For those made jaded by The Same Old Thing at brunch, let us introduce Hiro Asian Kitchen. Bernie Lee, the owner, is Malaysian, but his food picks up influences from all over Asia. His menu for brunch isn't immense, but the food is so new to most of us that a bigger menu could induce considerable indecision. It's difficult enough as it is.
Across Asia, a common breakfast is jook, also known as congee. Somewhere between a rice porridge and a thick soup, it's found everywhere from sidewalk stands to elegant hotel buffets, always served with add-ins. Basically pretty bland to an American palate, just like oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, it's the riffs that make it swing. Here it arrives with tasty strips of Asian eggplant, plenty of shiitake mushrooms, chicken, a little spinach and cut-up pieces of what's called Chinese donut, or youtiao. They're long strips of fried dough, savory rather than sweet, and add another texture to the melange. The whole thing is topped with a fried egg. Good stuff, and surprisingly complex. Want to crank it up yet more? Sriracha or soy sauce.
Considerably more local is Lee's take on the slinger. It arrives in a bowl, layers of tater tots sprinkled with cheese, then bulkogi, the Korean spicy grilled beef, very tender, and a fried egg drizzled with sriracha mayonnaise. This is a real Big Flavor choice, very satisfying except that it arrived with the stone bowl very hot and the food tepid – indeed, the egg was almost cold. Given the proper temperature, it's a good choice. We also got a chance to sample the beef rendang, a special, a braise with lemongrass, coconut, garlic and ginger, the gravy thick and sweet-hot, quite excellent.
Not beef, despite the menu, is the daji pai, described as chicken fried steak; close, but no cigar. This is a paillard of chicken, a chicken steak, if you will, that's been chicken-fried. There's a sauce of sweet corn – I'm always amused to see how Europe and Asia have taken to this so-American vegetable – and another, more mysterious, green one. Topped off with an egg, it was at once simple and complex, and the chicken itself was nice and juicy.
Farther from the beaten path were the breakfast baos. A bao is a bun, and in this case, it's steamed and folded in half to hold a little bacon, some scrambled egg, and lightly pickled fennel. The bacon is sprinkled with togarashi, a mix of spices and seeds, adding crunch and a little heat; the fennel, even to a pair of non-fanciers of fennel, was just right. The buns were small (Lee likens them to sliders) but thrilling. The bacon, baked to crispness, is also available as an a la carte side. Fresh berries were mounded atop a hill of whipped cream, part dairy and part coconut, unsweetened and delicate and charming.
Probably the most unusual item is the kaya toast. Very traditional in Singapore and Malaysia, it's a snack, often taken with coffee. Lee talks about his mother giving it to him after school. Toasted bread is spread with a smooth coconut jam and eaten warm. It's accompanied by an egg, the usual accompaniment, in which to dunk the sandwich, and some optional soy sauce. Very sweet, although the egg and soy sauce cut it some, very rich, but easily shareable. About the only miss was the dim sum platter, whose shrimp and pork dumplings looked different but tasted identical and the xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, which arrived with holes in each dumpling, losing the soup entirely.
Good coffee, made with chicory, although a mixup asking for cream brought what seemed to be soy milk. Service in general was extremely amiable but, as noted, a little discombobulated. Perhaps a couple of those seductive brunch cocktails would have made service feel completely smooth. But the food needs very little help.
Hiro Asian Kitchen
1405 Washington Ave.
314-241-4476
Brunch Sun., Lunch Tues.-Sat., Dinner Tues.-Sun.
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Brunch entrees: $9-$12