by: guest blogger @iam_robot
Growing up in Southeast Asia, it’s been my longtime wish to
see a finer fast food joint where I can get a bowl of rice with meats that are
cooked to order and vegetables fresh out of the wok. I mean this is my very definition of fast food
growing up in Asia – street stalls flooded the entire nation while American
fast food joints (Mcdonalds, KFC) were few and far between. More importantly,
these street stalls’ cooks take their jobs very seriously – competition is
stiff and there’s no shortcut – ingredients are always freshly prepared, meats
are marinated and cooked thoroughly, and cooking techniques are borderline
intricate/ old school. Imagine how much
carbon monoxide you’d be inhaling in your lifetime if your job were to grill
chicken satay on a charcoal grill for over 30 – 40 years? Yes, those peppery
smokes that permeates the streets of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore,
burning your eyes and nose, is the doing of a diligent cook fanning smokes off
his precious charcoal grill.
When I got the invite for Asian Box, a Palo Alto-based quick
serve dining concept, I was very intrigued. Not only organic ingredients and
naturally raised meats are featured, the ingredients, flavors, and cooking
techniques are very much influenced by Southeast Asian cooking. Similar to
Shophouse (the Chipotle owned Asian fast food joint), you can pick what goes
into your bowl – starting with rice, noodles or salad, then add protein such as
lemongrass pork, six spice chicken, garlic beef, and curried tofu, finally
throw in some vegetables or caramel eggs along with their homemade sauces. Their meal comes packaged in a box similar to
what you’d get in the streets of Asia – fyi, Asian Box pride themselves in
using eco-friendly, compostable boxes and utensils – Love it!
Today I opted for brown rice with soy-garlic beef along with
a hodgepodge of veggies (pickled veggies, bean sprout, jalapeno, peanut, lime,
shallot, scallion oil) and caramel egg topped with Miss Jones’ Sriracha plus
their super secretive hot sauce called as “Hot Box It”.
