To Lammaites, Spicy Island has been a fixture in the local community for many years. Ask any long time resident of the island and they will tell you stories of their own colourful experiences they’ve had there. Lamma’s legendary ska band, Transnoodle, even wrote a song about them called “Spicy Island”. If you craved brilliantly layered spices and happiness in a Balti bowl, this was, and still is, the place to go.
Amar Singh opened Spicy Island in 2001, where Spanish restaurant, Dale Candela now stands, on the first corner as you walk into the village, very hard to miss. Often packed for the lunch and dinner rush, full of both expats and locals alike, this was a place where it didn’t matter who you were or where you’ve come from, if you loved Indian food, you were always welcome. But in 2008, Amar and his family reluctantly shut down the restaurant, to make way for building improvements.
Despite several rumours that Spicy Island was moving to a different location, it would take 10 years before they would reopen.
The current reincarnation of Spicy Island is run by Amar’s son, Deepak Singh, and his lovely wife, Anju Choudhary. They opened in 2018, and despite initial hardships and some concern from friends about their new location, word-of-mouth about their amazing Indian dishes went around, the restaurant was able to survive comfortably. Deepak says he is grateful to the community for supporting them in the rocky first few months.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Nobody was prepared for what was to come, we are still not ready now. From big companies to small businesses, everyone is feeling the blow. People are losing their livelihoods and for some, even their homes. For Deepak and Anju, they wanted to give back to the community that has supported them over the years. So they helped by doing the thing they do best, sharing their good food.
They started to give out ‘Support Meals’ to those in need, and the response from the community has been very positive, some have even offered them cash donations. But Deepak’s response is, “If you want to help us, please do not offer us cash. Instead, you can help by eating a meal or buying a drink, that way, you help me keep my business going, and in turn, we can continue to serve good, hot meals to people who need them. There is no deadline as long as the problem still exists, we will continue to serve them”.
Pangyao.HK asked him what inspired him to start these ‘Support Meals’, he replied, “We never know what will happen in the future, we may be comfortable now, but nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Who knows, there might be somebody I help today, who’s life gets better in the future, and that somebody might help my son or anybody else in need”.
Deepak has this message for everyone, “Please don’t be shy. If you need a meal, just come in. My wife and I are always here, as long as we are open, please come in. It doesn’t matter what religion or country you are from; everybody is welcome here at Spicy Island. We’re all in this together”.
Visit Spicy Island at 7A-B, Main Street, Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island, Hong Kong
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