26 April 2016
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This week's headline-makers: The world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant heads to New York; global craft cocktail and craft beer heavyweights Employees Only and Mikkeller Bar announce Singapore offshoots; veteran chef Violet Oon's laments over the future of hawker food go viral.
Tim Ho Wan sets sights on New York
The world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant is going places.
Fuelled by its partnership with Singaporean TV personality-turned-restaurateur Robert Chua, Hong Kong dim sum chain Tim Ho Wan has cast its sights to New York for its latest empire-building effort. Tim Ho Wan chef-owner Mak Kwai Pui told US media that the outlet will open between 10th Street and Fourth Avenue in Manhattan's East Village this September and will retain its focus on serving quality dim sum at affordable prices.
After talks for Hawaii fell through, the New York outlet will be the first US location for the global chain, which has rapidly spawned outlets in Australia, Thailand, The Philippines and Indonesia after launching its first overseas branch in Singapore in 2013.
Best known for his signature polo char siu bao - a roasted pork bun with a sweet, crumbly topping - chef Mak worked in three Michelin-starred Lung King Heen in Hong Kong before leaving to start Tim Ho Wan in 2009, when he got his first Michelin star just one year after opening.
New York's Employees Only announces Amoy Street opening
It is a happy week for drinkers in Singapore. Already home to buzzy watering holes Jigger and Pony, Sugarhall and The Spiffy Dapper, Amoy Street is set to cement its reputation as a craft cocktail destination in June. For that's when renowned New York cocktail bar Employees Only moves into 112 Amoy Street, taking over a unit recently vacated by Hokkien restaurant Beng Hiang.
News of the Singapore outpost was announced via the Employees Only’s Facebook page, and marks the cocktail institution’s first international foray, according to the New York Times. Two more outlets will follow in Miami, Florida and Austin, Texas by the end of the year.
The bar’s spirited co-founder Igor Hadzismajlovic has been frequenting Singapore for the last two years and has already resettled here, while principal bartender Steve Schneider and executive chef Julia Jaksic (known for adding touches of her Croatian heritage to classic American dishes) will follow shortly to helm the joint.
Employees Only Singapore, 112 Amoy Street, Singapore 069932
Mikkeller Bar gets on deck on Prinsep Street
Prefer craft beer over craft cocktails? Here’s more good cheer: Copenhagen-based cult ‘phantom brewery’ Mikkeller will launch a local iteration of its Mikkeller Bar on 24 April - adding Singapore onto the list of Asian cities such as Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul that can lay claim to this fame.
Couched within Deck, a grungey arts space operating out of a stack of containers along Prinsep Street, the Mikkeller Bar Singapore is a collaboration between Danish founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Corrine Chia and Lincoln Goh of local alcohol distributors The Drinking Partners and craft beer bar Druggists.
Among Mikkeller Bar Singapore's 20-tap line-up of exclusive brews are at least three made-for-Singapore specials, aptly named Bugis Brown, Prinsep Pilsner and Waterloo Wit, as well as the El Celler De Can Roca, a pilsner specially brewed by Mikeller for its namesake three Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain. Its Scandi-chic interior seats 12, while up to 80 can perch on beer hall benches on Deck's outdoor tarmac.
Mikkeller Bar Singapore, 120A Prinsep Street, Singapore 187937. Mikkeller.dk
The future of the hawker trade
No sooner had Singapore cooking doyenne Violet Oon's laments about the ‘mental block’ Singaporeans have against paying more for hawker food gone viral than news broke that the decades-old Beauty World Food Centre may be permanently pulling down its shutters.
According to reports in The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, a mystery buyer has offered $17.5 million for the popular hawker center with plans to transform it into an air-conditioned food court. Many stallholders have reportedly agreed to sell their stalls as they are growing old and their children have no interest in taking over the business. A handful will be retiring for good if the transaction goes through, while others are currently sourcing for new locations.
The news also comes just a week after the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) announced that it will be setting up a 14-man Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee to make recommendations to the Government on the management of new hawker centres and the promotion of our hawker trade - in view of the 20 new hawker centres blueprinted to be built in Singapore by 2027.
