Spice Island to undergo temporary menu change

The Pacific food hub planted among Atwood’s sea of pizza shops — Spice Island Tea House — will appear in a new form starting Friday.

The head chef Hai Jing Leong will be recovering from foot surgery, and owner Ron Lee said he doesn’t want to follow the current menu without the craft of Leong. In the meantime, the Oakland restaurant on Atwood Street is temporarily serving classic street foods of Southeast Asia under the name Hawker Stand until late 2014 or early 2015.

“He is very instrumental in cooking many of the dishes here,” Lee said. “A lot of the food is made to order, and it possesses a certain skill that we can’t duplicate.”

According to Spice Island’s website, a working menu for the new-concept restaurant will be available soon online.

“We’re trying something a little bit different,” Lee said. “Years and years ago, we did this, a menu inspired by the street foods of Southeast Asia, before street foods became trendy.”

A message to customers about Leong’s leave of absence sits in the restaurant on poster board with colored pens for customers to write their well wishes for his recovery.

“For the past 16 years, he has been the bedrock of our operation,” the poster reads. “No matter what your favorite dish, he is instrumental in making it consistently delicious. We are incredibly fortunate to have him.”

Hawker Stand’s menu will offer some dishes that are already well-known by customers including Popiah, a Singaporean spring roll, noodle dishes, curry dishes and samosas.

“We’re just working around the fact that we won’t be able to have many of the dishes that we normally do, so we’re bringing in some new ones,” Lee said. “The first couple of days, we’ll just be getting our feet back on the ground.”

Lee said plans to renovate and redecorate the restaurant for the opening of Hawker Stand are under wraps.

“You’ll see,” Lee said.