A Kala Bhuna Mutton with Petai Porota to a prawn broth dish that looks like a Vietnamese pho and tastes like Bengali malai curry — Sienna’s kitchen has been cooking up a variety of tested favourites and new inventions over the last couple of months. Now, Sienna Cafe and Store is back with another collaboration and another pop-up. And this time, the Hindustan Park cafe’s team is crossing borders — taking Bengal’s flavours to southeast Asia. The kitchen has been gearing up for their Epar-Opar tour — two pop-ups on April 26 and the first week of May, in Bangkok and Singapore.

My Kolkata sat down for a chat with co-head chef Avinandan Kundu to get all the details on what will be Sienna’s first overseas appearance. “We are calling this the Epar Opar tour — a play on the fact that we’ll be taking flavours from across borders,” said the chef introducing the tour.

(L-R) Co-head chefs Avinandan Kundu and Koyel Roy Nandy, and sous chef Kirti Agarwal will be travelling to Bangkok and Singapore for the pop-ups Courtesy Sienna Cafe

Bengal in Bangkok

The first of the two pop-ups is with Chef Hari Nayak’s JHOL in Sukhumvit Soi, Bangkok, which features in the 50 Best Discovery list for places to eat in Thailand. For some of us the word ‘jhol’ might automatically mean a curry, but chef Nayak’s establishment takes its name from the colloquial term for ‘mischief’, popularly used in Mumbai. The focus of this award-winning restaurant is coastal Indian cuisine.

For the special dining experience with Sienna, the menu will be all about the flavours of Bengal.

So, how did this come about? “Chef Sanchit [Sahu, executive chef at JHOL] came over a few months ago and we started talking about possibly doing something in southeast Asia. Then the team at Soul Company came on board and figured out the logistics for us,” explained Avinandan.

The menu at the one-night-only dinner on Friday, April 26, will have dishes from the Sienna kitchen and from the JHOL kitchen, all showcasing various techniques and flavours from Bengal.

“We will be presenting dishes from our Bengali degustation menu, with them doing a few dishes and us doing a few others. The menu will have signature dishes from JHOL and Sienna,” explained Avinandan.

JHOL sous chef, Gaurav D Gupta, who is a Bengali, has been helping build the menu with the team at Sienna, and there sure is plenty to look forward to. Like a duck kobiraji that chef Avinandan is “personally very excited about”. From the shores of Kolkata, the Sienna team will be plating up some of the best from their Bengali Bajaar to Table menu, including the Ilish Bhorta.

The Bengali degustation menu at JHOL Bangkok will feature the signature Ilish Bhorta from Sienna’s Bengal tasting menu Courtesy Sienna Cafe

What else is on the menu? There will be Shukto, a Lau Pata Paturi, Kalo Jeere Pork Belly, with a Kanchkolar Kofta for the vegetarian option, along with the popular Chutney Cube palate cleanser and the Makha Sandesh. Read up more about some of the signature Bengali tasting menu dishes here:

“I’m very excited about some of the fun things JHOL will be putting up like the Duck Kobiraji and Quail Dimer Devil with caviar,” said Avinandan, adding that some of the ingredients are being taken by team from here — like the last of the nolen gur.

“The idea, as with most of our menus like this, is also to prompt a conversation about the sustainability and conservation of Bengali produce like ilish, and speak about what good ingredients like nolen gur are about. So people know not only what constitutes good produce, but also how to eat sustainably.”

Bengal meets Vietnam in Singapore

The pop-up with Lo Quay, chef Quỳnh Brown’s new Vietnamese cuisine restaurant at 88, Amoy Street, Singapore, will also feature Bengal, but in a very different way. Much like Sienna, Lo Quay is serving up traditional Vietnamese flavours with a modern and contemporary flair to foodies in Singapore with dishes like Beef Pho Medley to Iberico Pork Bánh Mì Wellington, and more, on the menu.

Titled r o ô ট s (Roots), the three-day pop-up, from May 2-4, will feature the blending of Vietnamese and Bengali culinary traditions, with dishes that talk about family recipes and traditional nostalgic food.

“There’s a lot of similarity in the geography and eating habits of Bengal and Vietnam, especially south Vietnam. The Mekong delta there and the Gangetic delta here means that a lot of ingredients and produce are similar. We have parallels like a rice-eating population, freshwater fish, lots of tropical fruits, along with things like the use of spices. Not all of our garam masala is seen there, but there is use of spices like cinnamon,” explained Avinandan, adding that it has been “fun and adventurous” figuring out the coming together of these culinary traditions.

One of the dishes at Lo Quay, Singapore, is a take on the Indian ‘kala bhuna’ and Vietnamese ‘Bulalo’. In picture: The Kala Bhuna Mutton with Petai Porota Soumyajit Dey

The short five-course menu will feature dishes that blend two coastal traditions. On the menu will be dishes like Kala Bhuna X Bulalo, featuring a Wagyu tartare with a kala bhuna sauce with betel leaf crackers and pickled lotus flowers, along with a Malai Chingri x Pho, which features a blue shrimp sashimi in a hot pho-like broth that looks like pho, but tastes like malai chingri. The story continues with a dessert that rolls together the Bengali patishapta and the Vietnamese fruit cocktail che thai, which will be a crepe with coconut and fruit filling.

Gearing up for the journey ahead

It has been interesting and exciting for the team to collaborate with people outside Bengal to come up with a Bengali menu, even with the challenging logistics. The team is travelling with a few things from India and there are plans to travel to the markets at the destination for all the fresh ingredients. With only a day or two to prepare, it has been full-steam prep time in the kitchen.

“For the Bangkok menu, we will be carrying some dry ingredients and dishes from here and there has been constant communication while building the menu,” explained Avinandan. “It is a little more challenging when it comes to the menu in Singapore, because we have developed the recipes from scratch so it has been about handing over meticulously detailed recipes since some of the trials have happened here and the prep will happen there,” he added.

The Malai Chingri X Pho is a dish that brings together two signature favourites, with a pho-like clarified broth that is clear and fragrant and tastes just like a Bengali malai chingri Soumyajit Dey

Chef Avinandan hopes this is the first of many such opportunities to come for Sienna, which is also gearing up for an exciting summer ahead. With chefs opening up to collaborate on things and the culture of pop-ups growing, it is an exciting time to take the story of local food ahead, believes the chef.

“An opportunity like this is always exciting for the team and the kitchen. You get to experience a new culture and dine at great places, along with presenting the best of your food to people. It also helps us expand the reach of our story, and to show them the story of Bengal and the parallels of food in various parts of the world. In fact, the chatter inside is that the next stop is Malaysia, because growing up the southeast Asian travel trinity has been Bangkok, Singapore and Malaysia,” he said.

Having tasted some of the creations — like the Malai Chingri x Pho, which is mind bending in the best way — My Kolkata hopes that these exciting dishes not only win hearts but also make it to the menu at Hindustan Park, which is also all set to explore a renovation and many more domestic pop-ups soon. More on that soon.