Little DaiLo: Singaporean Hawker Popup

Where? Little DaiLo (Downtown, Toronto, Canada)

When? Wednesday January 16, 2019

Who? Alfia, Chi and Colin

Food Style? Inauthentic Singaporean Hawker

DaiLo (literally "big brother", or in colloquial Cantonese, "big boss") is a restaurant near College and Bathurst. Chef Nick Liu combines Chinese fare with French-inspired cooking to produce elevated dim sum-style dishes to suit the western palate.

That was the first warning sign. I should have done my research before committing to this rather expensive popup event at the Assembly Chef's Hall. I have never been a fan of "Chinese fusion"; it is usually just an excuse to charge five times the price for little or no difference to the taste at all. However, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get my hands on some Singaporean food, especially given the lack of good Malaysian in Toronto.

The second warning sign was after Chef Liu introduced himself and spoke a little about why he wanted to do a Singaporean hawker-style popup. He spent three weeks in Singapore and was introduced to the unique cuisine, and decided to take it home and share it with Toronto. Three weeks. That is not enough time to understand the complexity of Singaporean cuisine, and this became more and more evident as the night went on.

First Course

Nasi lemak with fried smelt, chicken wings and pork skewers
"Nasi" means rice. "Lemak" means rich, as in the richness of the coconut milk when it is added to rice. Together, this forms the national dish of Malaysia, Nasi lemak, which is traditionally served with a variety of sides, such as sambal, a boiled egg, ikan bilis (fried anchovies), curry chicken, roasted peanuts, cucumber and many more. Imagine my disgust when Chef Liu's interpretation had no rice whatsoever. You can't call a dish Nasi lemak and not serve rice. It is the fundamental ingredient in this dish. If he had called it literally anything else, it might have been okay - the flavours were fine, the wings were crispy, the sambal could have used a little bit more spice, the skewers had a nice coconut fragrance to it - but if there's no nasi in Nasi lemak, then it's not a Nasi lemak. It's like having spaghetti bolognese without the pasta, or escargot without the snail.

Second Course

Hainanese chicken rice
If Nasi lemak is Malaysia's national dish, then Hainanese chicken rice is Singapore's. Can Chef Liu insult two countries with one meal? The chicken is juicy and tender, but it's lacking flavour. It needs to be poached in chicken broth so that the saltiness of the liquid seeps into the meat; instead, this has been sous vide with aromatic spices like ginger, garlic, star anise and scallion. It's not bad, but it's definitely not authentic. The sauces are supposed to make this dish great, but instead I'm staring longingly at the chopped chili at the restaurant next door. Our wine pairing was a Gunderloch Riesling from Germany.

Third Course

Singaporean chili crab
Traditionally served in a massive bowl with tons of delicious sauce that is perfect for soaking up with some fried bread rolls, the chili crab is one of my favourite things about Singaporean cuisine, and the last time I had it was at the No Signboard Seafood Restaurant. This dish is probably the best looking and best tasting of the night. The salad is stunning, great acidity from the pomelo cutting through the salty rich crab sauce. The noodles help absorb the sauce and accentuate the crispiness of the crab batter. The crab is soft and tender, and tastes great, no doubt about it. It’s definitely one of those get-your-hands-dirty meal; if your table is too clean, you haven’t had fun.

Dessert

Banana coconut pancake with white rabbit candy ice cream and coconut caramel
A very sweet dessert to end the meal. Too sweet. I like the toasted coconut but the flavour balance was off. We were supposed to be served something else but there was a last minute change to the menu, and quite frankly, I'm glad the night was over.

All in all, this was an inauthentic experience. I would have been happy if he didn’t call it Singaporean. It was good food, but it fell far short of expectation, and for the price we paid, it was most definitely not worth it. It missed the mark and didn’t understand what makes Singaporean food Singaporean.

Posted by Jeremy at 5:22pm on Wednesday December 25, 2019 :: 0 comments ::