Slice of home: These Singaporeans are keeping our culture alive abroad through food, Lifestyle News

AsiaOne

3 days ago

Singapore is known for many things — among them is our unique food culture, which consists of multi-cultural cuisines ranging from hawker fare to high-end restaurants.
And for two Singaporeans living overseas, it doesn't mean that their love and spirit for that culture has faded. In fact, it has become even stronger as they bring a little piece of home to their new life abroad, while also sharing our nation's culinary specialities with the rest of the world. Harummanis in Dubai
Located in the heart of Dubai, Harummanis is a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant opened in December last year. Founded by Singaporean chef Akmal Anuar, the restaurant offers Malay cuisine like satay, ayam geprek and rendang — served similar to how you'd find them back home.
Speaking to AsiaOne, Akmal shared that he was inspired to start the restaurant by his parents, who have been hawkers in Singapore since 1992.
He grew up watching them run the business.
"Harummanis is my family's pride, and we showcase our Malay-Singapore cuisine and stories [here]. People see Singapore through our hospitality," he said.
Akmal moved to Dubai with his family in 2013 when he was offered a position as a chef at Le Royal Meridien Hotel Dubai.
And while Harummanis Dubai serves authentic Singapore-Malay cuisine, Akmal shared that he has had to adjust some of the flavours of the dishes to cater to the local palate.
"We toned down a little to make [the dishes] less spicy or explosive. People like tasting multiple dishes at the same time, so things need to be balanced," he explained.
Some of the restaurant's most popular dishes include the signature Lempeng Itik , a pulled duck leg cooked with sambal adobo and raw onions wrapped in a taco-like skin made with coconut milk, flour, butter and corn maseca flour.
But the menu item that means the most to him is a familiar classic: beef rendang.
"It is a symbolic Malay dish rich with history. Every single time a client tries that dish they get blown away. They couldn't make up what it's made of. That is magic," Akmal shared.
And the dish is also a hit with the locals in Dubai, along with some other Singaporean favourites.
"Rendang is very popular amongst the community here. On weekends, I would [also] do chicken rice and people get excited about it too," the chef said.
But running a restaurant in a foreign country doesn't come without challenges.
For Akmal, this includes funding, legalities, financial crisis as well as competition due to a saturation of similar businesses, concepts and more.
And the biggest one might be something that we wouldn't even think about — the weather.
"Most crucial one I would say is the season. Dubai has a very bad summer season between June and October. In this period, a lot of residents leave the country, so business is very low. Temperatures soar up to 48 to 50 degrees celsius," he explained.
But despite all that, Akmal powered through and his hard work paid off.
He was awarded his first Michelin star in 2022 for 11 Woodfire, another one of the chef's restaurants serving modern cuisine.
"I am a Muslim, so I don't deal with any alcohol or entertainment business. So, to achieve that, it was mind-boggling and surreal to me," he expressed.
Harummanis also has an outlet in Singapore located at Sultan Gate. Singapulah in London
Singapulah is a Singaporean restaurant based in London. It is helmed by Ellen Chew, who moved to the city in 2005 with her partner.
Their menu consists of a large variety of homegrown favourites — ranging from individual dishes like char kway teow and hokkien mee to tzechar-style sharing plates including items such as har cheong gai , cereal prawns and even ice kacang.
In a conversation with AsiaOne, Ellen shared that she's wanted to open a Singaporean restaurant ever since she moved to London, and "fly the Singapore flag through food".
"My goal has always been to introduce the food that I've grown up eating and loving to people in this part of the world, whether it's to share our cuisine with people who have never tried it before, or to homesick Singaporeans living here," she said.
And Ellen shared that her restaurant is popular with many Singaporeans living in London.
"We get many Singaporean customers who are students that are homesick, or who want to introduce their friends to their home cuisine. We are also very fortunate to have Singaporeans living as far as Manchester and Liverpool come down to London to have a bowl of bak chor mee or laksa because they miss the flavours so much," she shared.
Speaking of bak chor mee, the dish happens to be one on their menu that holds a very special place in Ellen's heart.
"Bak chor mee is my ultimate comfort food and a true Singaporean dish that is very rarely found outside of Singapore. It is the labour of love that consists of so many separate components that eventually end up in the same bowl, much like our culture," she expressed, adding that the noodle dish has also become a cornerstone of the Singaporean identity and pillar of hawker history.
However, just like Akmal, Ellen has also faced her own set of struggles.
Some of them included difficulty finding the right ingredients in London to recreate authentic Southeast Asian flavours.
"I [would] make trips back to Singapore and hand-carry ingredients like tea dust, herbs and spices in my suitcase just so that I can provide our diners with an experience that [would] transport them to Southeast Asia with our food and drinks," she stated.
But back then when Ellen first started her business, being "too authentic" proved to be an obstacle as well.
"In Singapore, we serve chicken rice with poached chicken that is still very slightly pink in some parts when fully-cooked and served at room temperature. We had so many customers returning the dish because they thought it wasn't cooked properly," she explained, adding that they then decided to "give up" and serve the dish warm.
There were also other complaints due to certain dishes' novelty to the locals at the time — like customers saying that "it's gross that the fish still had its head on" when they ordered whole-fish dishes.
"When we opened our sister restaurant called Rasa Sayang in 2008, we used to serve whole fried sambal fish. We used to get complaints all the time saying that we shouldn't be serving fish with the head and tail because it's disgusting," she recalled.
Fortunately, due to people travelling more and the popularity of social media over the past decade, locals there have become more receptive of the nuances in Southeast Asian dishes, shared Ellen.
"These days, if you serve head-on fish or chicken feet or beef tripe, people will no longer go 'Eee', now it's a sign of authenticity," she said.
Being able to share our nation's flavours with the rest of the world is one of Ellen's proudest achievements, and it all still feels surreal to her sometimes.
"I would say that Singapulah is one of the pinnacles of [my] career. To be able to represent my home country and to share our cuisine and culture to the Western world on such a large stage is truly an honour. Sometimes, when I'm walking along the bustling West End towards the restaurant, I am still in disbelief that this has become a reality," she expressed. Being away from home
Despite their success overseas, Singapore still holds a special place in Akmal's and Ellen's hearts — and for them, being away from their family and friends is something inescapable, alongside missing many of the things back home that many of us have grown accustomed to and might not think twice about.
"One thing [about] living very far away is missing your loved ones. As you grow older, so does everyone else. My parents sold their HDB flat where we lived in most of our lives and that I will never see again," Akmal expressed.
Ellen shared: "Being away is always hard because you are disconnected from the people whom you've grown up with and who have shaped your life one way or another. The food scene, of course, would be another big part of what I miss about Singapore. Fifteen dollars at a hawker centre can buy you a wonderful feast, whereas you'd get extremely basic and boring fare in London for the same amount of money."
Speaking on whether they intend to return to Singapore someday, both of them expressed that they do plan to come home.
"I think I would eventually want to move back to Singapore when I retire as it's still home for me. In terms of setting up an F&B business in Singapore, I would rather not have to, but never say never, right? Maybe I'll end up opening a chippy shop in Hougang?" Ellen expressed.
Shared Akmal: 'Singapore is my country, and it is where I belong. When that happens, business [will] not really matter. I'll continue doing what I do best, which is cooking."
And to other Singaporeans trying to find their footing away from home, Akmal and Ellen encourage them to persevere and to try finding a community.
"Always have a goal and never give up on chasing those goals. Tenacity and grit are very important factors to success. Also, find your home outside of home, whether it's building a circle of friends that you can trust and love, or learning how to cook your favourite dish from home. It helps build on these things to help you flourish when you're overseas," encouraged Ellen.
Akmal advised: "Don't overthink. Just get things done one at a time. Stay in your lane and always remember that whatever adversities or challenges you face, [these hardships] will all end and be forgotten."
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