Food News

Fancy Hank’s August hawker market

The Melbourne barbecue restaurant is embracing the wok with a second pop-up this month.

By Michael Harden
Oyster omelettes at Majestic Hawker
The Melbourne barbecue restaurant is embracing the wok with a second pop-up this month.
In July, Fancy Hank's brought alumna Alicia Cheong back to the Hank's fold with a weekend pop-up in Abbotsford called Majestic Hawker. Now, they're planning to do it all again over three days in August.
Cheong, who spent several years working at Singapore's Michelin-starred Restaurant André, and the Fancy Hank's team will be trading smokers for woks, this time at the Bodriggy Brewery, a few metres from the original pop-up. The idea is to "try to replicate the hawker market experience you get in Singapore and Malaysia but on a smaller scale", according to Hank's co-owner and founder Kent Bell.
"It's going to be pretty raw," he says. "Alicia is going to be working with charcoal wok burners and satay stands that are currently on their way here on a boat from Malaysia."
Sambal stingray in banana leaf and soy-marinated chicken wings.
Cheong's menu for the August iteration of Majestic Hawker will be a compact mix of classic hawker-style dishes. Sambal stingray served in a banana leaf will return, as will the pork belly skewers cooked over charcoal and the oyster omelette. New additions include wok-fried pork belly and mackerel fishcake served on steamed rice and rojak, the sweet-salty fruit salad that's common throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. For sweets, there'll be fried banana fritters and sago pudding.
Drinks will be limited to beers from Asahi and Bodriggy and a pair of cocktails: a gin-based Singapore Sling and a refreshing whisky, tea and lemon barley mix.
Satay stands have been imported from Malaysia.
The Majestic Hawker pop-ups are also serving as a preview of sorts.
"We've been talking to Alicia about doing a Singapore barbecue joint in Melbourne for about three years now," Bell says. "We're still waiting to find the right venue for something more permanent but we just decided to get things going now with the pop-up."
Majestic Hawker, Thursday 17 August-Saturday 19 August, 7pm-10pm, Bodriggy Brewery, 245 Johnston St, Abbotsford, Vic. 3-courses $30, 3-courses plus 3 drinks $50. Tickets available online.