Food
Heavens
Whether it is nouvelle eats
at Michelin starred restaurants or a ridiculously delicious nasi goreng at a
roadside hawker's, food trail in Singapore still offers surprises
At Candlenut, a
Michelin-starred restau rant on the buzzy New Bridge Road in downtown
Singapore, Chef Malcolm Lee is rustling up lunch for an omakase (chef 's menu).
It is a meal of inspired dishes with authentic Peranakan fla vours.
“Peranakan,“ explains Lee as I mop up his luscious yellow coconut crab curry
with steamed Thai fragrant rice, “refers to the descendants of Chinese im
migrants who settled on the Malay archi pelago between the 15th and 17th centu
ries. They married local Malays and pro duced a unique culture and cuisine,
amalgamating Chinese, Malay and other influences.“
Lee's food, expectedly, is
a feast of fla vours. There's Wong bean salad, sambal petai prawns, Assam fish
and the piece de resistance -ayam buah keluak or chicken with buah keluak, an
Indone sian black nut that grows in the man groves. The bird looks uninviting
at first glance because of its charcoal-black col our -as if infused with squid
ink-but it turns out to be a flavour bomb, a rich nutty paste blanketing
melt-in-the mouth, sous vide chicken. Desserts comprise coconut mousse, durian
soup and buah keluak ice cream that combines the grainy nut with velvety
Valrhona chocolate.
Candlenut's food can also
be classified as Neo-Singaporean, a refrain one hears across many of the
island-nation's commercial kitchens where young chefs seek to balance tradition
with innovation. The idea, says Lee, is to revive traditional flavours (which
the chefs have grown up with but are now getting lost with time) with a modern,
inventive spin.
“I want my cuisine to
celebrate modern, cosmopolitan Singapore as much as I want it to showcase my
roots. Reinvention gives the food relevance and greater acceptance among a
wider audience. It's a happy marriage,“ says Lee, a Peranakan himself.
Neo-Singaporean experiments
are also underway at The Kitchen at Bacchanalia, another one-hatted restaurant,
on 39 Hong Kong Street. It is helmed by head chef Ivan Brehm, a Brazilian, and
chef de cuisine Mark Ebbels from Australia's Yarra Valley. Both of them have
worked with Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck in the UK. The duo are now using
modern techniques to rework classic dishes that “deliver expected flavours in
stimulating and original ways“.
Ebbels admits that
Singapore's melting-pot dining culture, brimming with culinary experiments and
adventurous diners craving for novelty and freshness, offers them the perfect
canvas to unleash their creativity. “Bacchanalia's strong commitment to
sourcing and cuttingedge cooking methods bring new flavour combinations and
reinterpret traditions on the table. It is important that we properly represent
our food, and the effort and intricacy that goes into it,“ says Ebbels as he
pours me a Pinot grigio with a five-course (S$125) menu.
Bacchanalia's food
emphasises locally sourced ingredients presented in stylish ways and intriguing
compositions.For the first course, we are served ha machi on toast (cured Jap
anese hamachi with Sicil ian bottarga) followed by carrots, hummus, dukka and
fresh cream cheese and butter-poached chick en breast and reconstruct ed
cheese. My favourite is the fourth course -coco nut risotto with aged carn
aroli rice. The dish comes studded with bits of ginger and galangal with the
aged rice and milky coconut cream combining to cre ate an incredibly rich mouth
feel. Dessert is grapefruit tart with grape fruit jam, pecans and As sam tea
ice cream.
Vegetables are given their
due respect at Bacchanalia, evident from our second course featuring carrots
done five ways. The restaurant works with Hatiku Farm in Cameron Highlands to
grow fresh greens that would traditionally have journeyed from Europe, says
Ebbels.
Melting Pot
Chefs from all corners of
the globe, exotic ingredients from faraway lands and multiple culinary
influences. How did Singapore come to be such a melting pot, I ask our affable
guide Naseem Huseni, a Singaporean-Gujarati, who has been living on the island
for all her 40-plus years “As one of the wealthiest countries in Asia,“ Naseem
explained as we quaffed foam-flecked teh tarek or Malaysian pulled tea in the
Kampong Glam district, “the island has attracted people from everywhere.
However, the country's eclectic roots go back to the 14th century when it was
called Temasek and was a bustling trading hub for the Chinese, Indians, Malays,
Arabs and the Europeans.“
Legend has it that a seafaring
prince landed in Singapore, saw a lion-like creature in the harbour and named
the city Singa Pura or Lion City. Today, a mix of roughly 74% Chinese, 13%
ethnic Malays, 9% Indians and 3% Eurasians make up Singapore's colourful
demographic tapestry. No wonder the country has be come a hot pot of cuisines
incorporating a rich heritage of food from China, India, Malaysia and
Indonesia. This is a land of 5.4 million dead-serious eaters with mind-boggling
food choices -majestic platters of chili crab eaten with mantous (buns), pork
and shrimp done a zillion ways, bubbling cauldrons of fish head, fiery sambal
sting ray.
The Hawkerprenuers
Hawker centres are the
frenetic lifeblood of Singapore's dining scene and “hawkerprenuers“ their
backbone. For lunch one day, we wade through the heat and hubbub of the Tiong
Bahru Hawker Centre in downtown Singapore. It is peak lunch hour and the
serpentine queues look intimidating. But thanks to Singaporean efficiency, we
are soon sailing to our table laden with a rich bounty -Hainanese boneless
chicken rice, fried sotong prawn mee and Malaysian nasi goreng, all for a few
Singaporean dollars that come to just `450.
The food is big on flavour,
reinforcing the Singaporean skill for teasing maximum flavours out of humble
ingredients. The chicken is cooked with salt and a knob of butter but it is a
supernova of flavours. The nasi goreng is a ridiculously delicious jumble of
rice, eggs, shrimp paste and palm sugar brought to life with the smoky kiss of
a wok.The prawn mee -noodles stir-fried with sliced fish, squid and prawns,
served with a wallop of homemade chilli sauce -has us singing paeans to the
cook.
I am shocked to find that I
have space for dessert. So we queue up again for Kacang, a whacky Malay ice
cream in all the colours of the rainbow. Watching the vendor assemble the
dessert was like viewing an artist conjure up a piece of art. He first uses the
grinding machine to produce a shaved ice mountain on top of a bowl of assorted
ingredients like red bean, attap chee (palm seed), sweet corn kernels, peanuts,
bits of mango, durian, basil seeds and cendol (sago). With the flick of a wrist
he drizzles evaporated milk on top along with rose syrup for a multi-hued
effect.I carry my bowl to the table and dug into it with child-like glee.
Singaporeans also find
interesting uses for their plentiful fruit. Mangosteen, lychee, spiky rambutan,
ambrosial longan, sugar cane, calamansi -they are blended into juice, used as
toppings in shaved-ice des serts, or eaten straight. Coconut, apart from
lending creaminess to a bowl of laksa or cendol, is also bought for its water.
Then there is the famously
polarising durian, Singapore's national fruit.While visitors are repulsed by
its stinky smell, leading to bans on the fruit on train and bus, the locals
can't have enough of it. Durian desserts, tarts, shakes and confectionery sell
like hot cakes.The country even has a building modelled after the fruit -the
Esplanade.
Garden Party
Food is an omnipresent
motif across Singapore. Even at the 183-acre Singapore Botanic Gardens, a
Unesco World Heritage Site, chic eateries and quick service restaurants
resonate with the clatter of cups and glasses and the chatter of punters. Amid
breathtaking bursts of colours and soundtracks of numerous cascades playing in
the backdrop, one can choose from a plethora of dining options here. There are
“gastrobotanica“ French fine-dining restaurants, al fresco spaces, English
Afternoon tea joints, Turkish cafes.
After much deliberation, we
choose to dine at Pollen, a modern European eatery.Set in a lush Mediterranean
garden overlooking the Marina Bay waterfront, food at Pollen is
ingredient-driven, with fresh herbs and vegetables straight off its garden. The
tasting menu offers signature classics crafted by the head chef Angelo Rosso,
that include seven courses at S$190 a pop. There are smoked and grilled beets,
burrata, vanilla and orange; a scallop tartare with rhubarb; Jerusalem
artichokes and mushroom granola. This is followed by seared foie gras, plums,
chamomile and fermented fennel.Salmon, soft-shell crab, baby artichokes and
beef short ribs with grilled leeks, red onions salsa and yogurt.
Gluttons for punishment, we
also order dessert -a trio of ganache, poached pears and chocolate ice cream.
Minutes later, bowls and spoons licked clean, we waddle out of the eatery
heavy-bellied and weakkneed. Singapore had -yet again -lived up to its
reputation as a great foodie destination.
|
Neeta
Lal
|
ETM 20NOV16
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