East Indies, a modern Southeast Asian restaurant concept, is teaming up with Singaporean water-colourist Tam Kwan Yuen for a weekend of spice-based small bites, cocktails, and award-winning art for Hong Kong’s foodies and art lovers.
The two-day event will run Friday, 30 January and Saturday, 31 January from 18.00 to 22.00 at the iconic Fringe Club in Central. Entry is free. The East Indies x Tam Kwan Yuen pop-up is the brainchild of Hong Kong F&B newcomers Priscilla Tan and Nicholas Lim. Taking a nod to their Indonesian roots and colonial heritage; the name East Indies is an abbreviation of the Dutch East Indies. Melding modern cooking techniques and age-old family recipes, Singaporeans, Priscilla and Nicholas will serve up innovative small plates complemented by unique cocktails.
Crediting her grandmother for exposing her to traditional food and spice blends, event co-founder, Priscilla Tan comes from an extended family well established in the food and beverage industry. “Southeast Asian food is fundamentally not spicy, but full of flavours nursed out of all the spices and herbs we use in our dishes,” Priscilla goes on to explain, “we want to bring these flavours to Hong Kong’s food scene because the region’s cuisine can be intimidating without proper introduction, but with the developed palettes of Hong Kong foodies and our contemporary approach, we believe these intense flavours will be enjoyed by many.”
Priced at an affordable 60-80HKD per plate, non-conventional methods of cooking and cross regional ingredients will be used to elevate the dishes Priscilla conceptualised including: Rendang steak, Gado-Gado veggie dip, Empal pasta, chicken pops, and Perkedel croquettes. For starters, snack on the addictive Gado-Gado veggie dip, a traditional Indonesian sauce made with peanuts, coconut milk and tamarind pulp to whet one’s appetite. Move onto heartier dishes like the Rendang steak, sirloin beef is gingerly sous-vide till medium rare for four hours in a robust paste made from turmeric, coriander seeds, lemon grass amongst other spices or the Empal pasta, inspired by Priscilla’s cousins’ favourite dish, where she takes spicy hae bee hiam (a Singaporean-Peranakan spicy dried shrimp paste) and adds Indonesia’s famous Empal (sweet fried beef) with angel hair pasta for a comforting burst of umami in each bite.
Complementing the food, cocktails, priced at 100HKD, will be mixed on-site by master mixologist and event co-founder, Nicholas Lim. Nicholas says “all of my cocktails are inspired by my travels, exotic foods, and life-experiences. I’m excited to bring my unique infusions and flavour combinations to Hong Kong in the relaxed atmosphere of the Fringe Club.” Nicholas perfected his cocktail concoctions while behind the bar, previously at one of Singapore’s hottest bars, and currently manages Jakarta’s leading restaurants and clubs.
The East Indies x Tam Kwan Yuen Pop-up will run Friday, 30 January and Saturday, 31 January from 18.00 to 22.00 at the iconic Fringe Club in Central. Entry is free. The event will bring together the warm hospitality of Thailand, spice flavours of Indonesia and Malaysia and world-class cocktails of Singapore.
