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A review by jwsg
A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
2.0
I came across this randomly while browsing the food literature section of the library and was intrigued by the prospect of a memoir of Singaporean food and family. What I liked about this book: it is about food. And I could connect with the context - educated and Westernised female who took her grandmother's cooking for granted as a child and never took an interest in food preparation wishes, as an adult, to be able to create and taste those familiar recipes again.
What I disliked: the writing. I've read plenty of food related literature by different writers. Bourdain, Ruhlman, Reichl, Gabrielle Hamilton, Fuchsia Dunlop - they all have very different styles. Some are lyrical, some have more muscular, punchier styles of writing. Different, but all excellent. Tan's writing reminded me of a top Singaporean student writing an essay during the Cambridge O level examinations. Content is all there, grammar is impeccable, but stilted and lacking in flair. Like "The piece de resistance, however, was a dish of hello dollies I very enthusiastically attempted after spying the recipe on a bag of chocolate chips at the grocery store." I can't quite put my finger on it but reading this sentence (and many others) just made me squirm. Maybe because it reminded me of my own awkwardly composed exam scripts as a teenager.
If you're familiar with the Singaporean dining scene, you'd either be impressed or put off by Tan's casual mentions of the F&B heavyweights she's bffs with - dining at Per Se with KF Seetoh, the "founder of Makansutra, a Zagat-style guide to restaurants in Singapore, a fact that our waiter had duly noted and conveyed to the chef"! Cooking with Willin Low! Drinking "expensive gin" with Gunther, the "head chef of one of Singapore's most expensive French restaurants"! Having Teochew porridge with "well-regarded Singaporean chef" Ignatius Chan.
Oh and one last final gripe: what is WITH the red Chinese cheongsam on the front cover? When I went to college, I used to snigger when (non-Chinese) students would wear the gold embroidered red cheongsams they had picked up from Chinatown to formals, thinking it exotic and sexy. Back home, only waitresses in Chinese restaurants (and even then, only the very old school Chinese restaurants) would wear cheongsams like that. With an image like that on the front cover, I'm not quite sure what the target audience of this book is.
What I disliked: the writing. I've read plenty of food related literature by different writers. Bourdain, Ruhlman, Reichl, Gabrielle Hamilton, Fuchsia Dunlop - they all have very different styles. Some are lyrical, some have more muscular, punchier styles of writing. Different, but all excellent. Tan's writing reminded me of a top Singaporean student writing an essay during the Cambridge O level examinations. Content is all there, grammar is impeccable, but stilted and lacking in flair. Like "The piece de resistance, however, was a dish of hello dollies I very enthusiastically attempted after spying the recipe on a bag of chocolate chips at the grocery store." I can't quite put my finger on it but reading this sentence (and many others) just made me squirm. Maybe because it reminded me of my own awkwardly composed exam scripts as a teenager.
If you're familiar with the Singaporean dining scene, you'd either be impressed or put off by Tan's casual mentions of the F&B heavyweights she's bffs with - dining at Per Se with KF Seetoh, the "founder of Makansutra, a Zagat-style guide to restaurants in Singapore, a fact that our waiter had duly noted and conveyed to the chef"! Cooking with Willin Low! Drinking "expensive gin" with Gunther, the "head chef of one of Singapore's most expensive French restaurants"! Having Teochew porridge with "well-regarded Singaporean chef" Ignatius Chan.
Oh and one last final gripe: what is WITH the red Chinese cheongsam on the front cover? When I went to college, I used to snigger when (non-Chinese) students would wear the gold embroidered red cheongsams they had picked up from Chinatown to formals, thinking it exotic and sexy. Back home, only waitresses in Chinese restaurants (and even then, only the very old school Chinese restaurants) would wear cheongsams like that. With an image like that on the front cover, I'm not quite sure what the target audience of this book is.