For many first-generation immigrant restaurateurs, opening a restaurant was primarily an exercise in economic survival — appealing to local tastes and building a viable business. The next generation of chefs is bringing a different relationship to the food they inherited, with greater freedom to explore what their cultural heritage means to them and how to reinterpret it. Social media and increased international travel are also making diners more receptive to cuisines beyond the familiar, as seen in Rambutan’s Sri Lankan breakfast of hoppers, coconut rice, fried fish, spicy sambol and cardamom tea.

Singapore may be a country rather than a region, yet its signature dishes are not as well known in Europe as Thailand’s pad thai or Vietnam’s pho. Changing that has been part of the mission behind The Hood, a Singaporean restaurant in Paris co-founded by Pearlyn Lee in 2016. Today, customers seek out its pandan chiffon cake and kaya, but in the beginning, few knew what either was. “Education therefore became part of our work, but we did not want dinner to feel like a lecture. Discovery had to be fun,” stated Lee.

The Hood called its green pandan chiffon “Alien Cake”, serving it with homemade kaya and offering tastes to people passing on the street. Lee elaborated, “We did not make these flavours accessible by diluting them. We made discovering them generous, playful and social, then allowed the food to do the rest.” The same approach was applied to chicken rice, another Singaporean classic, with the team taking time to explain how the rice was cooked in chicken stock, as well as the different sauces and aromatics. Customers could then understand how much craft sat behind its apparent simplicity. “French diners appreciate a good story, careful sourcing, craftsmanship and, ultimately, good flavour. When the food is done properly, it speaks for itself,” she added.