A brick and mortar franchise of the omnipresent New York City food cart. There is another location at 688 N. Alafaya Trail, Orlando.

The name Hawkers makes sense once you know the concept, and it only sounds odd if pronounced by someone with a Boston accent.
The idea behind this charming little eatery is to present an array of dishes the type of which might be sold — hawked — by individuals who stake out space on the sidewalks and streets of various Asian cities but with, you know, stricter health department guidelines.
I’m resisting the urge to describe the dishes as tapas-like, but most of the menu items are “small plate” in nature. And the best way to experience Hawkers Asian Street Fare is the same as you would a tapeo, except instead of doing a tapas crawl, you might virtually wander these Asian streets and sample a number of delectable items. Try the banh mi sliders (I had the duck version; delicious) and the five spice pork choplettes. The curry Laksa is a wonderful and colorful bowl of myriad flavors with chicken, shrimp and big fat egg noodles.

Another player in the gourmet taco game, Hunger Street does a good job with meaty fillings in appropriate tortillas.

The available dishes are on display behind glass in a steam table. Don’t be intimidated by them; any of the ladies will be glad to explain what they are, but do pay special attention to the more authentic Filipino dishes. After all, there are darned few Filipino restaurants in the area, and you can get spaghetti at thousands of places around town (and yes, spaghetti is on Inay’s menu).

Jimmy Hula’s has opened a second location on University Boulevard, close to UCF, which seems a perfect location for this type of operation. Fish tacos are the focus here, and they’re mostly done well.

As with other assemblage concepts, guests choose the ingredients and direct the staff member behind the sneeze guard who puts it all together into what one hopes will be a conglomeration that doesn’t suck. Here you can choose a burrito as your food container, or perhaps a pita pocket, or maybe just a bowl to hold it all.

I went with the burrito, choosing a white flour tortilla instead of a whole wheat one, Mexican rice instead of brown or mjedderah (the Lebanese mix of rice and lentils), black beans instead of lentils, and steak as my meat option. It doesn’t stop there. One must still choose sauces and other accouterments.

It all turned out well, however. My choices all came together into a well-stuffed burrito that was transferred into a well-stuffed diner. The quality of the ingredients — including hormone-free meat — was evident in the taste.

Oh goodie, another “street fare” restaurant. How did eating foods sold on the street become the hot trend for off-street restaurants? And, more importantly, when will it finally fizzle?

I suppose it won’t as long as there are restaurants that do the street thing as well as Kai does.

Charming Haitian quick-serve with delicious food.

This little bakery does some fine food as well, all with a Colombian twist.
The menu is on a board on the wall behind the counter, which holds various Latin American baked goods. I wasn’t getting a lot of information from the Spanish language menu, so the owner approached and asked if she could offer some help. I asked her what the specialty of the house was, but she misunderstood and told me what the special of the day was — a plantain soup and a serving of yellow rice and chicken for $7.
I was intrigued by the plantain soup, so I ordered the special.
I couldn’t believe how much food I got for seven bucks. The soup was a full bowl, not just a measly cup, and it featured a hearty chicken broth with lots of vegetables and slices of green plantains. The soup could easily have been an entree.