Mandy Yin and Sambal Shiok Laksa Bar.
Dr. Michael Oon
I have been following Mandy Yin Culinary activity for quite a few years. Since 2013, Mandy started working with street food and pop-up stations. She has literally started from the ground up, from market stalls pop-up restaurants to a small restaurant.
In the five years she was carrying out her initial work, she started to understand what her market wanted. She developed products to cater to market requirements. To sell Malaysian food well is not easy as it can be spicy and the taste is unusual to the UK palette. Mandy worked on it.
In 2018, Mandy opened her restaurant “Sambal Shiok Laksa Bar” on Holloway Road.
The name is quite interesting, and I will give you a breakdown as it consists of a number of Malaysian terms.
Sambal – This is a chilli paste that includes shrimp, garlic, ginger, shallots etc
Shiok – A term or adjective to express enjoyment or satisfaction
Laksa is a spicy noodle soup that is specific to Malaysia and Singapore. The taste and preparation of this dish vary from the different parts of the nation, region to region or is different in one part of the Town to the other. For example, Penang Assam Laksa is fish (usually mackerel) based which is sour and spicy. Kuching in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), the Sarawak Laksa uses chicken and prawns with a different spice mixture. In other words, there is no standardised form of Laksa.
Mandy, with her mindset of market focus, has developed a Laksa dish that is unique to her Restaurant. I have heard a number of comments by Malaysians saying that her Laksa is not authentic. My reply is, what is authentic, Laksa? It is different in every part of Malaysia and Singapore. I would therefore label her Laksa as either London Laska or Sambal Shiok Laksa.
We visited her restaurant, and we enjoyed the food there. I noticed that the restaurant filled up quickly with a queue was developing outside. We walked down Holloway Road, and I noticed that the other restaurants along the road had many unoccupied seats and looked empty. I said, Mandy must be doing something right!
Since setting up the Laksa Bar, Mandy has taken over the next shop and converted to another fast food outlet – “Sambal to Go“, had a baby, written a book “Sambal Shiok: The Malaysian Cookbook” and has appeared on BBC tv “Saturday Kitchen Live”. She certainly has been busy.
Feng Shui Analysis:
On the other side of the road, there are two exits.
- From the Shell Station
- The Junction of Ronalds Road.
In another post, I have described the feng shui benefits of the configuration with one junction. In Mandy’s case, there are 2 Junctions.
Shell Station. The exit nearer to her Laksa Bar will be used as the exit. Cars will be turning to Holloway Road South. This turning action will bring the appropriate energy to her Laksa Bar.
At the second exit of Ronalds Road, the cars are turning right.
Both junctions are of benefit to Sambal Shiok.
In my opinion, the success of Sambal Shiok is not only due to Mandy’s acumen in the food business but also the location of Sambal Shiok (that is, the feng shui) has helped her.
