Starry Kitchen Shacks Up in Chinatown's Far East Plaza

Did you know that from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays, Starry Kitchen has a pop-up within Chinatown's Far East Plaza selling a super limited menu of three bánh mì sandwiches? There's one with tofu balls, one with Malaysian chicken curry, and a third with ginger pork belly. That's because Starry Kitchen is taking over the old Hoan Kiem restaurant, and the pop-up is temporary until Nguyen and Thi Tran figure out what they want to do with the space. They're thinking about a bánh mì and Asian-style rice plate place and MAYBE a small scale test kitchen for new dishes.

White the concept is not yet finalized, if they go in the rice plate direction one might find rice with slow roasted spare ribs in a Japanese curry roux, and possibly a "chocolate roux" chili rrab gumbo. Regardless the theme, the Trans definitely want something simple, portable and inexpensive in line with neighbors Chego! and Scoops.

But before any of that can happen, probably around mid-June if not earlier, the Trans will fully remodel Hoan Kiem. And, Nguyen adds, "I think the LA food scene is a little cautious of us since we've started/stopped so many times and want to make it CLEAR that was have NO INTENTION OF LEAVING and EVERY INTENTION TO STUFF DELICIOUS FOOD IN PEOPLE'S MOUTHS (hopefully willingly LOL)."
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