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Singaporean baker Bryan Koh on the trips that inspired his award-winning Burmese food cook book

Singapore — You’ve probably tasted one of Bryan Koh’s creations without realising it. The 32-year-old is the co-founder of cake shop Chalk Farm, known for its acclaimed kueh salat (a nyonya cake of kaya and glutinous rice) and other sumptuous treats such as the Chocolate Guinness Cake.

Cookbook Author Bryan Koh. Photo: Nuria Ling

Cookbook Author Bryan Koh. Photo: Nuria Ling

SINGAPORE — You’ve probably tasted one of Bryan Koh’s creations without realising it. The 32-year-old is the co-founder of cake shop Chalk Farm, known for its acclaimed kueh salat (a nyonya cake of kaya and glutinous rice) and other sumptuous treats such as the Chocolate Guinness Cake.

Baking aside, Koh is an avid traveller and keen writer — his first tome, Milk Pigs and Violet Gold (Philippine Cookery) was self-published four years ago. He’s since turned his sights to Myanmar to write another cookbook, 0451 Mornings Are For Mont Hin Gar. It was released last year and garnered third prize at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in the Best Asian Food Book category this May.

“I guess the interest (in food and travel) was sparked off during my childhood — the first book given to me by my mother was an atlas and one of my first toys was a kitchen set,” Koh mused. “I’ve always been drawn to food as the lens in understanding a country and its culture.” Koh has already started travelling for his next cookbook although he declined to reveal more until he’s sure he’s got enough material for the destination. In the meantime, he is relaunching the second edition of Milk Pigs and Violet Gold, which will be out on Sept 24. “I’ve taken it apart and gave it more chapters. It will be called Milkier Pigs and Violet Gold, this time around!”

Q: You’ve written a cookbook about Filipino cuisine and now Burmese food. Why focus on these rather unusual cuisines, so far?

A: The first book came about after I visited a health resort called The Farm at San Benito in the Philippines in 2009 when I was working as a freelance magazine writer. My then helper’s husband showed me around and I thought why not do a travelogue with food at the centre of it. Filipino cuisine wasn’t as well known then, and I was also greatly inspired by my yayas’ (Tagalog for nannies) cooking, which I ate growing up at home. As for Burmese food, it also started with a trip — this time to Lake Inle in 2012. I was completely besotted with the food I ate there, that seemed quite suited to our palette as it had familiar influences like Chinese while being really exotic. I was intrigued. My guide knew of my interest in food, and we visited markets and factories that produced molasses. Burmese food is similar to how Filipino cuisine isn’t really heard of as much, and they aren’t as well-represented. What we know of them is that you can get them at Lucky Plaza and Peninsula Plaza — not necessarily the cuisines at their best so I wanted to show there is so much more to them.

Q: How long did it take for you to write 0451 Mornings Are For Mont Hin Gar?

A: I was toying with the idea first, but I wanted to be sure that I was able to cover as much of the country as possible, so I started planning my trips. I was only certain the book was something I could do after I managed to visit the Rakhine state. I made a total of 12 trips and spent almost four years doing the book. I went to most of the country with the exception of Chin state and Kayah state as I wasn’t able to fly there then — the country is vast. I had the help of a tour company (UA Tours and Ticketing), which arranged my trips and they were wonderful, spoke English and knew what I needed; I had a guide, who was also my translator, and I’m lucky in that I could pick up on “market language” relatively quickly. By that, I meant what are ingredients called and the quantity that is required for a dish.

Q: What was your favourite dish that you tried in Myanmar?

A: It’s hard to pick as food differs from region to region. I was amazed by the array of salads. Everything can be turned into a salad, and it can feature the simplest of ingredients from rice to blanched leaves. Unlike Thai salads whereby flavour profiles are quite pointed and punchy, and you taste everything from sweet to spicy very sharply, Burmese salads are more nuanced, simply flavoured with seasoned oils such as garlic oil and chilli oil as well as the roasted ground chickpea flour that is widely used to give it a creamier texture.

Q: So where in Myanmar do you recommend travellers go to for both food and sightseeing?

A: Definitely Lake Inle. It’s so beautiful there — it was the scenery that got me there first. Bagan, too. I had the best fritters made out of chickpeas and beans from little shacks while I was there. And my Burmese friends say if you want the “most authentic” Burmese food, you have to go to Mandalay, which used to be the royal capital. The flavours there are somewhat more robust than in Yangon. It was there where I had a really good noodle salad dish called Nan gyi thoke, with thick round rice noodles in gravy.

Q: What are your favourite destinations to visit just for its food?

A: If it’s just for eating, it’d have to be London and Japan. If it’s to learn more about its cuisine, I’d like to go to countries such as India and China.

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