Shake Shack has joined forces with Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant for a collaboration like no other.
The burger joint and Singaporean chef Malcolm Lee from Candlenut have revealed its first-ever collab menu, which is available for one day only on Saturday, Nov 5. Sink your teeth in the Buah Keluak Burger and Curry Fries, available at Shake Shack’s 89 Neil Road outlet from 11am until it’s sold out.
What’s in the burger you ask? 100 percent all-natural Angus beef patty slathered in buah keluak and Candlenut’s sambal belacan. The burger is topped with Chef’s Mum’s Chicken Curry sauce, cucumber, a fried egg, American cheese, diced pickles and ikan bilis sambal. All of these ingredients are packed between potato buns toasted with garlic chilli butter. The fries, on the other hand, are seasoned with a secret blend of curry powder and salt.
For the menu collab, Chef Lee wants to fuse his personal touch into Shake Shake’s menu offerings. He recalls eating buah keluak roast beef during Christmas, which is cooked using keluak seeds from the pangium tree. Lee is also inspired by Candlenut’s dish Chef’s Mum’s Chicken Curry. For the fries, Lee is influenced by curry-flavoured Twisties from his childhood days, and the potatoes found in chicken curry. To recreate the flavour, he seasoned the fries with curry-based spice blend and salt.
Lee worked with Shake Shack’s culinary director Mark Rosati on the idea, when Rosati first ate at Candlenut back in 2019. Rosati also mentioned that deciding on the burger was an easy choice because the aim was to reflect Lee’s culinary style.
Shake Shack has collaborated with some of the most influential chefs in the world including Danny Yip of The Chairman in Hong Kong, Zaiyu Hasegawa of Den in Tokyo, David Chang of Momofuku in New York, Kang Mingoo of Mingles in Seoul, and Dominique Ansel in New York.
Lee will be serving both items at Neil Road this Saturday. The burger and fries are priced at $12.90 and $5.20 respectively.