Shiok: Asian Slang to express awesome, delicious, very tasty, cool, wow! It conveys a feeling of pleasure, happiness and pure satisfaction.
Shiok also happens to be the name of the new restaurant at Rolling Hills Plaza in Torrance, California. The new eatery is appropriately named as they bring to the South Bay some delightful and tasty eats!
Their menu is inspired by Asia’s legendary markets and among their offerings one can find bao, bahn mi and bowls.
I recently got a special sneak peak and was amazed with their bold and bright flavors.
Their baos are my new favorite!
I love the Cripsy Golden Bao.
The outside is a crisp golden brown bun and inside is steamed pork with egg. This is one tasty triple treat.
The Hot Fried Chicken Bao is another fabulous bao that I really enjoyed.
The Hot Fried Chicken Bao is a steamed bun filled with a gigantic piece of fried chicken smothered in sriracha. The fried chicken is topped with Asian slaw, cilantro and jalapeño. I loved the crisp chicken with a fiery kick. This was very fulfilling.
The Nightmarket Bao is another winner.
This savory bao has a large Kakuni-style braised pork belly topped with Taiwanese relish and roasted peanuts! I love how it has crisp roasted peanuts. It gives a nice, crunchy touch to the bao.
Aside from the baos; Shiok has other delights that are part of their “Cravables” menu.
The Veggie Crunch is a great starter that is perfect for vegetarians!
I have always been a fan of taro and this cravable has taro, yam, tofu, mushrooms in fried rice paper. It’s crunch and love at first bite.
Another good starter is their Shrimp Crisps.
Growing up in an Asian household; shrimp crisps were a favorite snack of mine to bring to school. Shiok’s Shrimp Crisps remind me of me of the delightful chips that were once part of my lunch bag. Shiok makes their own house fried shrimp chips and they are amazing!
All of Shiok’s cravables are great but make sure to save room for some of the entrees.
Shiok’s Signature Bahn Mi is a must try!
I tried the bahn mi with grilled lemongrass steak. The lemongrass steak combined with Bourbon pate, sriracha aioli, Asian slaw, cucumbers, pickled daikon, carrot, papaya and cilantro made for a tasty sandwich. This was paired with some Shrimp Crisps.
I also got to try some of their bowls. First up was the Asian Street Bowl.
For the Asian Street Bowl one can choose their protein. Among the choices are lemongrass steak, spicy satay chicken or soy ginger chicken. The protein then comes with peanut sauce, shallot ginger rice, baby lettuce, street side corn, Asian slaw, cucumbers, pickled daikon, carrot, papaya, cilantro and fried shallots. It’s an explosion of flavors in one healthy bowl.
The second bowl I tried here was the Zen Bowl.
The Zen bowl is a vegetarian delight consisting of bbq pulled jackfruit, coconut ginger chickpeas, shallot ginger rice, streetside corn, Asian slaw, pickled daikon-carrot-papaya, cucumbers, fresh shallots and cilantro. I love how the jackfruit is tender just like shredded chicken. The bowl is wonderfully healthy and truly does bring some zen ;).
Equal in deliciousness to the bowls is their drinks. They’ve got freshly made teas with fruits and boba. For the special private event; they had the Blue Lagoon and Boba Milk Tea.
I loved how colorful the Blue Lagoon was. It made me feel like I was in an Asian tropical island. The colorful blue and green floral tea was pure paradise. It has a refreshing and exquisite flavor.
The boba milk tea was a classic drink with soft honey boba pearls.
Shiok! I truly was saying Shiok by the end of my meal here.
Shiok: Asian Street Food will have it’s soft opening starting September 7, 2018 and they will have their grand opening on September 28, 2018.
For more smiles; please see my Yelp review on Shiok: Asian Street Food!
