Chef-owner Thi Le of Chef-Hatted Anchovy restaurant in Melbourne will be in Singapore from 23 to 27 October to present a series of four-hands lunch and dinner menus with Botanico’s up-and-coming head chef Sujatha Asokan. These two female powerhouses will be joining hands to conjure up an East-meets-West cuisine inspired by heritage and botanicals befitting of Botanico’s lush garden setting.
This was match made possible by Chris Millar, the culinary director of 1-Group, which Botanico is a part of. “We see four-hands collaborations as a great opportunity for our chefs to be exposed and inspired by other great talent from around the world. This helps them to keep on developing and growing a young local talent,” he says.
This was match made possible by Chris Millar, the culinary director of 1-Group, which Botanico is a part of. “We see four-hands collaborations as a great opportunity for our chefs to be exposed and inspired by other great talent from around the world. This helps them to keep on developing and growing a young local talent,” he says.
Botanico will be hosting this east-meets-west four-hands collaboration (Pic: Botanico)
Sujatha has worked her way through the kitchens of renowned establishments like Stellar at 1-Altitude, Pollen and Esquina amongst others. At Botanico, the 27-year-old head chef draws inspiration from her Indian and Chinese heritage to dish out contemporary European creations with Asian inflections.
Vietnamese-Australian Le, on the other hand, is known for her bright, bold take on south-east Asian flavours in modern Australian cuisine. She opened Anchovy in 2015 on her 30th birthday and has not looked back since.
Vietnamese-Australian Le, on the other hand, is known for her bright, bold take on south-east Asian flavours in modern Australian cuisine. She opened Anchovy in 2015 on her 30th birthday and has not looked back since.
Anchovy is Thi Le's Chef-hatted restaurant in Melbourne (Pic: Anchovy)
Sensing a potentially delicious collaboration, Millar has brought the two together to create a menu that will feature exciting dishes like Le’s take on roast duck, served with red yeast rice, celeriac and radicchio, as well as Sujatha’s interpretation of assam laksa in a ginger-flower-and-tamarind-scented sea bass ceviche with shrimp paste ice cream. He says: “We hope our guests open their minds to a flavour explosion and embrace the creativity of the two chefs.”
Here, we chat with the duo about their upcoming four-hands collaboration and what they think about each other.
What do you think about four-hands collaborations in general?
SA: I think it’s an excellent opportunity to exchange not only culinary techniques but also help collaborating chefs understand how cuisines from different cultures are created. It also helps foster a strong sense of community in the culinary scene and helps drive the industry forward as a whole.
TL: It’s a great opportunity to learn and work with other chefs and to draw inspiration from each other. At Anchovy, we hosted a series of chefs over winter this year for this reason. For ourselves and for our guests, it is exciting to work with someone with perhaps a different cooking style or culinary background and to come together to present something that is cohesive and represents us both individually and together.
Here, we chat with the duo about their upcoming four-hands collaboration and what they think about each other.
What do you think about four-hands collaborations in general?
SA: I think it’s an excellent opportunity to exchange not only culinary techniques but also help collaborating chefs understand how cuisines from different cultures are created. It also helps foster a strong sense of community in the culinary scene and helps drive the industry forward as a whole.
TL: It’s a great opportunity to learn and work with other chefs and to draw inspiration from each other. At Anchovy, we hosted a series of chefs over winter this year for this reason. For ourselves and for our guests, it is exciting to work with someone with perhaps a different cooking style or culinary background and to come together to present something that is cohesive and represents us both individually and together.
Pork liver, chives, beansprouts at Anchovy (Pic: Anchovy)
What do you think about your four-hands partner this time?
SA: Both Thi and I have some similarities. We both have the same passion to reinvent food and create modern cuisine that has influences or inspiration from our heritage. Thi is down to earth, strong willed, true and real which can be seen through her creations. I’m also really respectful of her to be able to open a restaurant and win prestigious awards at a young age while bringing modern Australian and Asian cuisine to greater heights.
TL: It is great in that both of us are influenced by our south-east Asian roots but contextualise our dishes in the modern European palette of our surrounds. “Asian” as a whole, particularly in the European culinary vocabulary, tends towards Oriental. I think we both have a wonderful opportunity to break some stereotypes and also surprise guests with how similar but simultaneously distinct our cooking styles are.
SA: Both Thi and I have some similarities. We both have the same passion to reinvent food and create modern cuisine that has influences or inspiration from our heritage. Thi is down to earth, strong willed, true and real which can be seen through her creations. I’m also really respectful of her to be able to open a restaurant and win prestigious awards at a young age while bringing modern Australian and Asian cuisine to greater heights.
TL: It is great in that both of us are influenced by our south-east Asian roots but contextualise our dishes in the modern European palette of our surrounds. “Asian” as a whole, particularly in the European culinary vocabulary, tends towards Oriental. I think we both have a wonderful opportunity to break some stereotypes and also surprise guests with how similar but simultaneously distinct our cooking styles are.
Botanico's interpretation of assam laksa (Pic: Botanico)
Please tell us more about the menu you’re presenting together.
SA: Both of us will create a menu that reflects our culinary styles of reinterpreting the tastes of our heritage, whilst staying true to our modern cooking methods. You can expect the marrying of Eastern and Western cuisine, inspired by heritage and botanicals. To give you a taste of what to expect, one of the dishes I will be presenting is my interpretation of assam laksa which is a ceviche of sea bass, tamarind, glass noodles, ginger flower and shrimp paste ice cream. And chef Thi will create her rendition of the roasted duck, served with red yeast rice, celeriac and radicchio.
TL: It will hopefully inspire the diner to think about how some of the ingredients are pieced together. Both our styles run along the modern Asian modern European scale, mine with more of a Vietnamese-Laotian focus and Sujatha’s with a Peranakan focus. There is a crossover in spices and flavours — I hope guests will find the familiar aspects of those flavours and be excited by how they are presented.
SA: Both of us will create a menu that reflects our culinary styles of reinterpreting the tastes of our heritage, whilst staying true to our modern cooking methods. You can expect the marrying of Eastern and Western cuisine, inspired by heritage and botanicals. To give you a taste of what to expect, one of the dishes I will be presenting is my interpretation of assam laksa which is a ceviche of sea bass, tamarind, glass noodles, ginger flower and shrimp paste ice cream. And chef Thi will create her rendition of the roasted duck, served with red yeast rice, celeriac and radicchio.
TL: It will hopefully inspire the diner to think about how some of the ingredients are pieced together. Both our styles run along the modern Asian modern European scale, mine with more of a Vietnamese-Laotian focus and Sujatha’s with a Peranakan focus. There is a crossover in spices and flavours — I hope guests will find the familiar aspects of those flavours and be excited by how they are presented.
