A rising star chef puts down roots in a downtown food court

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Emily Lim has a relatively simple, if ambitious, goal: “I just want everyone to be able to eat Singaporean food,” she says.  

The city-state’s cuisine, known for bold flavors and ample spice, has historically been hard to find in the Bay Area. But for four years, Lim has been working to change that via her pop-up, Dabao Singapore, which sells meal kits to be made at home.

Through it, she has introduced local diners to her native cuisine, which draws inspiration from China, India, and Southeast Asia. Singaporean classics include the spicy noodle soup laksa and Hainanese chicken rice, which originated in southern China but has since been claimed as the inherited national dish. Lim has earned national attention: Last year, the James Beard Foundation named her a semifinalist for its Emerging Chef award. (Disclosure: Lauren Saria co-chairs the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Award committee.)

As of about a month ago, Lim took a big step forward in her mission: She opened a brick-and-mortar Dabao Singapore in the food court of the Metreon mall. Now customers can satisfy cravings for seafood laksa even if they live outside her delivery radius. The stall also lets Lim meet other homesick Singaporean expats who are craving a taste of home. “It’s really fun to see people’s faces, and how they get excited,” she said. 

Dabao Singapore’s Metreon location is open for lunch five days a week, serving a tight menu that includes three variations of chicken rice and two kinds of laksa (seafood and vegan).

Both laksas start with made-from-scratch rempah, a wet spice blend that serves as the backbone of most cuisine from the Malay Peninsula, often including chiles, garlic, galangal, turmeric, and lemongrass. Lim uses 21 secret ingredients in her rempah. (“It’s fucking ridiculous,” she laughs.) The fragrant broth delivers a gentle heat that simmers just below the surface of the coconut milk’s sweetness.

In the seafood laksa ($18.95), springy little fish balls bob alongside triangles of fried tofu puffs, shrimp, hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts, and a tangle of egg noodles. Though slurping up the noodles sends the tawny broth flying everywhere, a stain is a small price to pay for a lunch that’ll shake your tastebuds out of their afternoon stupor. 

As a side dish, you’ll definitely want an order of curry puffs ($5). The isosceles triangles of golden puff pastry encase a filling of tender potatoes flavored with warm curry spices. 

If laksa isn’t appealing, there are the three varieties of chicken rice. The most traditional version stars poached chicken kissed with lemongrass and garlic over a bed of white rice that’s shiny and slick with fat. The others swap in a fried chicken cutlet or roasted chicken coated in a five-spice blend. 

Lim plans to add dinner service starting Nov. 22, at which point she’ll expand the menu. The Metreon kitchen includes a wok — “my secret weapon” — so she’s excited to add surf-and-turf wok-fried noodles, which she has previously sold as a meal kit, to the mix. She’s going to keep the meal kit delivery going and is hopeful she can take on more catering jobs too.

It’s been 10 years since Lim moved to San Francisco from Singapore, and she’s aware of how much the downtown area has changed. She’s hopeful her location can capitalize on foot traffic from conventions at the Moscone Center and office workers looking for a quick lunch. “As someone who is self-funded, it’s definitely very nerve-wracking,” she says. “There’s fear of the business not doing well. But I am hopeful.”

The Standard recommends:
Seafood laksa ($18.95)
Curry puffs ($5) 
Total: $23.95