Food Stall Meets Fine Dining at the Tiger Streats Dinner

Earlier this year, a small food stall in Singapore serving little more than an excellent chicken was awarded a Michelin star. In the food world, this was big. Michelin has bestowed their coveted stars to restaurants for decades, and for the most part, they are of the fine dining kind. So when Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle was awarded a star, the food world took notice.

The chef, Chan Hon Meng, has been busy. He recently inked a deal with Hersing Culinary, the company who expanded Hong Kong's famed dim sum restaurant Tim Ho Wan into nine countries. The first new restaurant for Chan is called Hawker Chan, which will be located in Singapore's Chinatown, not far from the original state at the Chinatown Complex Market and Food Center, which, thankfully, will remain open.

Chan has also partnered with Tiger Beer to go around the world and cook dinners with more traditional fine dining chefs.Mie-Leng Wong, Global Tiger Beer Director, explains "In today's polarized world, Tiger Beer and street food have the power to bring people across cultures, generations and social classes closer. To celebrate this, Tiger Beer is launching Tiger STREATS." The Tiger STREATS dinner series will have events in Auckland, Kuala Lumpur, and Sydney this year. MUNCHIES is partnering with Tiger on the New York dinners, which will feature Chan collaborating with Christopher Kostow, chef of the three Michelin Star The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, California.

Pairing chefs from the street food and fine dining may seem odd at first, but it actually makes a lot of sense. How could the everyman food for all walks of life pair so well with the highest end cuisine? Kostow explains that "Street food and fine dining have more commonalities than you would think. Even when I'm coming up with a dish that utilizes modern techniques or unusual ingredients, the foundation of it is based on history, tradition and locality. Fine dining and street food actually have many parallels. I really appreciate the familiarity of what Hawker Chan does, being so close to his customers and seeing how they react to experiencing his food. It's important for our restaurant to also have a strong connection with our community and diners—my cooks and I try to get out of the kitchen and into the dining room to engage with our guests throughout their meal."

The food will surely be amazing. The dinners will be three courses, with each chef showcasing one of their signature dishes, and then coming together to create a special dessert. Kostow describes his dish as "Whelk Lasagna with Agretti. Whelk is a sea snail (similar to a conch) that are in season right now in the waters off the coast of California. The farce of whelk is layered between sheets of pasta dough, which is made with seaweeds. The dish is finished with roasted broccoli and agretti, and a broth made of the cooking liquid of the whelks."

The events are open to the public. To win a reservation for two, visit a participating bar or restaurant (check Tiger Beer for a map) and grab a Tiger STREATS coaster with a special code. Then log on to Tiger Beer and enter your code for a chance to attend this once in a lifetime meal.

Reservations are now open. See you there!