Our Story

SanDai: Chef-driven, ingredient-driven, celebrating seasonal and local produce. Contemporary.

Traditionally inspired from dishes, ingredients & techniques spanning the Malay archipelago, especially Singapore & Indonesia. Regionally created from Northern California’s palette of producers, produce, and presentation. Essentially: expressing these tropical, cosmopolitan island flavor profiles through the abundance of what thrives in Northern California’s Mediterranean climate and terrain.

Nusantara cuisines could be characterized as intense, rich, spiced (more than spicy). Steeped in time and layers of complexity, both in the kitchen and in the long history of diverse peoples in this part of the world. Chef Nora draws from this wealth of culinary knowledge, plus contrasting Northern Californian influences, which some could say to be the polar opposite: that deconstructed-composed, whole-ingredients-laid-bare simplicity, the lightness that has evolved in California eating through the few decades of this relatively young place. Another way to put it, traditional in flavors, contemporary presentation.

RICE TERRACE, BAli

Nusantara, malay archipelego

Nora Haron

Executive chef

Chef Nora Haron was born and raised in Singapore, and is of Indonesian-Indian descent. Both Chef Nora’s Javanese mother and grandmother are the biggest influences in shaping her culinary point of view today. Her grandfather’s family on her mother’s side was from the Kerala state in South India and her grandmother’s family was from West Java, Indonesia. Her father’s side of the family are of mainly Indonesian background, with some South Asian background as well.

Chef Nora’s passion for diverse-influences cooking ignited while helping her mom prep meals in their Singaporean home and tasting her way through the enticing neighborhood ristorantes of Lucca, Italy. Upon returning to California, Haron attended the San Francisco Baking Institute. Burnishing her skill set, most recently as Head Kitchen Manager and Culinary Operations Manager for Blue Bottle Coffee, and previously, Director of Food Operations for Farley’s, as well as Executive Chef at Monkey Forest Road and Crema.

Advocating for super-local, sustainable, organic, and exotic ingredients, Haron is a vanguard in the kitchen and a revered baker of artisanal, house-made breads and pastries. She was Executive Chef at Drip Line Oakland, a café and gathering place in the heart of West Oakland, and recently Executive Chef and Partner at Local Kitchen in SoMa SF, Rincon Hill.

Chef Nora was the Founder and Executive Chef of the popular Pandemic Pop Up IndoMex, in Oakland, CA.

Chef Nora is currently the Director of Culinary for Killiney Kopitiam, USA and Executive Chef of SanDai Restaurant + Kopi Bar.

amanda toh steckler

Owner

With her life & family spanning Singapore to the San Francisco Bay Area, Amanda Toh Steckler loves how food brings people together. An avid cook and prolific host, Amanda was always struck by how Singaporean cuisine is not defined or represented by any single nationality, and how each dish connects people from a myriad of cultures. When she first lived in Palo Alto from 2014 – 2019, Amanda discovered how difficult it was to find classic Singaporean dishes in the US. She is passionate about sharing Singaporean cuisine with everyone who loves food adventures or memories of home, as not everyone has the luxury to travel to sip Kopi. Amanda collaborates with Chef Nora Haron, the first Singaporean Chef to make Laksa at the James Beard House in NYC. In addition to her love of cooking, hosting & sharing food cultures, Amanda is a car collector and board member of the Magical Bridge Foundation.