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Dining dispatches from Southeast Asia

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I’ve been quiet on social media for a while now. I’ve been spending my weekends on a passion project — if you don’t already know, I’m the guy behind @tempehculture and I make tempeh using organic soybeans. The mission? To provide a delicious high protein option for those on plant-based diets and to share a slice of my family’s culinary heritage. It’s something I do on the weekends, with a strict cap on how much I make. So what spurred this crazy? Part of it is seeing this shift in the market to plant-based foods, but going even deeper, I think I’m driven by an almost primordial need to not just get in touch with my family’s roots but to also talk about it. Tempeh is a staple we have at home and it hails from Java. Yet being fourth generation Singaporean of Javanese heritage meant I grew up not knowing anything about Javanese cultural customs. So late last year, a decade after making a career talking about other people’s culinary cultures, I decided to talk about my own. I launched it. It was a crazy stab in the dark wondering who on this planet would want to buy my stuff. Today, I’m blessed to count amongst my customers, everyone from those who are vegetarian for religious reasons to F&B owners wanting to find out how good tempeh should taste, to vegan lawyers. What started out of passion has become a way for me to connect with the community. The work isn’t world-changing, the margins aren’t all that great, but to serve the community and meet their needs is immensely rewarding. Thank you everyone who supported me along the way. You know who you are. You made this possible. For more, follow me on @tempehculture. Next month’s batch dates to be released soon.

KL is the capital of nasi lemak. Yes yes I know all four of the Bahasa-speaking countries of Southeast Asia (including my own) lay claim to the best versions of this dish. I’m not here to wade into the fray because I don’t believe in the best versions of anything when it’s a matter of personal preference. But this smoky, somewhat gritty capital of Malaysia is home to a dizzying number of stalls and restaurants that serve up mean renditions of this dish, each with their own legion of loyal acolytes. For so long, Singaporeans like myself obsess over Village Park’s, and I’m here to tell you we’ve barely scratched the tip of the ice berg. Behold: Nasi Lemak Bumbung, a supper spot where food is served in a tiny alleyway, where the fried chicken glistens under a crispy marinate that tastes like muruku, where the yolk oozes like molten gold and the sambal will kick you in the nuts. Where’s a street food guide when you need one eh?

You know what? It’s shockingly difficult to get a decent serve of paella here in Singapore. I’ve pretty much given up looking for a good version anywhere outside Spain — that was until a few of us stepped into @binomiorestaurante. This pan offered everything I wanted, not so much in that generous spread of clams and crustaceans but in the rice that sang of a deep ocean brine and the unmistakeable tenor of a seafood stock done right. The rice texture was a perfect doneness and that salsa verde laced on the glistening naked bodies of pink prawns and langoustines catapulted the dish into greatness. I’m calling it: Binomio serves up the best classic paella in town; don’t fight me on this 😂

Well aren’t you the prettiest, tiniest uni and caviar tart?

January is off to a flying start food-wise and the lunch this week at @olacocinadelmar with chefs Virgilio Martinez and Pia Leon is a massive highlight. Few visiting chefs seem to be able to stitch a seamless experience between their food and the hosting restaurant, where the ingredients look like they’re meant to sit on that plate and in that particular space. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ That’s no small feat given that these ingredients are sourced from across Peru’s incredibly diverse topography. My favourite that day? A dish named Coastal Foothills where oca, an Andean staple has been dug out one side of the planet, catapulted to Singapore and put through the technical paces into this masterpiece. There it sat on my plate to shatter as a cracker, along with tumbo which tasted very much like passion fruit and a cheese-like emulsion of lupinus. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Peruvian chefs who use native ingredients have played a massive role in rehabilitating what was once a war-torn nation. A while back, I interviewed chef Virgilio on the impact of what they do, and it wasn’t just about providing jobs in restaurants. It’s about working with farmers and producers and everyone else along the supply chain. As Peru’s gastronomic greats rose on the world stage, so too did the ordinary folk. In fact, The Financial Times reported that some 5.5 million Peruvians benefit directly or indirectly from the industry. Therein lies the magic of food; a bite is often a microcosm of the country’s economic health. And on that note, here’s hoping 2019 will be as enlightening and soulful as this meal.

@magicsquare.sg opened when I was still living in KL and I had been left out of the big bang when fellow food media swarmed in like a pack of hungry wolves sniffing out stories to tell. Months after I returned and following a brief conversation with chef Desmond Shen (@dzzfizz ) who heads the space in December, I finally decided to show up — and am beating myself up for taking so long. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The meal was equal parts pleasurable as it was provocative. Where you are lulled by the gobsmackingly delicious seared iwashi on toast one course, you are brought into the deep end by a glob of suppon jelly, served on what remains of a turtle shell the next. There was the rice flavoured with turtle fat as much as there was the kegani brought to life with crab garum and egg white caviar. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Food waste was brought under the spotlight in three courses: first on the grilled papaya sprinkled with dehydrated papaya seeds — who would’ve thought these tasted like pepper? And then again on cockscomb cracker, boiled, dehydrated and fried until crisp and lastly on the emerald emulsion sitting underneath grilled and basted lettuce: a miso made of pea shells which would otherwise have been discarded. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Experimental? Quite. Did it work? For me yes absolutely, but then again, I like being provoked. The menu comes to an end in a few days and it’s one of the most remarkable degustations I’ve had in recent months. It’s clear to me that we have three rising stars in our midst, and I can’t wait to be back.

Singapore finally has a good modern Indian restaurant of its own. Years after Bangkok’s Gaggan and Kuala Lumpur’s Nadodi arrived on the scene, @mano.thevar who hails from Penang has answered the clarion call of this growing genre and made it his own. Enter @thevar.sg, a newish spot on Keong Saik Road where the flavours, ingredients and techniques of South India are given a Southeast Asian touch and plated for the hip dining set. There are so many standouts here but I particularly loved the dosai with mackerel and tomato chutney. I have dosai nearly every Saturday morning (it’s a weekend ritual) so to see it presented this way was both comforting and amusing. It’s been a while since I visited a place and felt my toes curl from such utter deliciousness. If there’s ever an underdog restaurant quietly serving amazing food, this would be it. Pay a visit — consider this a commandment.

Despite not wanting to go to the US for as long as Agent Orange is in office, I found myself in San Francisco a few months ago for work. There was no time to check out much, no time to have the city’s famed sourdough nor walk along its gorgeous streets kissed by the autumn sun. No. But there was time for an In-N-Out Burger run where I shovelled two of their “secret menu” items into my face: the 4x4 and the animal style fries. That’s basically four beef patties separated by three slices of cheese in one burger and French fries topped with grilled onions and their signature sauce. This was probably 4000 calories but hey it’s not a place I get to go everyday. Was it worth it? Every. Last. Bite. The grilled onions did it for me. Its caramelised depth and tannin notes made for a devilish companion to that piquant secret sauce. I’m not huge on fast food nor this heaving culture of excess but I have to admit, In-N-Out’s insistence on using fresh not frozen ingredients gives that tiny leeway for it to teeter between diner and fast food chain. I’m hoping to head back some time — but maybe when Agent Orange is done playing dollhouse.

Food can change you. Yes it’s about deliciousness but there also larger things at play: It codifies history, culture and in my case that morning, the story of migration. My own heritage snapped into focus last week in Yogyakarta as I dived headlong into the cultural heart of Java. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ There, I visited 72-year-old Mbah Satinem who has sold lupis — or kueh lopes as we know it in Singapore — all her life, from when she was helping her mother as a child. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ From my little stool by the roadside, I watched her move gracefully from slicing the rice cakes to sprinkling grated coconut, to ladling on the thick caramelised gula jawa. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And even though I was in a city surrounded by people I know to be my cultural make up, I was still a foreigner. I’ve been told all my life that we’re of Javanese ancestry, yet being 4th or 5th generation Singaporean means we don’t have access to the cultural knowledge of our forefathers. We’re talking about thousands of years of history here with a different language and a different written script altogether. Java is always mentioned like a distant motherland, and we are her forgotten children. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But the first bite of Mbah Satinem’s lupis felt like I was jolted home — except it was a far more expressive rendition. Hers was complex; the texture of the rice stained green from its banana leaf wrap was simply perfect and the sweet lashings of gula jawa had a dark, savoury undertone. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ These ingredients were procured with sensitivity to terroir. The gula jawa is from Kulon Progo while the rice is from Purworejo. Have we become so far removed from our roots that we slap on whatever ingredients available at the nearest supermarket not knowing the origins of the food and the importance of provenance? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This was affirmation that despite hundreds of years living on a different trajectory, the DNA expressed through a common palate remained. Food can indeed change you. In this case, it showed me who I am.

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Recent Posts

Behind Javara’s tireless work in elevating Indonesia’s farmers and artisans
A recipe for Laksa Siglap – Singapore’s forgotten laksa
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Dining dispatches from Southeast Asia, and beyond.

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Recent Posts

Behind Javara’s tireless work in elevating Indonesia’s farmers and artisans
A recipe for Laksa Siglap – Singapore’s forgotten laksa
Nasi ulam: A herbed rice recipe that’s easy, nutritious and delicious
Modern Malaysian cuisine blooms in the kitchens of Beta KL
Photoessay: Saturday morning at a Malaysian Farmer’s Market

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