Singapore’s unique dining style comes to Manhattan
Cooking dishes from another culture is straightforward. Transplanting a mood is another matter
COOKING A DISH from one culture while living in another is simply a matter of ingredients and technique. Translating an entire dining style is harder. No matter how tasty the pâté de campagne, how artfully nicotine-stained the walls and how much Édith Piaf warbles from the speakers, eating at a bistro in Phoenix will always be different from eating at one in Lyon. The trick, as a new Singapore-style hawker centre in midtown Manhattan shows, is knowing which parts of the experience can be transplanted successfully, and which should be left at home.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Night hawkers”
Culture March 11th 2023
- Two brave books tell the story of lockdown in Wuhan
- Peter Frankopan looks at the past differently in “The Earth Transformed”
- It’s war at this year’s Oscars
- Singapore’s unique dining style comes to Manhattan
- Sumner Redstone and the battle for Paramount
- In “Birnam Wood”, Eleanor Catton returns with a thriller
From the March 11th 2023 edition
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