong made me so homesick for Asian food, the first place I wanted to go was Sakaya Kitchen. Richard Hales nails Korean flavors down, he sent over Banchan (little pickled dishes like kimchi, bean sprouts, cucumbers, toufu to go with Bulgogi BBQ.) They’re not on the menu, he made them special for me, thanks Richard!!! I’m working on a blog post and video of Sakaya, so overdue. I’ve been going since day one and now he and Jenny have 2 adorable kids and 2 food trucks as well, not sure how he juggles it all. Keep up the good work Richard.

My friend had chicken with salad, so tender.

Banchan which is little pickled dishes like: (clockwise) kimchi, toufu, bean sprouts, cucumber to go with Bulgogi BBQ.

One of my fav at Sakaya Kitchen is Spicy Dae Ji pork tenderloin with coconut rice & buttered broccoli. It encompasses all the flavors that make me think of Asia!

These are the most delicious scallions bathed in soy, vinegar and secret ingredients, yum.