SANDRA LEONG’S SINGAPOREAN NASI LEMAK
“I’d eat a hot breakfast out in Singapore. Maybe Chinese noodles or roti prata with curry”
The precise origin of the curry puff is lost to history. But when Sandra Leong decided to introduce London to real Singaporean food, she felt this curried snack – possibly a 19th-century attempt by Hainanese cooks to recreate a chicken pasty for their British colonial employers – had serious crossover potential.
She was right. Working with Singaporean snack-food chain, Old Chang Kee, Sandra opened its first London branch in 2018 and those curry puffs flew out, alongside curries, nasi lemak and laksa. Local office workers loved: ‘Singapore’s Cornish pasty.’ None of this was on the agenda when Sandra first arrived in the UK.
