Hold on to your prosperity cups – everything 'Chinese-y' is cool again in F&B
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Hold on to your prosperity cups – everything 'Chinese-y' is absurd again in F&B
With menu items like The Concubine'south Carp and Fragrant Phoenix, it'southward fourth dimension to re-enter the dragon at chinois joints Fatty Dragon, The Dragon Chamber and 51 Soho.
Cocktails showcasing Chinese liquors at 51 Soho. (Photo: 51 Soho)
04 April 2022 06:34AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 04:08AM)
There is an old Chinese proverb that goes, "Chinoiserie will ever be fashionable – look it up, Brenda."
Okay, no, there isn't – we just made that up. Only judging past nutrient and drink offerings these days, it certainly seems similar the chinois theme is back in a big way.
Adding to a gastronomic scene that now has hip offerings like Madame Fan; Eliza Past Dolly; and Sum Yi Tai and its latest improver Mona Lounge, new concepts 51 Soho, Fat Dragon and The Dragon Chamber will convince yous that chinois chic is cool again.
READ: Mala addicts unite: Celebrating the pleasure and pain of fiery masochism
Is Singapore in the mood for Wong Kar-wai-esque table settings? The folks behind these establishments call up then.
Evolution REVOLUTION
"The world is definitely more receptive towards and intrigued by an evolving and dynamic modern Chinese identity. You see it playing out with incredible visibility in many areas – politically; in movies; in way," said Fat Dragon's Gustin Mahtani.
Mahtani is the General Director of Jam & Toast, the restaurant grouping that also runs Jam At Siri House. Fatty Dragon is their latest project, and it's only a month old, launching as a virtual eatery focusing on deliveries and catering. The card includes rice bowls with names like The Koi That Became A Dragon, The Concubine'due south Carp and Fragrant Phoenix.
In the dishes, much inspiration is taken from traditional cooking methods. For example, "Our Tasty Rice is cooked in beef fat and seasoned with turmeric and other spices, much like how chicken rice is prepared," Mahtani said. "Many of the flavours will be familiar ones, merely presented in dissimilar ways. That's where we recall the appeal is."
The playful name Fatty Dragon came about considering "most of our food is prepared in a large, smoky oven," he shared. "We wanted to create an identity that immediately signals a territory of flavours, and positions as a modern, urban option for nutrient."
CHINOIS 2.0: LEARNING Nearly NEW-Old FLAVOURS
In this new restaurant moving ridge, modernising and updating Chinese civilisation as we know it is fundamental. Over at 51 Soho, cocktails so chicly Chinese that they border on kitsch take pride of place, showcasing traditional Chinese liquors in gorgeous new-old configurations.
"We are trying to update and bring out the Chinese culture of social drinking, and to showcase a more sophisticated facet to traditional Chinese liquors which have always been in that location just were not really noticed. These Asian punch cups and shooters were designed to be group cocktails," said 51 Soho's assistant director Megan Lim.
She continued, "The thought of dial cups and shooters is quite 'western', and we wanted to amplify and bring out the unique associations between culture, design and flavor. For instance, the Prosperity Cup is made with rice wine and barley grains, so we chose to serve it in miniature versions of traditional Chinese earthenware pots as a playful reference to the rice that is unremarkably stored in these pots."
Lim explained that these cocktails also offer levelled-up experiences to those that seek them: Besides the fact that few bartenders here accept the knowledge or patience for understanding Chinese rice wines and spirits, many Singaporeans concur the misconception that Chinese liquors lack sophistication. "Our cocktails are our way of paying tribute to these forgotten liquors that take fallen out of mode but are still relevant to our modern palates," she said.
Still the fact that Chinese culture is part of the cloth of guild, "Singapore has a history of being very open to new cultures and cuisines," she said, and "with the increasing number of new Chinese migrants, we see a corresponding number of channels where they can communicate openly... It'south natural that there's a marvel to learn more and explore."
ADVENTURE, REBELLION, CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
Similarly, at the Dragon Chamber, it's all almost catering to a modern thirst for more: The desire to seek "adventure just around the corner" and "button the boundaries of tradition and what defines Chinese food," said creative managing director Norman Hartono.
The Dragon Sleeping accommodation existed previously every bit a "examination concept" attached to the Lokkee eatery at Plaza Singapura, simply has simply moved out into its own space – with a hidden entrance behind a refrigerator door in a Circular Route kopitiam. It takes a "secret club" theme and serves up anarchistic dishes such as locally farmed crocodile.
Information technology's an endeavor to break out of traditional norms and conventions, Hartono explained. The bill of fare features traditional dishes with twists, such equally mala fries, Wagyu Truffle Beef Hor Fun, Firecracker Chicken And Maple Fritters, General Tso's Chicken and fifty-fifty, er, D*** Soup, a dish of crocodile's penis. "Rather than simply making 'certain sell' dishes common in near other Chinese restaurants, we focus on embodying the rebellious spirit of creation," he said.
That's important if you want to depict in an increasingly cosmopolitan crowd. The Dragon Chamber serves "a 'global' blazon of Chinese cuisine that spans China as well as the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia and the West," Hartono said.
Admittedly, wherever Chinese culture is objectified and fetishised, at that place is an element of cribbing. Just we in Singapore are uniquely situated to view this through a dissimilar lens, Hartono argued.
"Today more than than whatsoever other time in history, there has been a huge outreach and crossover between the East and the W. With it comes the appreciation and appropriation that's been happening in mainstream popular culture on both sides during past decade," he said. "Although Singapore's indigenous demographic is mostly Chinese, our cultural positioning stands somewhere in betwixt the two cultures of Due east and Westward. For a long time, pop civilisation in the West has been superficially appropriating Chinese culture without much understanding. But with time, it is slowly changing beyond Kung Fu flicks and Mao propaganda to exist washed in more meaningful ways that cut beyond the surface."
As Mahtani puts it, "The Chinese identity has cleaved out of traditional sidekick stereotypes in popular culture. These days, we meet it filling a spectrum from sophisticated to edgy, and the earth is hungry for more."
51 Soho is at 51 Telok Ayer Street.
The Dragon Chamber is at 2 Circular Route.
Fatty Dragon is at society.fatdragon.sg.
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