Cocowok

Jodi Mailander Farrell5/25/2011

Yes, we know it's technically a mall, but does it have to offer food-court quality fare?

The cutely named Cocowok, tucked into the Virginia Street side of Coconut Grove's CocoWalk, offers sizeable portions and speedy service, but the nook-sized restaurant could keep every Miami dentist in business. Our honey chicken was thickly battered, mostly dark meat in an overbearing chili-honey sauce. Wontons were heavy on the fried dough, skimpy on the marinated pork, served up with another too-sweet sauce. The batter on the Cocowok shrimp was lighter, but the syrup they swam in was so sugary we could only muster a few bites. For dessert? Fried banana spring rolls served with, yep, sweet sticky coconut sauce.

For the best value and taste, we liked the plentiful veggies in the Cocowok bowls, with brown or white rice or your choice of noodles: egg, chow fun (rice), glass (made from green beans) or street (wheat). We asked for all the fixings and what we got - carrots, green onions, broccoli, bok choy, bean sprouts, mushrooms, celery and snow peas - snapped with freshness. For a few extra bucks, you can top it with a protein of beef, chicken, pork or shrimp.