The local legend talks the science and art of being a ‘culture chef’
Chef Akmal Anuar has had quite the illustrious career.
Spanning 20 years, with humble beginnings at his parents’ hawker stall, followed by a 7 year stint as Head Chef in Iggy’s Restaurant Singapore, cooking for famous figures including Singapore’s late founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and alongside legendary chefs like Tetsuya Wakuda of Tetsuya’s Sydney, Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana and several more; conceptualising 3Fils in late 2016 – an original concept that paved the way for homegrown heroes to blossom outside of hotels and lavish price brackets; followed by Goldfish, 11 Woodfire, and many more award-winning concepts.
But after eating his cake and having it too, he comes back to the roots. To where it all began, to the bridge between Singapore and Malaysia, where he gets his identity from. This is Harummanis – an ode to the legacy that nourished him to be what he is today – a culture chef.
A culture chef is a term we’re exploring, coined by a close associate – chefs who make a home out of their establishment, bring a part of their city, their culture, to wherever they are cooking. They make it possible for native plates to exist outside the native land, with a sense of place and belonging.
In today’s world, cuisine is no longer bound by geographical shackles. It travels, across land and sea, with these culture chefs, and brings stories that would have otherwise been inaccessible. It makes foreign foods familiar, unseen landscapes lifelike and unfelt emotions visceral.
We sat down with Chef Akmal to talk all things legacy, culture and just how good coming home to your own feels.
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Tell us a bit more about Harummanis – what are the origins of this family legacy?
My parents were originally Malaysians and during the WW2 my grandparents moved to Singapore looking for jobs and both my late grandfathers ended up working for the military. Life was tough.
My mom learnt how to cook from her mom, and her task at home was to cook while her other siblings were out looking for jobs and other responsibility.
In 1992, my parents had an idea to run a small hawker shop because they were no longer interested doing their day jobs. I was a 10 year old boy back then, and being the older brother of my 3 siblings, they brought me to the shop frequently to learn the ropes and help. Today Harummanis survives over 3 decades at the same place serving the community seriously. In 2023, we opened our first flagship Harummanis restaurant on Sultan Gate, Singapore and it has since served amazing icons like our President, the Malaysian Queen and more.
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Do you feel a weight of responsibility to authentically represent the food of your country to foreign audiences? How do you tackle that emotion?
I feel right at home serving the food that makes me who I am. Our goal is to maintain authenticity and the facts about the cuisine. It is a sense of pride that I take in doing this. There is no connection if I do well in other cuisines, but with this I feel true and complete to myself. I treat it as a movement. I hope this aspires more chefs to take on their on roots.
At a time when ‘authentic’ and ‘homegrown’ have become buzzwords used by restaurants to attract diners, how do you preserve the originality of the concept of authenticity with Harummanis?
You can never keep up with time. Things and trends change. It is what it is. I just wanted to do what I’ve always wanted to do – not to look back and regret. The most important thing is to be relevant but honest. Diners are fickle minded and the options around town are a lot, so the bar keeps going higher and higher. If you want to be in the game, you’ve got to work harder.
Besides the food, what tools do you employ at Harummanis to transport your diners to the native land?
Ingredients are key here. Without these there won’t be a taste from home. Our technique is still primitive, I would say. The set up is basic but the produce and recipe you cant get away with. There is a lot of work preparing Malay cuisine. A lot of blending, grinding and stirring. The labour behind it is back breaking – only passion fuels this.
How has cooking outside your home country changed the way you view your native cuisine?
I appreciate it more. Back home it’s everywhere but lately there is a shortage of supply for such a concept. The work has made the new generation look at the cuisine as not cool or tiring. I am just doing justice to my community as much as I can. If not me then who else.
What have been the biggest challenges in translating your cuisine for a foreign audience – logistical or cultural?
The names and location of the cuisine. Southeast Asia is big. Between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, foreign audiences get confused. Our role in this would be to tell the stories and educating. It take a bit of time and effort but it is necessary. Only then it will make sense.
Globalisation has led to the migration of cuisines to different parts of the world, which means one no longer need look as far as the native land to find an authentic bite of the food – how do you feel about this rapid evolution, both in the context of Dubai and the rest of the world?
Firstly, to do this means there is a lot of money involved. Things don’t just move. There is interest and opportunity somewhere. I get this a lot too. I used to pray hoping doors open and I can expand everywhere. Today my prayer is the other way round. Authenticity has a meaning that represents very unique things. If its diluted then all that is goes down the drain. Some cuisines and concepts are expandable because they serve the ‘need market’. I believe Harummanis is a destination, a place you get ready for. For a performance where guests are taken back into my living room.
@harummanis.51, @akmalanuarofficial
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Deeply passionate about food, culture and community, Manaal loves telling extraordinary stories of ordinary people. Besides sniffing out a tale to tell, her favourite things to do include binging true crime documentaries, chasing cats on the streets and curating a good outfit.
