Park Bench Deli's Andrei Soen On Our Appetite For American Cuisine
The restauranteur talks about the brand’s success and the evolution of American food in Singapore.
Say "American food" and diner grub such as burgers, fried chicken, hot dogs and pancakes would come to mind. However, Park Bench Deli (PBD) creative director and owner Andrei Soen insists there is so much more to the cuisine than just these stereotypes. After all, he has a deep personal connection to food from the US of A having grown up in California for 13 years from the age of 13 before returning to sunny Singapore in 2012.
"It’s somewhat hard to define the cuisine itself," notes the 36-year-old restaurant entrepreneur. "The country has 50 states and so many immigrants. Like Singapore, there’s so much culture here. You have Southern food, cuisine from the West Coast, East Coast and also Chinese-American food. It’s really a melting pot."
Andrei Soen "grew up loving to eat and being around food" but only got into his family's food business in America after completing his national service at age 19. The entrepreneur runs two sandwich speciality restaurants in Singapore where he is now based.
Soen grew up in family restaurants (his grandparents from both sides of the family were in the F&B business) so getting into the field was a natural fit. With a focus on spotlighting well-loved American staples, he co-founded the now-defunct Creole-influenced seafood boil restaurant Cajun Kings in 2012.
Three years later, he opened the sandwich shop Park Bench Deli with former business partner Huang Ming Tan in 2015. Today, the Telok Ayer Street joint is famed for its artisanal subs that include crowd-pleasers like the moreish Pastrami Reuben which comprises house-smoked pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and sourdough bread.
Park Bench Deli is inspired by the authentic flavours from some of Soen's favourite neighbourhood food joints in America where he grew up in his teenage years.
"I felt like I couldn’t really find any American type sandwiches that I enjoyed besides the sandwiches from Steeples Deli. We’re like a newer, more hip version," he says, referring to the American deli at Tanglin Shopping Centre which has been around since 1981 but will be moving out in a year's time due to the Orchard Road mall's en bloc process.
READ MORE: 11 Stylish Cafes In Singapore Serving The Perfect Cuppa And Photo Ops
"I wanted to create something that brings back sandwich memories for expats and locals who have been well traveled. I also wanted to share my love for sandwiches with Singapore."
Park Bench Deli went through a redesign in 202o that saw it moving away from being a quick takeout lunch spot to a restaurant with a bar where people can linger a little bit longer and have dinner as well. "We’ve always tried to be people-centric and focus on the customers that come in," says Soen.
To spread the love, Soen launched Onda by PBD, a satellite shop specialising in Cuban-style sandwiches. "The shop’s a small, satellite version of PBD with different sandwiches. We might explore other satellite shops in future too, like a fried chicken shop or pastrami sandwich shop," he reveals.
Ahead, we get this foodie to dish out his take on the state of American cuisine in Singapore.
"I would say America has the widest ranch in terms of cuisine compared to any country in the world. People from all parts of the world migrate to the USA and bring their culture, language, and their food. It’s such a diverse and big country, produce from east to west, north to south is completely different."
"I've only been in the scene for the past 10 years, but some of the players I’m familiar with include restaurants like Lawry's or Jerry's Barbecue − which have been around for a long time. I think those are the OGs of American food, and of course, you have the different kinds of fast-food chains.
Then restaurants like Over Easy and Clinton Street Baking Company came in. So the scene itself has changed because a lot more people are coming in. And pizzas are now the in-thing, with American pizzerias like Lucali or Roberto’s Pizza joining the scene.
As Singapore opens up more to the world, it gives brands opportunities to come out to the island to bring their flavours to intrigue the local crowd. Food dishes like the Hawaiian poke dish came into Singapore about six years ago and did really well for while.
There is still a lot more to explore in American cuisine and I hope more brands and restaurant entrepreneurs join me and many other industry friends to keep bringing better flavours to Singapore."
"I think the main difference is that Singapore is able to be more hyper-specific regarding the types of American cuisine that come into the country. America itself is huge and made up of all different types of 'American food'.
I wasn’t actually in Singapore when American-style diners such as the now-defunct Billy Bombers and NYDC were trending, and PBD came in later. Perhaps Billy Bombers was too early for its time.
But I think it’s tough in the sense that in Singapore, you can choose not to eat American food for 365 days and you'll be completely fine. You can skip all the American restaurants, and still have so many options out there and opportunities to try them in future. I don’t know."
"We’ve tried to have that ‘neighborhood feel’ that’s quintessential of delis around the world, where people are always coming in and out.
At PBD, we say that we 'champion the best American cuisine from our favourite neighbourhoods'. It would be places like The Mission in San Francisco where I came from. Or the French quarters in New Orleans, Koreatown in LA or Lower East Side in New York.
We also pay homage to places like Langers Deli in LA and all these cheese sandwich shops that have been around for so long in America. Our Pastrami Rueben is actually inspired by the versions at both Langers Deli in LA and Texas Deli in New York. And our Tofu Burger Sandwich is inspired by Burger Lords in LA, which champions vegetation sandwiches. We take our cues from these places and do our own take on the sandwiches."
"We don’t have too much of an Asian influence in our food. We've always been about things like fried chicken or cold turkey sandwiches. We’re not really adapting food for local customers − more of showcasing what America is and hopefully local customers appreciate it and they “adapt” to the food we serve them.
Our PBD Big Breakfast (pictured) which has sausages, pancakes, scrambled eggs, tater tots and bacon. Also, our Pastrami Reuben. Hopefully people like these items because of the love we put into the cooking process and the quality of the food itself.
We hope to attain the same standard as what all the OG sandwich shops in America are doing. We want to be as good as them and bring that standard to Singapore, introducing more original flavours and techniques of the cuisine."
"Probably plant and cell-based cuisine, like what plant-based butcher shop Love Handle on Ann Siang Hill does. We just did a collaboration with them a couple of weeks ago. Our food is so meat-heavy, and we enjoyed the challenge of serving sandwiches in vegetable forms that were never really done before.
I’ve seen a rise in vegan substitutes for meat, as well as meat grown in animal cells. That’s kind of big in grocery shops and restaurants across America. I think I see it in Singapore too. Many burger joints and even fast-food chains have their own plant-based options."