East 8 is a fusion shared plates eatery crafted with New York City as a pivotal influence.
Singapore, November 16, 2012
10 Coleman Street Tel: 6338 8289 Opens end Nov
The scalding hot tapas trend in Singapore is something that Emil Halim, 27, and Steven Tjhang, 26, hope will soon bubble over to
neighbouring Jakarta. And they're doing their bit to help fuel the trend. The two Indonesian graphic designers will debut in
Singapore at the end of this month a tapas joint, East 8, which they hope to expand to their Jakarta hometown once business stabilises.
But not for the duo your traditional Spanish bar. East 8 is a fusion shared plates eatery crafted with New York City as a pivotal influence,
for it is where the duo lived for the last six years and is "truly a culinary capital where you can get all types of food you want", Mr Halim
enthuses. They loved, in particular, the diverse mix of ethnic eateries along 8th Street in New York's East Village - hence their eatery's name.
The menu is still being finalised, but when completed East 8 will dish out East-West creations like Chilean seabass topped with yuzu sauce
and shiso leaf, clams cooked in sake, and torched wagyu and scallop skewers, Mr Halim reveals. They will cost between $8 to $30 per dish.
On the drinks menu will be plenty of sake and shochu-based ****tails, garnished with fresh fruits and flowers and with some molecular
techniques worked in. Food presentation is key at East 8, adds Mr Halim, like a true designer. "When you go into a restaurant these days,
you always see people taking pictures of their food before they start to eat it," he notes. "These days, people don't only care about the
taste of the food, but it has to look good too." In keeping with their designer credentials, too, the bar will be an exercise in aesthetics.
The 55-seater will feature plenty of wood, raw concrete and exposed brick to channel the cool of a New York loft.
Indoors, the space will be decked out to recreate the feeling of dining under one of Manhattan island's many bridges. While in the
covered al fresco walkway outside, potted plants and a custom-built wooden deck will transport diners to the city's High Line, a public park
built on an abandoned freight rail line elevated above the streets of the Lower West Side.
Says Mr Halim, who also co-owns a health food cafe and a lounge in Jakarta: "We are building a bridge from New York to Singapore,
we want to bring new experiences to Singaporean diners, who are known for being very adventurous when it comes to dining out."
