Remaining true to Malaysian flavours
Here for Gourmet Galle, chef Mandy Yin talks to Shannon Salgadoe
The southern coast of Sri Lanka has been bustling with activity each weekend thanks to Gourmet Galle, the culinary celebration brought to life by the same team behind the Galle Literary Festival. The inaugural food festival features 12 internationally acclaimed chefs in a series of culinary events like curated dinners and masterclasses transpiring at some of the most exclusive boutique hotels and luxury spaces in the locale.
Each weekend in this 12-week extravaganza that is currently in its second phase, consists of a carefully thought-out dining experience put together by a visiting chef along with culinary masterclasses conducted within the Galle Fort every Sunday. So far, guests have enjoyed the culinary creations of Jeremy Lee, James Lowe, O Tama Carey, Karan Gokani, Mark Hix, Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Rishi Naleendra, and Paul Flynn.
Among the stars of this gastronomic affair is Mandy Yin, a Malaysianborn Chinese of Peranakan Nyonya heritage whose passion for her heritage’s flavours has taken her from corporate law to culinary stardom. Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mandy moved to London at the age of 11, eventually qualifying as a corporate lawyer and practising for nearly a decade in the city before deciding to do something that she has always been passionate about; Malaysian food.
Dipping her toes into the massively popular trend of street food that was taking off at the time, Mandy started with a street stall which turned into a pop-up Laksa bar, and then later into her award-winning restaurant, Sambal Shiok. “I thought it was a natural way
to start but as you may know, half the year in London is rainy and cold so a lot of my customers would ask, ‘can I please open a restaurant? And can I please serve laksa regularly?’ So I created my laksa bar as a pop-up restaurant, travelling all across London, before finally opening my restaurant in 2018,” says Mandy.
The culinary culture of Malaysia and her Peranakan Nyonya heritage are the main influences on her approach to food. “Malaysians live for food. It’s a massive food culture, and I’m very lucky to have grown up knowing that,” she says, referring to the burgeoning hawker centres, food courts, and coffee shops in Malaysia. These influences are reflected in her debut book, Sambal Shiok: The Malaysian Cookbook, which sold out in less than two months of release and was nominated for several food writing awards.
Mandy is all about remaining true to Malaysian flavours while also being open to influences derived from travel and what ingredients she can source. “My main goal in life generally is to introduce as many people to Malaysian food as possible, wherever they may be.”
The Sun House will be the intimate venue for Mandy’s curated dinner on March 16 with a menu boasting a seafood-centric explosion of Malaysian flavours. The dishes will showcase the cuisine’s multicultural Malay, Chinese, South Indian, and Peranakan influences. Guests can expect to see nods to Mandy’s signature Peranakan curry laksa and Malaysian fried chicken with peanut sauce, both of which happen to be bestsellers at Sambal Shiok Laksa Bar.
When it comes to devising a menu for an event like this, Mandy says it’s all about incorporating things that she would like to eat and showcase. “Both Sri Lanka and Malaysia have amazing seafood, so I want to just show how we use ingredients that you might be familiar with, but in a slightly different way.”
Mandy is quite excited to explore the huge Malay influence on Sri Lankan cuisine and also take a deeper look into the intricacies of Sri Lankan cuisine and how it may have an influence on Malaysian cuisine. “I’m just really excited to see the original, so to speak, and where the original inspiration for some of our dishes might have come from.”