[Event] Tiger Street Eats

The recent announcement of Michelin-starred street food in Dublin, courtesy of Tiger beer, definitely caused a bit of buzz. At €10 per ticket, the Tiger Street Eats event offered the chance to try the world famous chicken from the Singaporean Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle street food hawker stand.  Tiger Street Eats is a concept designed to showcase the vibrancy of Singapore streets, and has already travelled to Auckland, Kuala Lumpur and New York. Dublin was the first European venture, and as you'd expect in a city that would go to the opening of a postcard, the tickets quickly sold out. 

Tiger Beer Street Eats

The event was held in Portobello Harbour, with plywood trestle tables and bright orange stools laid out in a communal style. Various activities such as a street art fight using ink made from pollution and games were laid out around the room. It was simple, fun and well put together. My only gripe was the too loud music (perhaps I'm just getting too old for loud sh*te). Top marks to the army of servers who were always on the ball with a fresh beer or assistance.

Tiger beer signs

Our €10 tickets covered a three course meal and two pints each of crisp Tiger beer. Chef Chan Hon Meng would be responsible for the main course, but bright spark had had the clever idea of sourcing the starter and dessert courses from Irish businesses.

The starter was a colourful trio of potsticker dumplings from Triad Dumplings, who can be more commonly found in the Sunday food market at Herbert Park.  Green was a spinach dumpling, filled with teriyaki, shiitake and sriracha, pink was beetroot with napa cabbage, pork and Chinese vinegar, while orange was carrot with fresh mango chicken and soya sauce. Creative and tasty, these were a great advertisement for Triad, and I definitely plan to check them out in future for more dumplings. 

Trio of dumplings from Triad

Back home in Hong Kong, the diminutive Chef Chan prepares a maximum of 180 chickens per day, refusing to serve more in order to preserve the quality of his dish. I suspect that he did a few more than 180 over the course of his time in Dublin, all emerging from the little tented kitchen located outside the entrance. But did the flavours manage the transfer halfway across the world? 

The presentation of the famous Soya Sauce Chicken with Thai rice was extremely simple with just a few slices of cucumber as garnish. It may have disappointed some, but it must be remembered that this is Hong Kong Street food, selling for a mere $7-14. In traditional style, the braised piece chicken had been chopped on the bone and topped with some cooking liquor. The end result was a delicious mix of sweet and salty, with warming notes of star anise coming through. Incredible to think that this costs under a euro back in Hong Kong. Would I travel to Hong Kong just to try it? No, but I would definitely make the time to try if I were in Hong Kong. 

Soya sauce chicken with Thai rice

Dessert was a simple fresh Tiger beer ice lolly, with pineapple and chili, courtesy of Wellnice Pops in Limerick. Friends BJ & Trin created Wellnice Pops with the intention of making healthy snack, using 100% fruit and vegetable juice ice pops. 

Tiger beer ice pop with pineapple and chili

Inside Tiger Street Eats

Final verdict? Good value for my €10 ticket price, and a great opportunity to try something a little different. Given the simplicity of the chicken, it does raise the question of why Michelin are handing out stars for basic street food, but even so, if it opens people's minds to trying something different and recognising quality in all forms, that's not a bad thing.

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