ZS Hospitality to open Whey, a new Singaporean-inspired fine diner

The award-winning Singaporean’s new restaurant (opened along with ZS Hospitality) will see him deal with the delicacies of his residence soil — with staples like bak kut teh and laksa offering ample gasoline for an altogether totally different form of gastronomic perspective.

Following the premature, inexplicable closure of Beet again in 2020, Barry Quek (among the many best-known Singaporean cooks working within the native tremendous eating scene) would have been totally justified if he’d determined to hold up his apron and take a breather from the craziness that has plagued the town’s F&B neighborhood these previous three years. As a substitute, he started to prepare dinner laksa: at first, out of a meals courtroom within the basement of Jardine Home alongside Brian Woo (of Cô Thành renown); and subsequently, with native bigwigs ZS Hospitality — most notable for masterminding Mingoo Kang’s first restaurant outside of Korea. It was in session with the latter that the nucleus of Quek’s new restaurant, merely and straightforwardly entitled ‘Whey’, was fashioned.

“[Seeking] to introduce diners to fashionable European delicacies reimagined with Singaporean influences”, Whey comes because the logical consequence of the previous decade Quek has spent navigating by way of skilled kitchens across the globe. The Attica alum is undoubtedly nonetheless working from a hodgepodge of fashionable European influences (is it Scandi? Antipodean, maybe?) and veneration of ‘sincere’ produce; however at Whey, appears set so as to add a deeply private dimension — ergo, the flavours of his childhood.

This cross-examination of Singaporean culinary heritage (and of stalwart Chinese language, Indonesian, and Malaysian recipes extra exactly) is a intelligent stopgap in opposition to the standard ‘Hong Kong tremendous eating’ expertise. As in his earlier kitchens, Quek has crafted a menu which guarantees to carry diners’ consideration not by way of extra or sleight-of-hand; however by unlocking the extraordinary potential of components most people would regard as certifiably mundane. Within the mould of hell-raising Flemish mentor Kobe Desramaults, which means pickling, fermentation, and preparations verging on the basic: the long-lasting, peppery broth of Bak Kut Teh has been reverse-engineered right into a porcine essential, accompanied by the normal flavours of black pepper, garlic, and cabbage (albeit twisted into new, delightfully photogenic types); whereas easy morsels like a bowlful of native springtime peas, flavoured utilizing the pure by-product of cheese manufacturing that lends Quek’s restaurant its identify, sign a real dedication to excising pointless meals waste.

Quek’s curiosity in these Singaporean dishes that persist inside the nationwide reminiscence (no matter background, age, or wealth) is additional exemplified by a plateful of ‘Flower Crab Konjac Rice’: an impish B-side riff on the final Singaporean consolation meals — laksa. Paring all the things again to its most important, the dish swaps out the anticipated staple meals (i.e. rice noodles) for grains of konjac — one other endemic ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking — heaped with flower crab and the restaurant’s personal, curry-laden laksa sauce. Together with the remainder of Whey’s debut menu, it’s a recipe that was undoubtedly born in Singapore — and very like Quek himself — will develop to new heights right here in Hong Kong.

Whey’s comfortable opening will begin on 25 Might, with reservations to be out there starting 14 Might onwards. To be taught extra, go to Whey Hong Kong online.

Whey, UG/F, The Wellington, 198 Wellington Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2693 3198