I really don’t know how to write this update piece on what Damian De Silva is up to. Walk my walk for awhile and you’ll see why. He once turned his back from the aeronautical profession, packed up and left for France and Italy to learn cooking and toiled in some top kitchens there. Then he came back and had a glorious stint with a mod Euro eatery here and quickly moved on to realize his dream as he was pushing past middle age- to set up his own restaurant. So earlier this decade, Soul Kitchen, run by this soulful, bald an articulate chef, was born in Purvis Street. He wanted it to come out very much like how music would come out of the Soul Train concerts, a little bit to this, that, then, now and lotsa soulful passion in the menu.

Those looking for something less fiery can go for the crab linguine.

He sold some of the better value for money steaks in town, and touted what arguably was the best crab linguine around (you could taste the crab which does not drown the lively and rich tomato sauce) and yet, to my pleasant surprise, he still sells all those great flavours he had as a child of this eclectically flavoured country. You can sense bits of his Eurasian heritage laced with Peranakan and even some Cantonese accents in his menu. His sambal buah keluak (not the usual ayam or babi buah keluak) comes thick , rich , black and spicy is just calling to be on bed of steamed rice. And if he is in the mood, his off menu creations include one of his childhood “lost” Cantonese food- lo kai yik, which he insist “ cannot do everyday as it is very tedious la, with al that cleaning and gutting of the offals, slow cooking with taucheo and nam yu- so once in a while ok la.”

This guy, whom I’ve known for years, has a temper which some artist calls passion. “Seetoh, a lot of people here don’t appreciate makan la. They talk, cite this and quote that and ask me what kinda makan I am trying to sell in my restaurant. The pasta crowd don’t wanna be seen in the same eatery as the lo kai yik people and vice versa. Sad la. I just want to offer them a bit of my soul,” he once told me. So his crab linguine fans, thinking the lo kai yik fans, who are thinking the sambal buah keluak fans, are invading the turf, started giving it a miss and in reality, they all gave it a miss. Soul Kitchen soon folded.

He went on to some unmemorable stints here and there and recently, earlier this year, in a “heck it, just do it” epiphany, he set up a stall in a Bedok coffeeshop, touting some of the finest wagyu and kurobuta steaks ever to be found next to a chap chye stall anywhere in this world. It was so cool, the food blogs and the net foodies went into overdrive in celebration of such a hero in their midst. “ Many came, ate maybe once, and all went back into cyberspace to garner more viewership for their reviews. Most wrote it I sell certified Blackmore wagyus at $90 in a coffeeshop.” Not much mention about his popular-with-the-Bedok-uncle-auntie, fish and chips which went for $8.90 (which is also a tad pricey for heartland folks but Damia insist that he used fresh snapper, not frozen Dory). His stuniing crab linguine is still there ($10.90) and it goes well with the kopi-o you get from the China-kopi auntie.

Then, recession struck, “strange la, they all realized it was a downturn only when the newspapers told them so, although they are spending bargain basement prices for my kinda food”, Damian shrugged his head and accepted the 60% fall in business suddenly.

Damian De Silva shows off his new chicken dishes.

So, when the going gets tough, what does this temperamental makan maverick do? He bitches about it for while and came up with Chicken 56 and Ayam Bang Bang “ Each, made with 5 Indian and 6 Peranakan spices and one accented with assam and the other, the Bang Bang, is out to assault the senses, very spicy.” As if fire was not hot enough, he adds a sambal belado (a rich and oily Indonesian sambal) to the proceedings. He serves it with a tomato rice and a tomato-onion salad to calm things somewhat. This stubborn chef ., bless him, still insist on using fresh, not frozen, chicken and the juicy result shows for this $6.50 meal. Be warned, the spice quotient is authentic and are not for woozies.

But my favourite, is that this man still touts a pot of sambal buah keluak in this coffeshop everyday and he can drown a plate of your rice with it anytime. I’ll leave you to try his spicy salted fish and ikan bilis pasta. Be very pure on this. Welcome back Mr Soul Chef.