Hive Red Thai Chili Bowl
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Review: HIVE Local Food

blue door on a tan building with an unlit neon sign that reads "Hive with five hexagons

Some restaurants serve a very specific niche. They identify and fill a need for the community around them.

In a college town like Kutztown, there are students from all walks of life. Along Main Street, there are what feels like an endless number of restaurants that are casting a wide net – pizza and bar food that appeal to a wide range of students and locals, alike.

But then there are places like Hive, a local organic farm-to-table cafe.

chalkboard with the words "Welcome to Hive Cafe Support Local and eat real food"

The appeal for Hive is that it doesn’t have mass appeal. It’s tucked away along Sacony Alley, only one street off Main Street, but it feels like a mile away. The alley is quiet. Instead of storefronts, it’s dominated by the backyards – or back parking lots – of homes and businesses.

The “front door” for Hive looks more like the backdoor to a warehouse. Essentially, it is. The space that houses the cafe is repurposed industrial – a large room that would otherwise be very sterile and cold if not for the vibrant metal tables and chairs, the beautifully drawn menu signs, and the shelves of organic produce.

dining room in Hive Kutztown featuring orange metal tables with matching stools

It was a quiet Sunday, just after 12 noon when we arrived. There was just one table in use. We claimed the other four-person table and brought over a high chair for Jakob before placing our order at the counter.

Hive’s menu – full of vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian options, all organic – expands on Sundays, when additional brunch items supplement the regular lunch menu.

I ordered the heaviest out of the three of us – opting for both a noodle bowl and a smoothie.

Hive Red Thai Chili Bowl with bean sprouts and zucchini noodles

My fin sùt sùt red Thai curry featured rice noodles, spiraled zucchini, carrots, kale, cilantro, lime wedges and scallions in a Thai curry sauce.

Like a pho noodle bowl, the sauce was a thin broth. Rather than a soup with vegetables cooked in the broth, many of the vegetables were placed on top of the noodle bed – the carrots added raw and uncooked.

The broth was definitely kicking, spicy enough to clear out my sinuses but not too spicy that I couldn’t enjoy the dish. This is where most of the flavor came from as rice noodles are rather plain on their own. Aside from the broth, it was a bowl of individual flavors, but I enjoyed it throughout.

pink colored smoothie next to a bowl of noodles

I was also glad to have the smoothie to ease the heat – especially because the one glass of spring water – though served in a very cool beaker – didn’t last very long.

It was the “Queen Bee,”  a strawberry banana smoothie with almond milk and bee pollen. I was a fan. It was sweet, but not overly sweet. It definitely helped cool down my burning mouth as well.

grilled cheese sandwich on a metal tray

For her meal, Julie went with the smoked mozzarella and mushroom panini. It was served on a locally made ciabatta bread. It was simple, but delicious. The smoky flavor of the cheese really shined through. And the mushrooms made for a nice, flavorful filler.

small mixed green salad with a cup of dressing

Her sandwich came with a mixed green salad that was served as an appetizer.  It featured spring mix, beets, carrots and a strong, but enjoyable, balsamic dressing. The carrots were raw and cut thick so they were a little more challenging, but the beets added a nice note to the salad. And everything tasted like it came right out of the garden that day.

Hive offers two kids items – a grilled cheese and the a PB&J. We ordered the grilled cheese because it’s something we know he has eaten at daycare. But I can tell you, they don’t serve it like this at daycare.

grilled cheese sandwich and a banana on a metal tray

The grilled cheese featured a sharp cheddar that was bright orange and full of flavor. And the wheat bread from Daily Loaf Bakery was delicious, especially toasted as it was. Jakob (and mommy and daddy) thoroughly enjoyed it. He finished half of it at the restaurant. The other half went home in a box with the banana that was served as a side (he also got a juice box with his kids meal).

A lot of times, “organic” is synonymous with “pricey,” but I thought our meal was very reasonable. For a noodle bowl, panini, smoothie and a kids meal, we paid just under $40. I would pay that again for our meal.

Hive serves a specific niche, sure, but the food is definitely good enough to expand the customer base. Yes, the cafe specializes in vegan, vegetarian and organic foods. But it’s a cafe first.

And it’s a good one at that.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Fair
Price: Reasonable

Hive
236 W. Sacony Alley
Kutztown, PA 19530

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Mikura was named Best Chinese in Berks.
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Review: Mikura Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar

exterior of Mikura in Wyomissing, PA

Since starting weekly blogs in 2014, I don’t get much opportunity to make return visits to restaurants. It’s much more exciting to try someplace new than revisit the old.

That doesn’t mean I don’t like the places that I visited in the past. I just have to be more selective with where I go on a weekly basis.

One of the restaurants that I haven’t been able to visit in a long time is Mikura Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar.

I first visited Mikura almost four years ago, not long after it opened in a strip mall along North Park Road in Wyomissing. At the time, I was able to get there for the small weekday lunch buffet. I had enjoyed my meal but never had a chance to return, despite the fact that it’s just a five-minute walk from my house.

wooden seats in the dining area of Mikura

So finally, after Julie and I had taken countless walks past the restaurant, we stopped for dinner.

There are two sections to the restaurant. The main dining room and sushi bar are on the left. To the right is the hibachi space (where the lunch buffet was on my visit).

Mikura was actually the second restaurant for the owner of China Penn, and it shows with the extensive menu.

It includes a combination of Chinese, Japanese and Thai dishes. It’s great until you have to make a decision.

two tall glasses with smoothies from Mikura

Thankfully Julie and I had one easy decision: smoothies. (We did walk there so we could afford a few extra calories). I’m not sure why so many Asian restaurants that I’ve visited offer smoothies, but I’m not going to complain about it because we always enjoy them.

Dinner was a harder decision. After looking through everything at least three times, I settled on the Thai Panang curry.

panang curry with chicken and vegetables from Mikura

I’m not an expert by any means, but the dish didn’t look like curry to me. It was very thin in texture and a lot lighter in color than any I have seen before. The lighter color was owing to the coconut milk base, but even Panang curry usually has a reddish brown tint to it.

That’s not to say that it didn’t look appealing in its own way. The chicken, broccoli, snap peas and peppers all looked appetizing, especially with the red chili flakes.

The coconut milk and the chili were definitely the predominant flavors. It was spicy, especially the after taste. I was glad to have my smoothie handy to cool down after every bite.

bowl of shrimp, mango and vegetables in sauce with a cup of rice from Mikura

Julie also went with a Thai-inspired dish, the Thai mango shrimp. The shrimp and mango were stir-fried with snow peas, bell peppers and asparagus in a mango sauce.

All of the ingredients were slathered in a glaze-like sauce, but it was the mango that provided most of the flavor, complimenting the shrimp quite nicely. The vegetables, cooked to al dente, added a crunchy texture.

Both of our entrees were served with a bowl of white rice on the side, which was very helpful in sopping up the runny sauces.

It was a good meal and the service was very quick. We were in and out in less than an hour.

plate with four orange slices and two fortune cookies in bags from Mikura

Our smoothies made it a little pricier than it otherwise would have been. The final bill was nearly $40, but $10 of that was the smoothies.

I was glad to finally make a return trip to Mikura. We both enjoyed our meals and look forward to returning again. And with such a large menu, there are plenty more dishes to enjoy.

BCE Rating
Food: Good
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Price: Reasonable

Mikura Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar
840 N. Park Rd
Wyomissing, PA 19610

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Hong Thanh – MOVED

Editor’s Note: Hong Thanh has moved. The restaurant is now located at 22 N. 6th Street in downtown Reading and renamed Lang Restaurant. The former Hong Thanh is now home to Masa Hibachi & Sushi.

When you think of Berks County cuisine, what do you think of?

Many probably think of a bowl of chicken pot pie, a platter of schnitz und knepp or other Pennsylvania Dutch specialty.

Others may think of homemade pasta, a south-of-the-border recipe or barbecue chicken.

One thing I have learned since starting Berks County Eats is that we are blessed with amazing variety when it comes to dining options.

Still, if you asked me what I think of when I think of Berks County cuisine, a Vietnamese sauté probably would not have been very high on my list.

strip mall restaurant with a sign above the door that reads "Hong Thanh Contemporary Vietnamese Cuisine"

From the outside, Hong Thanh looks very much like many area Asian restaurants. Its location – a strip mall inside the Broadcasting Square Shopping Center in Spring Township – doesn’t allow for much of an exterior. A large silhouette of a mystical-looking woman adorns one of three tinted windows.

Past the large statue that stands guard inside the doors, the dining room opens up. A bright yellow booth seat runs the length of the far wall. Across the room, small tables for two are raised above the dining room.

The menus are small, but the items on them are varied. For those looking for the familiar, Hong Thanh offers a variety of lo mein, fried rice and beef, chicken and pork stir-fry.

steak stir fry with onions and a side salad

But my eye never made it past the first of the “specialties” items: sautéed onions, garlic and French butter. The dish comes with your choice of three meats, and though I consider myself to be an adventurous eater, I was not feeling adventurous enough to try the squid. Instead, I added the cubed filet mignon, and was glad I did.

The meat was extremely tender and had soaked up a lot of the flavor from the French butter sauce, which was sweet and a little salty from the addition of soy sauce, making the filet extra juicy as well. The dish is served with a cup of lime-based dipping sauce which worked with the flavors of the dish to create a sweet and sour dynamic that took it to another level.

Rather than serving as a bed for the meat, a scoop of white rice was served in a side bowl. Instead, the plate was filled out with the addition of a simple lettuce and tomato salad that went well with both the dipping sauce and the French butter.

curry stir fry

The other item I wanted to try was a lemongrass and curry stir-fry. Thankfully, that was the item that caught my wife’s attention. The stir-fry also included coconut, peanuts and choice of meat (in this case, pork) and was served with lo mein noodles.

The noodles were angel-hair thin and created a delicious tangled web atop the plate. The stir-fry itself was a sweet and spicy combination, with the curry coming through strong. The addition of the lemongrass also helped make this a little more authentic than the “Americanized” stir fries that feature broccoli and similar vegetables.

slice of apple pie with a cup of vanilla ginger ice cream

After our meals, we had just enough room for dessert, a slice of Vietnamese banana cake served with a small scoop of ginger ice cream.

The dessert was more pie than cake, with large chunks of bananas sandwiching a layer of thick cream, surrounded by a moist crust. The ginger ice cream, one of several homemade ice cream options, added some spice to go along with the sweet cake. The two pieces were enjoyable together, but could also stand individually.

For $45, we enjoyed a meal that went outside of our traditional comfort zone and forced us to experience new flavors.

Though Hong Thanh has only been at its current location since late 2012, the business has been serving Berks County for nearly 30 years, an eternity in the restaurant business.

Vietnamese cuisine will probably never become synonymous with Greater Reading, but Hong Thanh serves as a reminder that Berks County’s food scene is rich with diversity.

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