Char kway teow in India?

Meet the Singaporeans bringing local food to Mumbai

- Pooja Naik

At Mumbai's southernmost tip, crowds gather for a breeze in the thickening heat. Beyond the storied silhouettes of the Gateway of India historical monument and The Taj Mahal Palace luxury hotel, colonial facades stand cheek by jowl with sleek restaurants along buzzing streets.

In the heart of this neighbourhood, Singaporean Renjie Wong opens his apartment once a month for his by-invitation-only supper club, Salon Colaba.

A red pineapple lantern glows at the entrance. Inside, the lofty living room is a collage of curiosities from his travels: snakeskin from coastal destination Goa coiled along a driftwood branch, Japanese scripture scrawled on paper, a traditional woven raincoat from north-eastern state Arunachal Pradesh crowning the back of a chair. His decor, like his cooking, is a vivid extension of himself.

"Indians and Singaporeans are among the most homesick people in the world, at least when it comes to food," says the 34-year-old Singapore Tourism Board (STB) area director of India and South Asia (Mumbai).

"Growing up in Singapore, you take good food for granted because it's everywhere. When we're eating lunch, we're already thinking about what to have for dinner."

That appetite drove him first as an eater, and later as a cook.

He began honing his skills as an undergraduate in San Francisco, while pursuing a double major in anthropology and Italian literature at Stanford University.

"Cooking was a comforting way to deal with homesickness. No matter where I go, my food is tied to my Singaporean roots," he says.

Growing up in Singapore, his parents ruled the kitchen, so he rarely cooked. It was not until he moved abroad to study that he began making meals for himself, and fell in love with cooking.