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.
This spring, Chia and Stanbridge will move to Singapore, the former eager to rejoin a dining culture they say has transformed dramatically in the years they have been away.