Singapulah restaurant opens in London featuring ingredients from S’porean brands

Singapulah restaurant opens in London’s Chinatown

Singaporeans pining for a taste of home in London now have a new restaurant to visit if they venture into the city’s Chinatown area. Opened on 16 Feb, Singapulah restaurant offers hawker favourites such as bak chor mee, sa poh mee, and rainbow kueh.

Why get a latte when you can order a kopi C siew dai instead?

Singapulah restaurant opens in London

Located in the heart of London’s Chinatown, Singapulah restaurant was opened by Ellen Chew, who also owns the popular Rasa Sayang restaurant there.

The restaurant not only features local favourites but also Singaporean brands that supply its ingredients.

Singapulah shared in a post that the bak chor mee includes chilli fishballs from local brand Dodo Seafood Treats as well as Hiap Giap noodles.

Dishes available include:

• Kueh Pie Tee — £10.95 (S$18.65) for six pieces
• Chilli crab bao — £6.95 (S$11.83)
• Pork chargrilled satay — £14.50 (S$24.69)
• Bak chor mee — £16.95 (S$28.86)
• Fishball noodles — £14.95 (S$25.46)
• Seafood sa po mee — £16.95 (S$28.86)
• Chilli crab — £33.95 (S$57.81)
• Kueh salat and kueh lapis — £5.50 (S$9.37) each

Among the participating Singaporean brands are Udders, The Orientalist Spirits, Yeo’s, and LG Foods.

Meanwhile, kopi is supplied by Kim Guan Guan Coffee.

Suppliers will change every six months to showcase different brands and evolve, The Straits Times (ST) reported.

The kitchen is helmed by Singaporean Andri Jamil. The 48-year-old is a former partner and head chef of Boat Quay restaurant Est1819.

More independent eateries offering authentic cuisines in London

Ms Chew told ST that “the time is now right” to open another Singapore eatery in London.

She opened Rasa Sayang in 2008, and back then, she said nobody knew what Singapore food was.

But there is an appetite for authentic food from around the world, especially since Covid-19.

“We have really authentic Vietnamese and African food here. I’m confident that people will love the food at Singapulah,” she said.

If you’re visiting London anytime soon and would like to drop by the restaurant, here’s how you can find it:

Singapulah
Address: 53 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6LB, United Kingdom
Opening hours: Mon – Sat 5pm -10pm, Sun 5pm – 9pm
Nearest Tube station: Piccadilly Circus

Agencies helping brands break into overseas markets

Partnering Ms Chew are several government agencies:

• Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG)
• Singapore Brand Office
• Singapore Tourism Board
• Singapore Global Network

EnterpriseSG saw an opportunity for Singapore brands to break into and test in a new market as well as showcase Singapore food in the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe, ST quoted Ms Jeannie Lim, EnterpriseSG’s assistant chief executive officer (lifestyle & consumer), as saying.

Singapulah has a retail space where customers can buy the sauces and ingredients used, which helps the brands’ exposure, too.

But ultimately, Ms Chew wants to change the idea that Singapore food consists only of one particular dish.

We have to end the idea that Singapore food is Singapore Noodles. There is no such thing.

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Featured image adapted from Google Maps and @singapulah_restaurant on Instagram.