When I called in to IKA8 for a chat, Eddie was trying out some summer flavours for his giant squid. Good timing, Jo. I got to try a delicious crunchy-battered giant squid on a stick with a refreshing pineapple and coriander salsa. Even better, I had a lovely chat about fine dining, Eddie’s mum, and of course, the giant squid.
Let’s start with the concept of IKA8. Am I pronouncing it correctly? (eek-ah-8)
Yes. Ika means squid in Japanese. We wanted a short, bold name. We came up with many different names but IKA8 flows off the tongue easily. 8 is big, bold, and superstitious in a way. 8 is a lucky number in Asian culture. Also we have 8 different flavours. That’s how we came up with IKA 8. Visually when you see the signage, it looks good. It’s not too long, it doesn’t take your focus away. IKA8 is the best name for us.
Where does the idea of giant squid on a stick come from? Is it street food?
It’s very popular in Asia. It originally started I Taiwan, I believe, then it sailed down to Thailand and Singapore. CJ my other business partner, first found it in Singapore. He was travelling with Jenny Pham and they saw this giant squid on a skewer and they had the idea to do something about it in Australia, because no one in Australia had done it. They took the concept back to Australia and then CJ, being a mate of mine, approached me and asked me if I wanted to be involved with this giant squid on a skewer. I was really interested because 1) no one has done it and 2) it allows me to interpret my experiences from the past and make it into something cheap but also very fun and very tasty.
Squid is very bland. There is very little fat content and it is very high in protein. It’s flavoursome, but not as much as chicken or pork. So that’s where you have to start developing recipes and sauces to complement it. It was challenging but fun.
You’ve been a chef for about 17 years now, haven’t you?
About 18 now. It’s crazy. Too long!
Did you always want to be a chef?
I started cooking when I was very young, for the family. Actually Mum is here today. My mum would teach me how to prepare meals and cook them, so that when they came home from work it would be ready. I was learning as I was doing it. I thought it was a chore, growing up a as young kid. But very week mum would take me to the markets here at Footscray and teach me how to look at products to see whether it was fresh or not fresh. By the time, I was 18, I was on top of what was fresh, what was good, what wasn’t.
I really felt the love when I first walked into a fine dining restaurant. That was Taxi Dining Room back in ’04 with Michael Lambie and Kin San. They taught me to refine my fine dining technique and that’s when I developed my love and wanted to pursue a career in the chef industry.
Before that, though, I did work experience in Year 10 as a cook in a take away bar. All that time I thought it was interesting, but I never had the drive to become a chef until someone actually showed me what real fine dining food was all about and then I went all out.
Are you able to incorporate any of that here? Knowledge of flavour and so on?
In terms of where I’ve come from, my experience is in French and Japanese cooking. But interpreting those kinds of palate flavours and techniques to take a very simple, humble ingredient and turn it into something incredible, I think that’s the real challenge. As I said, with squid, there’s no fat content so it’s very hard for the batter to stick to the squid, itself. We did a lot of testing. Most of the time when I first started, the batter would just come right off. How do you make the batter stick to the squid but not make it soggy? It is a wet product so it has more water content, so you have to find the balance. On top of that you have to make sure that flavours aren’t overpowering the squid because you still want to taste the squid flavour.
We wanted to do a south-east Asian thing because it was originally where it was from; parts of Singapore, parts of Malaysia, parts of Thailand and each squid that I have on represents a country or continent, at least. We also wanted to give it a modern twist, not too traditional. For instance, our Singapore salted egg sauce, traditionally you make it with curry leaves, chilli powder, a bit of margarine or butter and stir fry it until it’s fragrant but here it’s a bit lighter. My batter is already very flavoursome, and I don’t want to overpower the salted egg. These are the challenges, but they are great challenges. It keeps the brain stimulated which is fun.
As long as I can get past my mum, I think any food critic out there…I’m not scared of them! She’s really cool. She’s my rock.
So you have three sections of the menu?
The meal bites are where you put together a fried or grilled squid with a choice of rice, chips or salad. The middle small bites is a smaller version of the big ones, so popcorn sized. Then we have the squid balls, rings and chips as sides. Our staples are the giant bites, either fried or grilled. The fried ones are very well received, the original classic, the salted egg and the tom you. Any of those three are great.
When did you open?
Close to two months ago.
Is it local traffic or are people coming here specifically to try it?
There’s a lot of both. The last couple of weeks have been more local and the first few weeks, people from all over Melbourne came because we were in the paper and so on. A lot of the locals are coming back, which is great because we want to give back to Footscray. Footscray has changed so much. I think we are achieving something. Growing up in Footscray, I know the area very well, it’s my home, my market.
You’ve come full circle.
We have people coming from across town, people coming in from the country. We hear all these amazing stories. People have seen us in the paper and they really want to try giant squid on a stick!
And you’re a part-owner as well?
Yes, Jenny, CJ and me. I’m obviously the chef as well as one of the directors. I run most of the operations here on a daily basis. CJ and Jenny are more the back end of the business.
It’s nice hearing you talk about the people coming in and having a chat, because although it seems like a fast food sort of place, it seems as though you are still bringing that sense of hospitality in as well and making it a nice experience for people.
We never wanted to be a typical takeaway, even though we are. We wanted to modernise it, give it a fresh look and hopefully attract a younger crowd, which is our target audience. We wanted to bring something fun back into the community.
Being a fine dining chef all my career, I just wanted to balance it out; get a work-life balance. I wanted to use what I had learned to give back to the community and inspire younger people to do something like this because at the end of the day, food is food and that is really important for Asians. As Asians, we love snacking on the go, something that is fast, flavoursome, and this is the ultimate comfort food really.
Will you get bored of the menu, coming from your fine dining background? Will you change it?
We have some new things coming up, lined up for summer. We like the concept of seasonal, so we are doing that.
And you would probably need to keep stimulated.
We have a few new dishes coming out for summer. We’re still testing them. Buy it will be summery, fruity, fresh. We’ll do some samples for the locals and see what they think.
What does your mum think? Does she approve?
She’s very tough on her food. She has always loved my food, especially Western cuisine. I owned my own business for four years, Ma Pasion, and I went into people’s homes and did degustations. I would bring the restaurant to you. It was just me and mum doing it. Mum was my sous-chef. She helped me wash and clean and plate up. Her palate has developed into more of a western palate, even though she still cooks a lot of Asian food. She’s really happy with the food. It’s fresh and no one else is doing it. As long as I can get past my mum, I think any food critic out there…I’m not scared of them! She’s really cool. She’s my rock.
24 Irving Street, Footscray