“This isn’t a curry puff,” quips chef Francisco Araya as he units a palm-sized empanada in entrance of us. Within the low mild of the 30-seater restaurant, tucked away on the primary ground of The Mondrian lodge, it’s onerous to inform if he’s teasing.
Araya, Francisco’s eponymous fine-dining restaurant – the primary in Singapore to give attention to Chilean South Pacific delicacies – opened its doorways in October. The 40-year-old chef and his accomplice, 36-year-old pastry chef Fernanda Guerrero, have been in Singapore for a bit of over three months.
In a metropolis proliferated with fast-food chains and hip eateries touting tacos, frozen margaritas and ceviche, it’s simple to mistake genuine Latin American delicacies for its b*st*rdised counterparts.
“Folks typically assume that South America is one homogenous continent. I consider this false impression extends to presumptions about South American meals being uniform,” says Francisco, who has labored in nice eating eating places in Spain, Japan and Shanghai, together with the Michelin-starred 81 Restaurant in Tokyo.
Curiously, there are some similarities within the flavours and textures of Chilean and Southeast Asian delicacies, most notably within the Moqueca, a dish impressed by a conventional Brazilian stew. Served in a wealthy, aromatic sauce simmered for over 12 hours with fish bones, coconut milk and palm kernel oil, it reminds one in all laksa or Nonya curry.
The Causa – baked, chopped oca topped with smoked chutoro, caviar and silvers of crunchy potato formed right into a nest – bears a powerful tapioca aroma. In actual fact, one learns that tapioca is a starch extracted from the cassava root, a tuber native to South America. Who knew?
However again to the empanada. Full of offcuts from wagyu and encased in a crumbly puff pastry, it’s a cherished dish at Araya. Making (and consuming) empanadas on Sundays are simply one of many ways in which bond the couple, who each knew one another as youngsters rising up in Santiago. It’s additionally a quintessential Latin American snack that by the way resembles a curry puff.
Says Francisco: “I observed varied strategies for folding pastries, but they all the time ended up wanting the identical. [Whether it’s a curry puff, dumpling or empanada], it’s amusing how every nation seemingly shapes them alike. That’s why we take pleasure in making jokes about it – as a result of that’s what resonates universally from a visible standpoint. Even if you happen to’re unaware of what’s inside, the acquainted look prevents rapid rejection. It’s like, ‘Oh, this appears acquainted; I do know this.’ Each tradition certainly has its distinctive array of meals encapsulated in their very own culinary traditions.
“To me, there’s nothing extra nostalgic than having a beef empanada with a glass of purple wine. That’s Chilean, that’s household.”
From $298++ per individual for a dinner degustation menu.
PHOTOGRAPHY Clement Goh
ART DIRECTION Adeline Eng
Supply: Her World