Rahel Stephanie is on fire, though you could call her London’s coolest chef. After dozens of sell-out Eats With Spoons supperclubs came a residency in Early June, a pop-up in Paris, quickly followed by the launch of her zine-come-cookbook Pedas, which roughly translates to “spicy”.
Stephanie has since brought the heat to Wagamama by collaborating with the restaurant group on a new dish: a sambal fried chicken with a caramelised tomato sambal, served with a pickle slaw and coconut rice flecked with crispy sesame sprinkles.
The collaboration might seem a surprise. True, Alan Yau’s pan-Asian Wagamama was a gift to Britain’s new generation of restaurant-goers when it first opened in 1992, and one that changed the way we eat: it made communal seating cool, and later introduced ordering by iPad. It was never expensive and welcomed everyone. There’s a reason it soon sprawled into a chain seen on most high streets. But lately, it’s gone off the boil. As a nation, and particularly in London, we’ve grown into a more discerning bunch, valuing greater authenticity and diversity in our regional Asian restaurants.
It’s why joints in London like Kolae, Plaza Khao Gaeng, Kiln and A Wong all feel so distinct, and why the term “pan-Asian” doesn’t cut it in the way it once did.
Rahel Stephanie could be the group's salvation, then; a gateway to focussing on more specific regional cuisines with dishes that keep with Wagamama’s ethos of accessibility.
“From speaking with my friends who grew up in the UK, it's evident that Wagamama holds a special place for many as their introduction to pan-Asian cuisine,” Stephanie, who grew up in Indonesia, told the Standard. “There's a tremendous opportunity to delve deeper into specific Asian cuisines and present them in a thoughtful and nuanced manner. This is precisely what I'm aiming to achieve with my dish, the first Indonesian item to be featured in the chain.”
And what a dish it is: a richly-spiced, moreish tomato sambal pairs beautifully with crisp yet tender fried chicken thighs. Alongside the fragrant coconut rice, it’s a joy, with the pickles doing their job perfectly, cutting through the richness.
It’s origin, Stephanie says, is in ‘ayam geprek’, a Javanese dish, which features “battered chicken bruised onto a bed of sambal, which lets the sambal seep through the crevices of the chicken, allowing for maximum flavour at every bite.”
This version delivers on that front, with each mouthful rich, warming and carrying just enough spice to keep things interesting.
“I thought it's the perfect Indonesian dish to introduce via Wagamama,” Stephanie continues, “because it features one of my favourite sambals, and really, who doesn't love fried chicken?”
Perhaps then, the Wagamama collaboration is not such a curveball after all. Stephanie looks to be approaching the project as a vehicle: an opportunity to share Indonesian food culture with the broadest possible audience. “The main motivation to why I cook is to share and spread awareness about my country’s cuisine,” she says.
Currently, the dish is only available at one location, at Wagamama’s noodle lab in Soho. Could there be more to come? “We've got big ambitions...so just wait and see!”
For now, though, Wagamama just got a much-needed shot in the arm from London’s coolest chef.
