I’ve had a super busy week getting ready for our big self-hosted events in Singapore and Tokyo over the next two weeks, it has been a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to it coming to fruition. Here’s this week’s list!
What ate this weekend
On Friday night I went to Singapore’s The Coconut Club for the first time. This Michelin Bib recommended restaurant’s specialty is Southeast Asian specialty, Nasi Lemak, coconut rice. This humble dish is usually a hawker food, the fragrant rice is served with fried chicken or otah (fish cake cooked in banana leaf), egg, fried peanuts, ikan bilis (fried anchovies), cucumber, and the all important sambal (chili sauce). It is a fantastic dish that is much more than the sum of its parts. The crunchy elements, sweet and salty flavor, and richness of the rice all come together perfectly. I tried the chicken, otah, and rendang versions at The Coconut Club, and they were all excellent. The chicken especially stood out being very juicy and crispy on the outside.
You can find Nasi Lemak in coffeeshops and hawker centers around Singapore for $4-$6, at the Coconut Club, it starts at $15. I really enjoyed that they didn’t try to do anything “fancy” with the dish, no truffle shavings or cavier, just the traditional elements done really well. I’ve seen this topic discussed before, and having worked in F&B, and loving hawker food, I think it is an important issue that needs to be addressed. For hawkers rent and ingredient prices keep going up, but there is strong consumer pressure to keep their prices low. Places like The Coconut Club are really rare, as many people can’t imagine playing that much for “hawker food”. Even the most famous hawker stalls don’t really raise their prices over the average, they just have long queues and sell out of food often. Singapore is struggling to keep the hawker culture going, family businesses often disappear when the older owners retire as it isn’t an attractive option for their children to continue the business.
I believe there needs to be a middle ground. There is room for $4-$6 nasi lemak with soggy chicken, a thimble of peanuts, jarred sambal, and barely flavored rice. There is room for $15-$20 nasi lemak in an upscale restaurant like The Coconute Club. And I think there is room for a middle option, I would happily pay $10 for nasi lemak with a bigger portion of chicken cooked to order, homemade sambal, and beautiful fluffy rice at a kiosk in a mall, or shophouse restaurant. People easily pay that much for a McDonald’s meal, wraps, salads, poke, ramen etc. But it seems like the local traditional hawker foods are what get left out because they are thought of as a cheap food. One of the best things about Singapore is the availability of a variety of affordable eating options and I hope that hawkers are able to survive and thrive.
What I read this week
I started The Gift of Rain before our Malaysia trip a few weeks ago. Set in WWII-era Penang, a young man meets a Japanese martial arts master, and starting training under him puts him in the middle of the action as the war starts. The books focuses on themes of family, loyalty, belonging, and fate. Written by Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng, the book has a Malaysian flair, with beautiful descriptions of food, landscapes, and people that only a local could write. The story is pretty classic, but is unique enough to stir an emotional response. The only parts that I felt weren’t coming from personal experience were the descriptions of martial arts fights and training, where they felt a bit romanticized. For example one passage had a character being held in a tight rear-naked choke, and the author wrote that they were sputtering for air, when if performed correctly, the choke actually cuts off the blood puts them to sleep. Overall it was a great read and a nice story of WWII that didn’t have a true hero, just people trying to survive as well as a 3-dimensional view of the Japanese soldiers.
Marketing conference I’m looking forward to next week
The B2B Marketing Leaders Forum Asia 2024 is happening next week and although unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out for me to be a speaker, I’m looking forward to attending some of the sessions and hearing from other marketing leaders in the region. I got to chat with the founder Emma Roborgh when we were discussing my joining the event and she is an amazing person who is doing great work to advance the marketing community in the region. The agenda is packed full of great speakers and interesting topics, as a marketer it is really nice to be able to participate in these kinds of events as an attendee rather than an organizer sometimes.
What I watched this weekend
As a jiujitsu player, even I find it very boring to watch. Until now there have only been a few main options for competitors and viewers, IBJJF, ADCC, and recently ONE FC. This weekend was the first Craig Jones Invitational, Craig is a famous competitor, and has organized this competition to give athletes another avenue to compete at, and earn a living, with a million-dollar purse for the winners of each division. First of all, the competition and stream were fantastic, some of the biggest stars in jiujitsu put on awesome performances. But the best thing is benefits to the athletes, being a full time jiujitsu athlete has only been possible for a very few people, but the dedication it takes to reach the top levels is a full time job. This is a good move for jiujitsu and sports in general to let the athletes make more money and not just the organizers and TV networks.
Have a great week ahead!
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