Twenty-five years ago, Chef Richard Hales made a decision that would shape everything you taste at Hales Blackbrick today. He left the comfort of traditional kitchens and spent years living, working, and learning across Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, not as a tourist, not as a consultant, but as a student willing to work for free just to understand the real techniques behind Southeast Asian cooking.
No culinary school can teach you what a grandmother in Penang knows about curry paste. No textbook can replicate the rhythm of a hawker stand in Bangkok at 2 AM. Chef Hales learned by doing, peeling shallots until his hands cramped, grinding spices on granite mortars, and watching how fire and time transform ingredients into something transcendent.
That education is back. And it's smoking.
The Northern Thai Connection
In the misty mountains of Northern Thailand, Chef Hales discovered curries that didn't play by the rules of the coconut-heavy south. These were earthier, more complex, layered with dried spices, tempered by tamarind, built on foundations of shallots and garlic pounded into oblivion.
He'd show up at family-run restaurants before dawn, offering his labor in exchange for knowledge. The deal was simple: he'd prep, clean, carry, whatever they needed, if they'd let him watch, ask questions, and taste. Most said yes. Some became mentors. All of them taught him that great curry isn't about following a recipe. It's about understanding balance.
The Malaysian Indian Influence
But it was Malaysia that really changed everything. In the Indian enclaves of Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Chef Hales found a different kind of magic: curries that married South Indian techniques with Malaysian ingredients, creating something that belonged to both worlds and neither.
These weren't the curries you'd find in Delhi or Chennai. They were louder, spicier, more coconut-forward. Peanuts showed up in unexpected places. So did lemongrass. The Indian cooks in Malaysian hawker stalls weren't interested in authenticity: they were interested in making something delicious for their neighbors, whoever those neighbors happened to be.
If you know, you know: that's the real spirit of fusion cooking. Not some chef in a big city trying to be clever, but actual people in actual markets solving the problem of "what do I make with what I have that people will line up for?"
Asia's Pantry with a Florida Soul
Fast forward to Hyde Park, and Chef Hales is doing the same thing those Malaysian hawker cooks did: but with Florida ingredients and techniques. At Hales Blackbrick, we call it "Asia's pantry with a Florida soul."
The pantry part is all those years in Southeast Asia. The soul part? That's the smoker out back, running low and slow with white oak from Florida. That's the USDA Prime brisket we source locally. That's the understanding that some of the best food in the American South has always involved smoke, time, and patience.
What happens when you combine a Penang curry base with a duck that's been kissed by white oak smoke? What happens when you finish an 8-hour smoked brisket in a Northern Thai-style green curry?
You get something that couldn't exist anywhere else.
The New Menu: Two Curries, Twenty-Five Years in the Making
Penang Duck Curry
This isn't your typical Panang curry, and it's definitely not your typical duck.
We start with whole duck, seasoned and smoked over white oak until the skin tightens and the fat renders into something magical. The smoke adds a depth that coconut alone could never achieve: it's almost caramelized, with a sweetness that cuts through the richness of the meat.
Then we break down that duck and finish it in our Peanut Panang curry: a recipe Chef Hales developed after countless iterations, trying to capture what he learned in those Malaysian hawker stalls. Roasted peanuts ground into the curry paste. Coconut cream that's been cooked down until it splits and becomes glossy. Palm sugar for sweetness. Fish sauce for depth. Makrut lime leaves because some things are non-negotiable.
The result is a curry that's rich without being heavy, smoky without being overwhelming, and complex enough that every bite tastes slightly different from the last. The duck stays tender, the sauce clings to it like it was always meant to be there, and that white oak smoke ties everything together.
Green Curry Noodle with Smoked Brisket
If the Penang duck is about Malaysian influence, this dish is pure Northern Thai technique: with a very Florida twist.
Start with USDA Prime brisket. Not the stuff you'd use for quick stir-fry, but the real deal: marbled, thick-cut, the kind that needs low heat and time to become what it's supposed to be. We smoke it for eight hours. Low and slow. White oak again, because consistency matters.
Most people would stop there and slice it for sandwiches. We're just getting started.
That brisket goes into a green curry that's based on the Northern Thai style Chef Hales learned decades ago: more herbs, more aromatics, less sugar than the tourist versions. Fresh Thai basil. Young peppercorns. Galangal and lemongrass pounded fresh every day. The curry paste alone takes three days to develop the flavors we're after.
The eight-hour smoke means the brisket doesn't just sit in the curry: it absorbs it, becomes part of it. The fat that rendered during smoking helps carry the curry flavors. The smoke adds another layer of complexity that makes the dish taste both familiar and completely new.
We serve it over fresh noodles because that's how it should be: something you can slurp, something that soaks up every bit of that sauce, something that makes you want to order another bowl before you've finished the first.
A New Direction, Rooted in History
These aren't just "new menu items." They're the culmination of everything Chef Hales learned in those years working for free in Southeast Asian kitchens, combined with the smoking techniques that define great Florida cooking.
This is what modern Asian fusion should be: not random ingredients thrown together because they sound exotic, but a genuine understanding of multiple culinary traditions, combined with the confidence to create something new.
You won't find these exact dishes in Thailand or Malaysia. You won't find them anywhere else in Tampa. They exist because one chef spent 25 years learning how to make them possible, and because Hales Blackbrick believes that the best Asian fusion restaurant Tampa has to offer should honor both the "Asian" and the "fusion" parts of that equation.
Come Taste the Journey
Both curries are available now on our dinner menu. They're the kind of dishes that taste different every time you notice something new: a hint of smoke, a pop of Thai basil, the way the coconut cream coats your palate before the heat builds.
This is fine dining Tampa without the pretense. This is Hyde Park Tampa restaurants at their most creative. This is what happens when traditional technique meets Florida ingredients and nobody's afraid to use a smoker.
Ready to try them? Make a reservation and taste 25 years of culinary education in two bowls.
Current Hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Friday–Saturday: 5:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Sunday: Dim Sum 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM, Dinner 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Monday: Closed
See you at the table.
