#ChineseFoodiesofIG: Sihan Lee of Makan Kakis

Sihan Lee of Makan Kakis

This is part of an ongoing series of interviews I’m doing with my favourite Chinese foodies that I follow on Instagram. Come and follow the #ChineseFoodiesofIG hashtag on Instagram and leave a comment showing your support for these talented folk!

Where are you from? Where are you really from?

I was born and bred in Singapore. My career in hospitality and food then took me to Sydney, Australia for a bit. These days, I'm in Loire Valley, France, hoping to set up a restaurant with my partner.

What does home taste like?

Unlike most Singaporeans who frequent hawker centres, I grew up on a diet of home-cooked food by my Filipino helper who had acquired cooking techniques and skills by observing (and helping) my two grandmas in the kitchen. My grandmother on my paternal side is Hokkien and she's an absolutely smashing cook with hae bee hiam and bak kut teh in her repertoire. My popo (maternal grandma) is a second generation Hainanese immigrant in Singapore who worked for a British family as a housekeeper for a prolonged period of time, resulting in a mixed set of skills that ranged from coronation chicken to Hainanese chicken rice, homemade curry puffs and elaborate buttercream-piped birthday cakes. She was a goddess in the kitchen and I miss her till this day.

Hence, if you ask me to describe what does home taste like - it would be a combination effort of the three female culinary powerhouses in my life. Humble plates of chicken adobo, spicy Szechuan vegetables tossed with pork, old cucumber braised in stock till yielding and tender as well as Hainanese beef stew accompanied with a bowl of steamed white rice.

Share a food memory:

Ever since a young age, I've long known that my favourite form of travelling was for food tourism. One of my fondest memories of a month-long road trip through Alaska with my family when I was 11 was the fish and chips joint that I insisted we visit while passing through the city of Valdez. It was the combination of the torrential downpour, the nippy weather, the whiff of malt vinegar and greasy fingers clamouring for piping hot chips that make it the staff from which memories are made.

A Chinese recipe everyone should learn:

I would have to go with either 蒸蛋 steamed egg custard or 三杯鸡 three cup chicken. The former because it's the epitome of comfort food and easily replicable whichever part of the globe you're at, and the latter because it requires minimal ingredients and is super tasty despite the zero fuss.

Who’s your Chinese food legend?

Violet Oon. Though she represents more Nyonya cooking and Straits cuisine instead of just pure Chinese food.

Dream dinner party guests:

Tom Hiddleston, Julia Child and David Chang at the same table sounds like a riot to me.

Last meal on earth:

This is going to be a marathon of a meal. I'm going to start with a bowl of my aunt's stir fried glass noodles with a couple of fried chicken wings. Chase that with some champagne (of course, I'm going out with a bang!) Then there would be bak chor mee, a typical Singapore hawker dish with extra lard and vinegar. Finally an assortment of Peranakan kueh - ondeh ondeh, kueh kosui and kueh dadar for a sweet finish.

The most important Chinese ingredient is:

A good bottle of light soy sauce for sure. It's an umami bomb and recently I've been sneaking it into the family's home cooking too.

Know any good Chinese restaurants?

Not in the Loire Valley that's for sure. Chinese food in France is always a misrepresentation of Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese cuisine. Though in Paris, you should check out the Hood for Singaporean food, their Hainanese chicken food looks legit, or Gros Bao if you're hard up for some dumplings.

What does Chinese food mean to you?

Chinese cuisine is resilient, creative and versatile. Being born in Singapore and having to embrace dishes that have shapeshifted from their 'authentic' forms as a result of cultural fusion; I've learnt that good and amazing things can come out of change and that we should continue to embrace that change while still respecting the cultural significance of the dish at ground zero.