After more than 13 years in the United States, Singaporean chef C-Y Chia is preparing to return to the Lion City. But not before leaving a parting gift for the diners who helped shape Chia’s journey: a new cookbook that distils the spirit of Lion Dance Cafe, the vegan restaurant in Oakland, California, that Chia co-founded and ran with partner and fellow chef Shane Stanbridge.
Lion Dance Cafe Cookbook: Authentic, Not Traditional contains more than 100 recipes that reflect the pair’s plant-based, produce-driven interpretation of Singaporean food. It includes dishes that came to define the San Francisco Bay Area restaurant’s four-year run before it closed in 2024: laksa perfumed with coconut and spice, nasi lemak and pandan nian gao, a sticky rice-flour dessert.
