SANDRA LEONG'S SINGAPOREAN NASILEMAK

Sandra Leong, from snack-food chain Old Chang Kee, is helping raise the profile of Singaporean food in the UK. Here, she shares fond memories and her recipe for traditional rice dish, nasi lemak

- TONY NAYLOR

The precise origin of the curry puff is lost to history. But when Sandra Leong decided to introduce London to real Singaporean food, she felt this curried snack – possibly a 19th-century attempt by Hainanese cooks to recreate a chicken pasty for their British colonial employers – had serious crossover potential.

She was right. Working with Singaporean snackfood chain, Old Chang Kee, Sandra opened its first London branch in 2018 and those curry puffs flew out, alongside curries, nasi lemak and laksa. Local office workers loved: ‘Singapore’s Cornish pasty.’ None of this was on the agenda when Sandra first arrived in the UK. A former journalist, she came to London to do a master’s in political communications (‘It’s completely wasted,’ she laughs, ‘my poor parents!’), but, after settling here, she became increasingly frustrated at the lack of identifiably Singaporean food.