WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13
7PM // 9:30PM
Coinciding with the first edition of Frieze LA, Croft Alley at The Standard, Hollywood will host a Rau Răm Pop-up, an international Art Fair favorite with its origins in Yangon, Myanmar. The currently nomadic Rau Răm is the brainchild of globetrotting Hong Kong and Myanmar-based entrepreneur and art patron Ivan Pun and Hawaiian-born chef Kevin Ching.
This will be its first Stateside debut offering Kevin’s signature regional, Asian/Asian fusion cuisine. With a strong taste for herbaceous Vietnamese flavors, Rau Răm playfully synthesizes various Southeast Asian cuisines and puts forth an evolved, regionally-localized form of fusion. At Rau Răm, Kevin’s cooking explores how these cuisines co-exist harmoniously while retaining their unique identities. Often explosive and highly textural, Rau Răm brings to the plate (quite literally) a vision of a contemporary and international Southeast Asia. Learn more about the menu and team below!
Laphet miang kham
fermented tea leaf, avocado, crunchy things
Chicken liver and pork pâté
pickled watermelon relish, charred peanuts, burmese gold
Sea bass and diver scallop poisson cru
coconut and jalapeño aguachile, ginger nước chấm, thai basil oil
Rau răm som tam
crispy soft shell crab, avocado crema, laphet - nam pla vinaigrette
Lemongrass porchetta salad
burmese saw moe, kaffir lime, fresh herbs
Khanom jeen nam ya
fresh rice noodles, spicy pounded fish curry, coconut cream
Wagyu steak “bún chả” tacos
fresh herbs and pickled vegetables, pineapple nước chấm,
rau răm chimichurri
Almond panna cotta
jasmine tea granita, lychee, coconut tapioca
Born and raised in Hawaii, Kevin got his start cooking for friends while living in New York and Beijing. He attended Le Cordon Bleu and went on to cut his teeth at Appia in Bangkok before landing in Yangon as the head chef of hit restaurants Port Autonomy and Rau Ram. He went on to serve as group executive chef of Pun + Projects and now splits his time between Hawaii and Asia focusing on special projects and brand exposure for the company.
Ivan Pun is a young Chinese-Burmese entrepreneur and founder of Pun + Projects. After working in New York and Beijing in his early 20s, Pun relocated to Yangon in 2011 and founded Pun + Projects in 2013, a firm focused on creating unique lifestyle concepts from food to retail. The firm’s inaugural project was the TS.1 Pop Up Project, an art and culture space on Yangon’s riverfront, which was inspired by Pun’s love for architecture and urban history and his desire to collaborate with different creative voices in a city on the cusp of change.