Say “American food” and diner grub such as burgers, fried chicken, hot dogs and pancakes would come to mind. However, Park Bench Deli (PBD) creative director and owner Andrei Soen insists there is so much more to the cuisine than just these stereotypes. After all, he has a deep personal connection to food from the US of A having grown up in California for 13 years from the age of 13 before returning to sunny Singapore in 2012.
“It’s somewhat hard to define the cuisine itself,” notes the 36-year-old restaurant entrepreneur. “The country has 50 states and so many immigrants. Like Singapore, there’s so much culture here. You have Southern food, cuisine from the West Coast, East Coast and also Chinese-American food. It’s really a melting pot.”
Andrei Soen “grew up loving to eat and being around food” but only got into his family’s food business in America after completing his national service at age 19. The entrepreneur runs two sandwich speciality restaurants in Singapore where he is now based.
Soen grew up in family restaurants (his grandparents from both sides of the family were in the F&B business) so getting into the field was a natural fit. With a focus on spotlighting well-loved American staples, he co-founded the now-defunct Creole-influenced seafood boil restaurant Cajun Kings in 2012.
Three years later, he opened the sandwich shop Park Bench Deli with former business partner Huang Ming Tan in 2015. Today, the Telok Ayer Street joint is famed for its artisanal subs that include crowd-pleasers like the moreish Pastrami Reuben which comprises house-smoked pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and sourdough bread.
Park Bench Deli is inspired by the authentic flavours from some of Soen’s favourite neighbourhood food joints in America where he grew up in his teenage years.
“I felt like I couldn’t really find any American type sandwiches that I enjoyed besides the sandwiches from Steeples Deli. We’re like a newer, more hip version,” he says, referring to the American deli at Tanglin Shopping Centre which has been around since 1981 but will be moving out in a year’s time due to the Orchard Road mall’s en bloc process.
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“I wanted to create something that brings back sandwich memories for expats and locals who have been well traveled. I also wanted to share my love for sandwiches with Singapore.”
Park Bench Deli went through a redesign in 202o that saw it moving away from being a quick takeout lunch spot to a restaurant with a bar where people can linger a little bit longer and have dinner as well. “We’ve always tried to be people-centric and focus on the customers that come in,” says Soen.
To spread the love, Soen launched Onda by PBD, a satellite shop specialising in Cuban-style sandwiches. “The shop’s a small, satellite version of PBD with different sandwiches. We might explore other satellite shops in future too, like a fried chicken shop or pastrami sandwich shop,” he reveals.
Ahead, we get this foodie to dish out his take on the state of American cuisine in Singapore.