Review Hwkr Food Centre - Melbourne

Perhaps they used to be good. This place is now overrated, with no real signature dish. Everything is mediocre. Being said that, the service staff were courteous, and the ambiance around this area is nice. If you want more authentic Asian flavors, there is a lot around this area that will put this joint to shame. Taste: *** Environment: ***** Service: ****

Thoroughly enjoyed myself here! Definitely a new and awesome concept than just being a hawker hall. What a fun environment, decor on point and great upbeat tunes playing in the background. Greeted when walking in and also was explained how the ordering service works which deserves a big tick! Plenty of different Asian cuisines to choose from and dishes came out in great time too! Quality of dishes were good too! So happen to be there on the change over of new restaurant pop ups and when paying for a meal, we were asked for feedback which was great! Heads up that this place doesn’t take cash and uses only eftpos. It works when you don’t need to figure out how to split the bill! Cute outdoor area in the front for pups. Will be back when the next changeover happens in 3-4 months time!

Amazing concept where you eat like in a hawker center in South East Asian countries. Not only you have rotating restaurants but they also might change menus once in a while. Unfortunately the food is not up to standard. The food averages around 15 dollar and nothing stands out from the lot. Would recommend coming only if you want to try different dishes but not if you looking for great food. Food - 5 Service - 6 Vibe - 8 Price - $$$

Restaurant set up as a food court style where you can order from various counters serving different foods. Idea is great as our table enjoyed a good mix of foods. Food taste, portions and price are average. Service was great as there were people assisting us with orders at the table.

Love their indome pop up. Very innovative menu. Chicken coated with indome. Curry puff contains indome. Fried rice with indome flavors. The most important is their indome dry noodles where noodles cooked just the right texture. Also included fried whole egg and indome chicken. Bonus gift indome key ring free when purchase over $20. The best ever pop up in HKWR. Plenty of tables. Situable for big groups. Recommend booking to avoid disappointment. This place have few pop-ups, can be very busy. Very convenient with public transport. Car parking available nearby too.

Came here for a friend's birthday. Didn't expect much as it's a hawker. But I got to say the staffs are the friendliest I've seen in a while. Everyone seems to be happy working there together and it just makes the atmosphere a great place. Food came quite quick and I think the portion was pretty decent for the price point; although I finished my plate as I'm quite a big eater, my other four friends didn't quite finish. My mi goreng gokil was $13.50 if I recall correctly and the other plates were similar in price - no more than $15. I would recommend this restaurant for something casual as it's quiet and spacious and very easy for a group to communicate with each other. I ordered a cocktail for my friend and the bartender was more than helpful. I would come here again. edited: added more photos of dessert on my second visit. the two bowls came to a total of $27~ so roughly $14 each.

Great concept. Great good. Great vibe. An excellent addition to Melbourne's food scene. Rotating restaurants means you'll never be bored. Whether it's a work lunch, dinner with mates, meal on your way home.... there's something for you.

Dangerous that I work across the road from HWKR. So lucky to have an awesome place to grab a bite so close to work. The menus there are always excellent. Staff are friendly. I haven't had a disappointing meal there yet. Serving size from some of the eateries could increase slightly.

Had the salmon sushi in their original restaurant in Richmond, that one was better cuz it’s hot, apparently they made after I ordered. But this one was old, hopefully they can’t do after people order.

We came early and so no katsu ready yet but this chasu pork bowl is delicious we were glad we ordered it. Healthy, too! Thank you The Modern Eatery!

The HWKR food centre in the CBD is a great spot to sample some of the best Asian street style food from around Melbourne. The area is large, cutely decorated and clean. The Modern Eatery have some delicious bao with thir own personalised stamp on the steamed buns.<br/><br/>The service is extremely quick and efficient in this cafeteria style set up. You order at individual counters and then you pick up your food when it's ready. These bao are exactly what you expect. Soft fluffy buns with spicy fillings, tender meat and freshly made. We were completely happy with the service and food.

Went to try this new place and other HWKR shops after search online. Ordered the Wagyu yakiniku don bowl (but the food taste normal, a bit disappointed!) Maybe we were ordering the wrong item? I will still go and try theirs curry dish next time. It is a bit pricey. 🙂

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/><br/>I quite like eating here, I felt very comfortable and the food was tasty and fresh. <br/><br/>The food: I ordered a teriyaki salmon don which was cold and I suppose the idea is to eat cold and I kind liked it. The dish was harmonious and taste good! I also ordered a beef bao, which is regular, very similar to others that I’ve tried before. <br/><br/>The service: soo, the good think about HWKR is that they are a group of restaurants and you can order food from different places, but the bad thing is that they don’t have jug with tap water for you and also the payment only can be done by card (which is a problem if you usually don’t bring a card with yourself) <br/><br/>The price: Is more expensive then other places around the city, the main dish I paid $16 and the bao I paid 2 for $12.

Pretty average food for a high price. Aburi salmon poke bowl was already premade and served with cold rice. Salmon only half aburi-ed when it came to our table. Plenty of other better places!

I was really disappointed the way they serve. Everyone looked sad and when we asked for the menu, they throw it at us. Rude.<br/>Food was bad too. We ordered a salmon poke and a chicken curry. Salmon was not fresh and taste like it has been sitting there for a while. Curry was.. bad. Taste like fast food. <br/>The design in there was cool and nice though.

A wide selection of dishes are available here with the lovely ambiance at HWKR.<br/><br/>Ordered the deep fried sushi which was fried on the edges. The filling was filled with salmon, cream cheese and drizzled with sweet chilli mayo and teriyaki.<br/><br/>Expecting the fries to be small portioned, this came on a large plate. Fries have minimal oil and crispy with bbq seasoning dusted on top and served with a side of Kitty Ks aioli.

Nice yakiniku beef and Katsu Sando. Miso soup ($2 meal deal) was fine, but quite small size and watery.<br/><br/>Yakiniku was definitely catering to the Asian fusion crowd with a large portion of salad and not much beef.<br/><br/>Katsu Sando was nice and crispy, but crumb was borderline burnt and tasted a bit bitter. The bread was a bit dry and there was an uneven spread of tonkatsu sauce. I liked that it had cabbage which is not always included (see Saint Dreux).<br/><br/>I was standing in front of the stall for quite a few minutes waiting for the only staff member to stop frying things in the back, despite making eye contact. Would've been nicer to be acknowledged sooner. There was also some confusion around ingredients on the fries - I asked if there was seaweed and she said no, but then when I asked what it was, she said seaweed...

Will come back for:<br/>+ Katsu Sando<br/><br/>Tried the Katsu Sando as a bite for lunch and was impressed by the way these guys cooked their Katsu. The outside was fried well, but the inside remains succulent and the flavours well balanced. They could cut off the bread crust, to make this a little more “special”; the Katsu just feels a bit cheap sandwich in 2 pieces of white bread. The sandwich can also be a bit dry, and I was glad to have the miso soup (an addition), to accompany the bite. Service was super quick and friendly. Will be back to try out some of the other options.

Delicious fried sushi, big salmon poke bowls with fresh ingredients and pork baos with lots of filling. All food is so good and service is very quick, we loved it.

This is more of a 3.5 stars. See my review of Warung Indomie for thoughts of HWKR as a whole.<br/><br/>Service at this stall was friendly. We had their pressed salmon sushi as well as pork belly don. The sushi tasted pretty good, nice mentaiko on the top that was seared, though the idea of cutting the pieces into rectangles seemed like a needless invention. You'd also probably get more sashimi on top with regular sushi.<br/><br/>The pork belly was not bad, reasonably flavourful, but the texture of the pork was by no means the best. It was a bit dense and there are several other places I would rather have pork belly from. For something like $15-16 per dish, I don't think it's good value for money unfortunately.

Ordered: <br/>*Otaku fries -Kitty k’s aioli accompanying the fries was delectable and the fries felt fairly light :)<br/>*salmon oshi - a standout 🤤 <br/>*wagyu curry- delicious but on the salty side<br/>*katsu sando- found the white fluffy bread and the actual chicken to be average but the crumbing on the chicken was quite nice. You don’t have to worry about a lack of katsu sauce in this sandwich; in fact, they might have been a bit too generous with it 😝<br/>

I love Modern Eatery - so going to their HWKR stall was basically non-negotiable. My favourite dishes (definitely worth a try!) are the salmon oshi (can't really pass on that), the aburi poke bowl and the fry me to the moon.

Ordered the grilled aburi salmon sushi amongst other things from HWKR. It looked as pretty as the picture suggested! But at its price tag, Sushi Sushi/Sushi Hub honestly delivers similar flavours at a lesser price tag. The rice wasn't seasoned well, and was slightly too thick for the amount of salmon. The salmon could also be torched just a tad longer.

I would usually come here to get my sushi fix.The salmon oishi is amazing,the aburi salmon is made perfectly.Tried their baos and they were quite nice too.Thw wagyu beef bao was my favourite

A good selection of items on the menu. Couldn’t go past the baos so had to order all three choices! Favourite was probably the chicken, nice light batter but the baos didn’t taste like they were freshly made. Not fluffy at all but still an enjoyable dish.

I don’t recommend the bao’s here, the bun isn’t very fluffy and the fillings aren’t seasoned that well. But the fried sushi was good, as was the wagyu yakiniku don but personally the seasoning for that one for me was a little over bearing. Still enjoyed it though.

Wagyu Beef Bao : 😁 Great <br/>Wagyu Curry : 😍 Amazing <br/>Aburi Poke Bowl : 😁 Great <br/><br/>Delicious Japanese food that deserves to be praised. Wagyu Beef Bao was delicious. Pair that with the wagyu curry which was epic. The Aburi Poke Bowl was also very yummy. Servings are actually quite big so be prepared.

Rating: 3.5<br/><br/>We ordered on the side of our other dishes this appetising plate of sushi from the Modern Eatery. <br/><br/>We ordered the Salmon Oshi, and wow did it blow my mind like how they blowtorched the buttery aburi sauce from Kitty K. The salmon melted in the mouth and the sweet soy sauce and the aburi sauce followed it. A wonderful and heavenly taste it was indeed. Rice, however, was a slight disappointment since it was a bit hard and too much rice - it could have just been I was not craving rice that day. <br/><br/>Will come back to try the other eye-peeling dishes on the menu!

Fav place to eat in the HWKR food court for me. The amburi salmon and veges were held together by a nice mayo. <br/>The wagyu bao was small and simple. <br/>The wagyu curry was nice and peppery and not too sweet, which is how I like it, but I would have loved more potato and carrots.

I was so excited when I heard that The Modern Eatery opened up in HWKR - I’ve been to their main store in Richmond before and I’ve been dreaming about their Salmon Oshi ever since!<br/><br/>Of course, we had to get the Salmon Oshi again. It’s their signature dish - the blowtorched salmon is melt-in-your-mouth delicious and the sweet soy and aburi sauce is amazing. I could eat 10 plates of these!<br/><br/>‘Fry Me To The Moon’ was as interesting a dish as it’s name - a deep fried sushi roll with salmon and cream cheese. So delicious and crispy, and the mayo & teriyaki sauce is addictive.<br/><br/>The Katsu Curry was pretty good too. Not quite as intriguing as some of their other dishes, but pretty decent and flavourful curry. The katsu was very crispy too.<br/><br/>I would definitely come back for their salmon and sushi. <br/>

Had the salmon poke bowl and it was soooo yummy! Full of flavours, fresh salmon, I loved it! Love the teriyaki sauce as well! So healthy and filling!

We had 3 dishes from here today. Wagyu bowl, Arburi poke bowl, Teriyaki salmon poke bowl. We are a big fan of TME in Richmond, but we were a bit diappointed with this pop up. The food was really average. The wagyu was very dry unlike the one in Richmond branch. The salmon was so so. We recommend you to try them in Richmond instead.

Ordered the chicken katsu curry to share with my friend. Given the low price, I didn’t expect too much so I was surprised by the size of the bowl; however, there were only 4 strips of chicken katsu. Taste was pretty good.

The Modern Eatery is Richmond would have to be one of favourite modern style Japanese restaurants so I was excited to come in and try their pop up at HWKR centre. An exciting visual surrounds and a great short menu containing some of the favourites from TME. <br/><br/>I got reacquainted with their wonderful waving cat stamped bao buns containing a sweet chilli fried chicken and the exceptional tasty bbq wagyu with a heap of kewpie. <br/><br/>Another favourite that’s well worth trying is the seared salmon oshi which was blow torched to its smokey perfection. <br/><br/>First time trying the Fry Me To The Moon and we were hooked. This deep fried roll had plenty of cooked salmon and came presented on a tasty sea of teriyaki sauce which I did my best to eat all of.<br/><br/>Lastly who could pass up on Otaku fries with a rich aioli pot<br/><br/>I was impressed again tonight by the quality of ingredients and it was good to see things here at the same price point as the main restaurant... sometimes these pop ups charge extra but glad this wasn’t the case. <br/><br/>Thanks so much for having us in to try out your pop up menu.

The Modern Eatery has been on our radar for awhile now, and so we decided to have a taste of it at the I famous HWKR! Located close to Melbourne Central, HWKR offers some fresh, delicious and modern Asian fusion dishes that scream with flavour.<br/><br/>Today we ordered the Oshi salmon, fried salmon and also two fried chicken baos with one Wagyu. Our favourite had to be the Oshi. Melt in your mouth sashimi salmon topped with a delightful creamy cheese. The rice is also meticulously crafted being soft, although the rice ratio was just a tad favoured to salmon. Nonetheless, this cannot take away from an excellent dish that was our favourite in a long while. The fried sushi was also bountiful with flavour, sweet chilli and oils oozing together for a crunchy, unique take on Sushi. If you are lactose intolerant, perhaps these aren't for you. But if you are like me and enjoy huge flavours, you will not be disappointed. Finally the baos were gorgeous in flavour. Soft baos with delicious meats on the chicken and Wagyu alike made for an easy meal.<br/><br/>HWKR and thereby The Modern Eatery continue to impress and it isn't hard to see why. Offering contemporary tastes with unique flavours, there is something for everyone. This centre sets the benchmark for what foods have evolved into, and we cannot be more impressed. Highly recommended, a must try if you are a foodie or in Melbourne.<br/><br/>Food: 4/5<br/>Service: 4/5<br/>Ambience: 4/5<br/>Value: 4/5<br/><br/>Overall: 4/5

Salmon Oshi is ultimate fave - the charr on the top with the creamy sauce on top .. it's the perfect bite, every time!<br/><br/>Love their new menu, the curry's are filling and so tasty

Ordered the aburi (salmon) poke bowl, otaku fries and wagyu curry. The poke bowl was delicious, with lovely fresh ingredients and a tasty sauce that brought the whole dish together. Would definitely order this again! Chips were crispy and flavoured well, and the accompanying sauce was also good. The wagyu curry however was really average... a couple of thin strips of meat to the side with curry smothered on top of some rice. The curry wasn’t even that flavourful - have definitely had much better.

My partner and I ordered the Salmon Oshi, the Fry Me To The Moon and a bowl of Katsu Curry. The Salmon Oshi was wonderful, showing me the light that is melted cheese in sushi. The sweet soy sauce made it all the harder to swallow, as I wanted the taste to last in my mouth forever. <br/><br/>This was one-upped by the Fry Me To The Moon - although it was effectively the same thing as the Salmon Oshi, deep frying the sushi made it incredibly enjoyable. The addition of sweet chilli mayo and teriyaki sauce complemented the dish perfectly. Don't fret about the deep-fried preparation of the sushi, it's not oily or greasy in the slightest. I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of 6 pieces of sushi each for both the Salmon Oshi and the FMTTM, as repeat visits to HWKR have made me accustomed to disappointment at portions. <br/><br/>It was then time for the Katsu Curry, a more traditional dish. Thick cuts of chicken and a curry to die for capped off a great dinner. The only improvement that I think can be made is to replace the tiny serving of tomato (I almost thought they fell into our bowl by accident) with some crunchy pickle, as is custom.

Walked into this gem by chance and was totally blown away! Even dad who is not a big fan of Japanese cuisine was very impressed! We shared their Salmon Oshi, nasu dengaku, Katsu curry and Nasu Poke which were all divine! The price was very reasonable for the quality of their food which is on par with some Japanese fine dining. If it is not because of the hawker concept of the food place and they have to use their ugly cutlery and crockery, it would have definitely been a fine dining experience in a relaxed and casual environment. Eating at the modern eatery is definitely one of the highlights of my Melbourne trip.

I only ordered the salmon oshi and I fell in love with it immediately. The smokiness of the flamed salmon combined with the fat made my heart dance. Just remembering its flavours exploding in my mouth that night makes me crave for more. The price is reasonable for its worth!

Nice and compact . Definitely a onestop shop for different kinds of Asian meals/snacks . Fired chicken was too salty; fried rice was not bad, steam bums was good; the mushroom dessert was surprisingly good and cute :) reasonable prices as well

I tried the salmon oshi. It was pretty good, if only the salmon was thicker, because it had too much rice, I couldn’t really taste the salmon. The sauce on top was tasty, though.

I had the salmon oshi. To be quite frank, anything with grilled cheese on top that's been blowtorched is going to be a winner in my book. A lot of my friends who have been to HWKR have talked about how standout this dish is. It's pretty darn good.

Tried their deep fried chicken dish and their chicken Bao. Reasonably tasty but too much sauce which put me off a bit. I also thought the food was quite expensive for what it was.

Mmmmm I am not 100% sure about modern eatery- we had their fly me to the moon - a deep fried sushi which looked slightly burnt and wayyyy to dry and crispy. Wasn’t a huge fan of this dish for sure. It was also drowning in sauce which I felt if it was done well it’s absolutely not necessary, however because it was overfried the sauce made it less dry

We've been to their Richmond shop so it's great to see that it's now in the city at HWKR. The Bao Baes are really cute with their cat logos on the buns. It didn't come with much slaw, but my child like it that way. The fries were really tasty.

Not a reflection on TME at all but the toilet area at HWKR had an absolutely feral stench, you couldn't help but gag at the sewer like smell and was unavoidable if you're heading down that way, blocking your nose does not help. I almost lost my appetite before I even began and 100% this is a health hazard, date visited 19/10/18 @ 06:30pm<br/><br/>Fortunately however TME dished up some amazing plates of food which made me forget that nightmare. Great little pop-up to give you a bit of a tease to entice you into their restaurant in Richmond, or if you are lazy just come here.<br/><br/>The bao bae was excellent, the crispy chunk of chicken was juicy on the inside complimented by a sweet chilli mayo. The bao itself wasn't too bad, a little fluffier and it'd be perfect.<br/><br/>The nasu dengaku is eggplant heaven. I would have thought the garnishings have been a distraction but the eggplant shone, creamy and sweet.<br/><br/>We also enjoyed their salmon oshi with aburi sauce, lovely char and the salmon just melts in your mouth. You could pop these little guys in one by one without thinking, it's a must order and one of their signature dishes.<br/><br/>Something more substantial was their chashu pork bowl, the pork although inviting was on the drier side of what we'd prefer. We love our pork fatty and juicy, decent nonetheless.<br/><br/>Although this is only a small sample size it'd be enough to pique one's interest to go out for a full blown meal. Note that they have no dessert offerings at their HWKR pop-up, something that they may want to take a share of as there is currently no dedicated dessert bar there at the moment.