1. Modern heritage cuisine: The next phase
More modern heritage dining concepts have emerged of late as young chefs explore their roots and their identities.
“Singapore is still very young. Yet, within three generations, we are beginning to feel the loss of what we grew up with. Our sense is that we have missed out or overlooked something,” says chef Malcolm Lee of one Michelin-starred peranakan restaurant, Candlenut.
“Old hawkers are retiring and our grandparents or parents are no longer able to cook due to old age. But recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in our culinary roots in Asia, and young chefs are using our heritage food and drinks in contemporary ways. As we rediscover these nuanced, shared culinary histories, I hope we can find new inspiration,” says Lee who also owns contemporary Straits Cuisine restaurant Pangium.
Chef Mano Thevar acknowledges that Singapore’s modern Indian cuisine is trending due to the openings of such spots as Barood, Ahara, and Darjeeling Social. “People now understand that there is more depth to Indian cuisine.”
Thevar, Singapore’s first modern Indian restaurant to receive two Michelin stars in 2022, serves food using premium ingredients and French techniques. “We want to deliver heartfelt, tasty food. We try to be creative, but what matters most is the taste and portraying the flavours I grew up with in Penang,” says the chef. That means focusing on homestyle food such as idlis, dosas, and curries, as well as dishes like nasi kandar and dhansak, a dish of meat or vegetables cooked with lentils.
At Arang, Nurl Asyraffie Mohamed Shukor is a modern heritage food chef. It was Thevar, the man, who encouraged him to cook his own heritage food when he was working at Thevar. “To be recognised for having one of the first modern Malay concepts in Singapore is an honour,” says Asyraffie, who is cooking Malay food professionally for the first time.
Chef Mano Thevar of Thevar. (Photo: Thevar)
