Could Bunny Chow be the New Banh Mi?
Earlier this year, the stretch of Orchard Street just below Broome found itself at the epicenter of the city’s banh mi hysteria. The brand new restaurant, An Choi, helped fuel the frenzy for the Vietnamese street food phenom. Now, across the street, the guys behind Orchard Street’s new South African outpost are hoping bunny chow will become the new banh mi. Bunny chow consists of a hollowed out hunk of bread filled with curry stew, and topped with a chutney. Popular in Durban, it’s a messy affair – meant to be eaten with your hands. The hearty dish is a fast-food staple in much of South Africa. Recently, I stopped by the restaurant, which has been named after its signature dish, to talk with co-owners Paul Simeon, who was the chef at New York’s South African trailblazer, Madiba, and Manu Dhingra, a partner in Bunny Chow” predecessor “Sonia Rose.” Paul is originally from St. Lucia but has been in New York for 20 years, helping to launch restaurants such as Negril and Local. For Manu, th
