Chef ready to bring a plant-based take on Singaporean food back home to the Lion City
Chef C-Y Chia, who is returning to Singapore after 13 years in the US, has put some favourite plant-based dishes into a new recipe book
After more than 13 years in the United States, Singaporean chef C-Y Chia is preparing to return to the Lion City. But not before leaving a parting gift for the diners who helped shape Chia’s journey: a new cookbook that distils the spirit of Lion Dance Cafe, the vegan restaurant in Oakland, California, that Chia co-founded and ran with partner and fellow chef Shane Stanbridge.
Lion Dance Cafe Cookbook: Authentic, Not Traditional contains more than 100 recipes that reflect the pair’s plant-based, produce-driven interpretation of Singaporean food. It includes dishes that came to define the San Francisco Bay Area restaurant’s four-year run before it closed in 2024: laksa perfumed with coconut and spice, nasi lemak and pandan nian gao, a sticky rice-flour dessert.
The concept of the book has already proved a hit, as a Kickstarter campaign launched to finance the project surpassed its target in less than 10 days. “People felt the story resonated with them,” says Chia, who uses they/them pronouns.
Part memoir, part manifesto and part practical guide, the cookbook includes pantry notes, cooking tips and contributions from respected names, including Brandon Jew of the one-Michelin-star restaurant Mister Jiu’s, James Beard Award nominees Bryant Terry and Heena Patel, Superiority Burger’s Brooks Headley and Singaporean chef Emily Lim.