"I cook like my character - it’s loud, colorful and really in-your-face." Meet the former teen idol who turned chef and restaurateur and plans to bring a special brand of hot to an old diner in Studiestræde. Red Tiger is Copenhagen’s newest Pan-Asian eatery, envisioned and created by Suriya Jyrk – and this is her story of dropping the limelight and relighting her fire through cooking for the people.
“Listen, I am no one’s second violin,” she laughs, full of defiant energy. “I can play that for a while. But I am not below anyone. I want my dreams. If you can do it, then do it! It may sound cliché, but what if, at age 80, you look back and wonder what if? I mean, suddenly it just hit me. I am one of the few women to stand in an open kitchen.”
Then her tone turns suddenly somber, as she reflects for a while on her past life and music career that has taken her on a mad spin around the world and won her multiple Grammys and trophies as part of Danish pop sensation S.O.A.P., but still never offered her the happiness or personal freedom she dreamt of.
turning the page
It is as if, after spending much of her life in the music business, she simply had enough. “I grew tired of it all. I had enough. It became time to do what I loved,” she sighs, confident and ready to turn the page and start a new chapter in her life, “even when I was still in music, this is all I really wanted to do!”
There is something calm yet fiery about the soul and character of the heavily tattooed yet very feminine former pop star who disappeared quietly from the limelight years ago, yet now oozes passion and temper as she speaks about her new culinary project. “For the longest time, I have wanted to open a place of my own,” says a strong and confident Suriya Jyrk who, after some time to think and relight her fire and passion, is ready to start life anew as chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur. With the full emotional and financial support of her husband Henrik Jyrk as partner in crime.
With Red Tiger, Suriya and Henrik - along with fellow partners restaurateur Lasse Askov Meyer and entrepreneur Mads Jakobsen - aim to transform an old Greasy Spoon Diner in Studiestræde into a casual Pan-Asian food hub. ”It is going to be a small place packed with spicy flavors. I draw my inspiration from the food courts and hawker stands of Asia,” Suriya explains. “I want it to be a little bit of everything: Korea, Thailand, Singapore, India. A melting pot, if you will. Just like myself. I was born in Malaysia, the great Asian melting pot.”
Red Tiger, casual Rock’n’Roll
Red Tiger, Syria says, is a place you can go on your own or with friends. A place where you can mix, match and share small plates from the selection. That is how to do it the Asian way. A place to simply enjoy and appreciate authentic Pan-Asian food and culture. It is, she stresses firmly, a simple eatery. A no cloth on the table, down to earth sort of place where you order your food through an app. But still, if you want to splurge on a whole chili lobster or an expensive bottle of wine, you absolutely can. “Casual rock ’n’ roll, let’s call it that,” she laughs, “with a menu of all things nice and full of bold flavors.”
“Our food is ballsy here,” she underlines. “Take our Tiger Salad, for example. It is going to be spicy! If you don’t like spicy food, well, guess what, too bad! Thenyou can have our Japanese moyashi bean sprout salad instead. It is our mild alternative. When it comes to the food, and the way we work, Suriya with excitement rises in her eyes. I serve what I like. How I like it… And,” she adds forcefully in a blatant stab at parts of the industry, “I will also not stand for bad humor or ridiculous comments. We need to talk nicely to one another and we need to have fun. A restaurant should never be a place where you feel unsafe or even afraid to go to work.”
“My strength,” she suddenly laughs as if to explain her own sudden outburst of emotion, “definitely comes from my mother. I was born in Malaysia to a Malay mother and Danish father. I have a very strong mother who gave me my energy, and a father who taught me understanding and patience. My parents gave me an understanding of different cultures.”
It has always been my dream, even as I made music, to share my cooking and my culture with the world.
“I would say I have a very Danish upbringing, she ponders with a smile, “but my mom has kept her culture and traditions very intact. One such tradition was food, and as the oldest daughter I had to help in the kitchen. I am not a formally trained chef, but I have been in the kitchen since I was 12. I cook the way my mother taught me and my ethics in the kitchen are certainly equal to those of trained chefs.” she says, full of confidence. “And it has always been my dream, even as I made music, to share my cooking and my culture with the world.”
I am not a formally trained chef, but I have been in the kitchen since I was 12. I cook the way my mother taught me and my ethics in the kitchen are certainly equal to those of trained chefs.” she says, full of confidence. “And it has always been my dream, even as I made music, to share my cooking and my culture with the world.”
Honoring the roots
“When you grow up in a mixed family with the world as your stage, you never really feel at home. You are always in doubt. It is tough, but it also makes you understand that food is one thing that brings people together across cultures in much the same way as other artforms. Wherever you travel in the world, if a stranger offers you a meal, you are bound to find some sort of common ground. It is an amazingly beautiful thing, food.”
Wherever you travel in the world, if a stranger offers you a meal, you are bound to find some sort of common ground. It is an amazingly beautiful thing, food.
“With my cooking, I want to show that Asian food is so much more than…” She pauses before slowly proceeding. “Look, when I grew up, Asian food was always the cheapest option. You know that shitty Chinese buffet you would eat when you were really looking to eat on the cheap? I mean, really, you would spend DKK 500 on a steak? But not on Asian fine dining? Why should some of the world’s finest cuisines be seen as something second rate? Maybe you need to ask yourself: Why would you want to pay for steak but not pay for an exceptional curry?”
Please…Do come back
“Listen,” she continues with even more passion and fire, “do you know what I really want with Red Tiger? I want to honor and pay tribute to my Asian roots!” Asian iconography like tigers and dragons, she goes on to explain with a sigh, have largely been turned into meaningless symbols in the Western world. When in Asia, they symbolize strength. As does the color red. It symbolizes strength and love, she nods. “I wanted the name to be quirky enough for people to pause and go ‘Huh? There is no such thing as a red tiger,’ but, at the same time, I also want them to look at our logo and envision strength, femininity. And spice! A perfect mix,” she winks, “just like me.”
“Really, my greatest vision is for this place to feel like a giant hug each time you enter. The food needs to be super tasty, that goes without saying. But I also want people to be met with a mix of Asian warmth and Nordic coziness. I so desperately want people to leave here with a feeling of warmth and a longing to come back.”
“When we say ‘please come back,’ I want people to yell back in response ‘Hell yeah, I will be back,’” she grins loudly, then gazes into nothingness for a brief second of thought. “I could say so many others things,” she finally smiles, “but really all I want is to cook some great food and for people to come down and have a good time. That is exactly what I want the essence of Red Tiger to be.”
Red Tiger opens on 21 May at Studiestræde 14.
