Asian Food Fest secret menu items: So, like, what are they? And where can I find them?
So what are the secret menu items anyway?
As the Asian Food Fest returns to Cincinnati this weekend, a perennial tradition also returns: trying to score some exclusive sweet treats that no one else can find.
, the secret menu tradition "stems from a common practice of an additional 'hidden' menu at Asian restaurants that contain more of the authentic, home cooked dishes. These dishes give many a feeling of comfort and home."
Unfortunately for those seeking the quick and easy way out this year (after all, what is a secret if it's not kept secret?), the food vendors this year at Asian Food Fest have done a remarkably good job at keeping their secret menu items under wraps, and very little is publicly available online about even so much as hints for what these secret menu items might be.
However, despite this, not all is lost: It is at least known that there are nine different unique dishes across four separate restaurants.
The restaurants are Aloha Dayton, Chhnagnh, Mangan, and Smiles n' Spice.
Some of these restaurant stalls also offered secret menu items in past years as well, and the menu is something that the Asian Food Fest likes to heavily emphasize in its advertising of the event every year.
Aloha Dayton is a Hawaiian baked goods stand, Chhnagnh is a Cambodian food stand, Mangan is a Filipino food stand, and Smiles n' Spice is an Indian food stand.
for these four stands and several dozen more. And even if you do not have the time or energy to try to figure out what the items on the secret menu are this weekend, it is likely to be a safe bet that you will find enough food to eat on Court Street Plaza this weekend a couple hundred times over.
However, if you are not content to simply be eating what everyone else around you is eating, getting creative may be necessary to try to figure them out on the spot if you plan on attending the food fest. The locations are known, it's just figuring out what to say to the vendors to get them to make something special for you that is not. And if the repeated advertising of the food fest's secret menu is anything to go by, it is something that organizers appear to hope at least some attendees will work their way into figuring out by the end of the weekend.