“In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (/jɪn/ and /jɑːŋ, jæŋ/; Chinese: 陰陽 yīnyáng, lit. “dark-bright”, “negative-positive”) describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.”

I have always been fascinated by the idea of opposites, dark vs light. With the Yin Yang dinner, I explore the idea of darkness and light, how they may seem diametrically opposed. But in reality, they are complementary, especially when it comes to food!

Ingredients like coffee, chocolate, assam, buah kelauk were paired with different brighter ingredients and used in savoury/sweet applications.

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Black and white carrot cake

Black or white? You don’t have to choose with Ownself Make Chef handmade carrot cake. Artisanal goose liver sausage, chinese sausage, dried mushrooms, fresh scallops and grated daikon radish make up this savoury local favourite. Pan fried with eggs, preserved sweet radish (chye por), drizzled with Nanyang Sauce black sweet sauce, served with sambal belachan.

Black and White Stuffed Glutinous Rice Balls
Stuffed with prawns, curry chicken mince. Served in a coconut chicken turmeric broth

Coffee, Assam and Beef
Wagyu beef short rib with assam coffee panna cotta, spiced coconut milk broth

Buah keluak pasta
South East Asia’s “truffle”, buah keluak is cooked with aromatics like blue ginger, lemongrass, turmeric, pork and prawns. Tossed through spaghetti, served with prawns and pork belly

Grouper, coffee and sesame seeds, coffee broth
Local grouper by Ah Hua Kelong with a coffee and black sesame seed crust, pan fried and served with a coffee fish broth

Clams with kicap manis

Fresh clams from Ah Hua Kelong cooked with special kicap from Trengganu, fresh green peppercorns from Hong Spices and garlic 

Pork, Coffee and Rice
Kurobuta Pork ribs poached in coffee and soy, deep fried served with sng ngee (garlic, chilli and lime sauce) and rice

Yuan yang (Yin Yang) panna cotta
Hong Kong’s classic cha chaan tang drink – coffee with milk tea, is made into a wobbly creamy panna cotta

Chocolate and Coconut
Dark as night Guiness Valrhona chocolate cake with Coconut Ice Cream and assam gula melaka chilli sauce