The collection of milk, pastries, candles and more soy-based items will be available at a pop-up in Date by Tate this July and August
It all started with an Ode to Tofu, a single-ingredient lunch menu created by chef-founder Vicky Lau at Tate Dining Room back in 2020. The menu was Lau's first study of soy in which she applied French culinary techniques to humble soy products, resulting in nostalgic yet brilliantly executed sweet and savoury dishes in a fine dining setting. But her love for soy didn't stop there, as Lau went on to open Mora, a restaurant that not only dedicates its menu to soy but celebrates its many forms, textures and flavours with the majority of the soy-based ingredients on the menu produced in her own dedicated factory
See also: Mora's Vicky Lau and Percy Ho on Reinventing an Age-Old Ingredient
Now—in the next chapter of this soy love story—Lau is launching Ān, a new collection of gourmet and lifestyle soy products including milk, pastries, puddings, soap, candles, and a DIY kit to make tofu at home. To introduce the products, Ān will host a pop-up at Date by Tate, the lifestyle and pastry shop inside Tate Dining Room, on July 14-16; 21-23; 28-30; and August 4-6.
Named after Liu An (the grandson of the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty Liu Bang) who is often credited for the invention of tofu more than 2,000 years ago, Ān combines the age-old tradition of Chinese soy milk with modern soy milk-producing technology from Japan to make their products and uses non-GMO organic soybeans and a bean-to-pulp extractor specified to Lau's requirements in the process.
The collection of Ān products include an extra thick soy milk that is available in five different flavours, from the original soy milk flavour to others enhanced with banana, pistachio, black sesame and coconut, and Chinese almond. There are also pastries to sample including Chinese almond and soy-milk crème filled doughnuts rolled in roasted soy flour and sugar; soy milk flan parisien (a custard tart); chocolate chip cookies made with soy pulp; and sweet-savoury soy sauce caramel soy milk puddings.
