‘Finally, with bated breath, we exhale,’ Kf Seetoh announces Urban Hawker opening to open NY Sept 21

Food guru and Makansutra founder Kf Seetoh announced on Instagram and Facebook on Friday (Sept 9) that Urban Hawker will be opening in New York later this month.

“Finally, with bated breath, we exhale. Opening date for Urban Hawker, the first UNESCO class street food market in USA, will be on 21st Sept 22,” he wrote, posting photos of himself on a video call with the hawkers who have been hard at work in New York.

“You’ve waited too long for this bucket list project ..we, too!,” Mr Seetoh added.

He also wrote that some of the hawkers will hold a soft opening even before that date, inviting the public to “come check us out.”

There are 11 Singapore hawkers in the lineup for the new Urban Hawker food market, which will be located at 135 West 50th Street, within walking distance of Times Square in Manhattan.

The Singapore hawkers are: Halal burger joint Ashes Burnnit, Sembawang’s White beehoon chain and coffee stall Kopifellas, Peranakan restaurant Daisy’s Dream, Chicken Nice from Maxwell Food Centre, Dragon Phoenix (known for its chilli crab and for inventing the yam ring), Prawnaholic (serving Hokkien-style prawn noodle soup), Hainanese Western stall Smokin’ Joe, Malay and Indonesian cafe Padi@Bussorah, Indian stall Mamak’s Corner, and Mr Fried Rice.

On his part, Mr Seetoh said in a social media post in July that Makansutra is playing consultant, management and advisory roles, setting the stage for the hawkers to “light up the world makan scene.”

In November of last year, the food guru announced that his team would work with Urbanspace, a US food hall operator, to open a Singaporean hawker centre in New York City. 

The street-food vendors were hand-picked by Mr Seetoh himself. 

Talking to TISG in January, Mr Seetoh said that the idea of this hawker centre is to emulate the new style of hawker centres that are more than the ‘old school uncle-auntie style’. He said that they look to have modern takes on foods such as burgers, nasi lemak with blue pea rice and many more.

Mr Seetoh added that seeing how the hawker stalls were to be situated in Manhattan, they aimed to bring an eclectic push to the food, “not just the old Ang Mo Kio-type of food. Hainanese meat chops, ramen and fancier things, a new style of hawker centre”, he said.

/TISG

Kf Seetoh: I salute all you Pioneer world class hawkerpreneurs making this mark in New York