I was lucky enough to secure a place on a semi-funded trip to Singapore through studying at CIT. Culinary and Hospitality students were given the opportunity to experience Singapore at an industry level. This included opportunities to hear from some amazing chefs, taste some incredible food, and experience Singaporean kitchen culture first hand.
The trip was roughly broken into halves, the first half planned activities to experience Singapore, and the second half to experience the Temasek Polytechnic Kitchens and learn from some great chefs.
A short group meeting before flights, as most of us hadn’t met before. We arrived in Singapore at night, leaving the local Hawker Centre the dinner option, after some orientation activities. Not the best food options, but it was good to get to know people. We stayed on campus at Temasek Polytechnic, which made getting to the kitchens later in the trip very convenient.
Day 1 really. Here’s our first group photo in Singapore. Today our host introduced us to our Singapore buddies. They had selected 10 students from the Tamasek Polytechnic Culinary program to serve as a bit of a guide and friend. Which was a great idea, especially for the Aussie students who were new to international travel, and Singapore. Unfortunately my Buddy was running a little late. Then it was off to our first activity, the Speciality & Fine Food Asia Conference. An expo showing off what Singapore has to offer, also featuring many vendors from international locations seeking new business opportunities. There was a focus on business to business relationships, and distribution partners, however I do love a good food expo. While there were a lot of amazing things to see and savour the two highlights for me were Seedlip and The Coffee Robot.
Seedlip is a non-alcoholic spirit. Sounds crazy, right? It tasted delicious. It goes through much the same distillation process that other spirits go through however the alcoholic content is removed during that process. Leaving behind a beautifully complex flavoured beverage. Better yet, its available in Australia, through Dan Murphy’s [link]. It seems a shame that those who don’t drink alcohol should have to miss out on some of these great flavours.
Coffee Robot. A robotic arm behind a screen makes multiple coffees in tandem, then serves it to the customer. Customers approach the glass windowed machine place their order, then be amazed at the technology on show. Quite impressive to watch. This also illustrates the commitment to technology in Singapore and how the culinary and hospitality industry are seeking to automate more tasks, while still provide a high level of quality.
After the expo, and a quick stop at Monster Curry for lunch. Delicious, and the serves were massive! Then onto a “meet the chef” and Suntec Mall Food Establishment – Pasta Supremo. The chef and proprietor of Pasta Supremo, best known for his Restaurant The Salted Plum, sat down with us and shared the story of his journey through restaurants and the culinary scene in Singapore. Our group was engaged with his story from beginning to end. With a strong focus on creativity and operations he’s had his ups and downs. He Shared with us a taste of their signature pasts dish, a fresh pasta version of Singaporean popular dish Chicken Rice. This then followed by a tour of his upcoming venture in Suntec Mall – the Salted Plum. It was great to hear from a real local experiencing success in the restaurant scene, who was so down to earth and supportive of his amazing staff.
Then after some brief exploration and free time around Clarke Quay we headed to the next planned event a special film screening on a small city roof top. While I can’t remember the name of the film it told of a story where all food was genetically constructed, naturally grown food had poisoned the population leading people to fear natural foods. Consumption of natural foods was outlawed to prevent the spread of disease. Naturally, a big corporation cornered the market of this genetically made “Phood” leveraging the populations fear of continued disease outbreak. Restaurateurs and food connoisseurs were devastated, chefs had to find new lines of work. A “famous” food critic (and lead character) end up joining a rebel group acquiring, cooking and eating real food. The group mantra was “Eat and Remember”, as the nostalgia train hits them on just a first bite of delicious real food. The same phase “Eat and remember” later becoming somewhat of a catch phrase later in the trip, as we enjoyed many Singaporean delights.
Eat and Remember….
Our second full day in Singapore was set aside to for everyone to enjoy their own activities. Some chose to visit the theme parks, some went to explore the Gardens by the Bay, some hung out with some family who happened to be in town. I decided to have a bit of a chilled out day, exploring some of the parts of Singapore I hadn’t seen before, and cramming in some shopping.
The day started with some Breakfast at Tang’s. Which is a department store, but the bottom has a semi-hawker centre. This place came highly recommended by one of the students who grew up in Singapore, noting that the vendors in this place were hand selected, and of high quality. Among other things, I tried Meow Chee, which was similar in texture to Japanese mochi, but severed hot, and with a delicious sugar peanut mix on top. Then it was off to shop along Orchard Road, one of the most popular shopping areas Singapore has to offer.
After much shopping and exploration of Orchard Road I sought out TWG tea in Takashiyama (one of the shopping complexes). Oh my gosh was this a delight, and very fancy. I sat down to a pot of tea and some patisserie delights. I tried an Earl Grey Sorbet, absolutely amazing. The texture so soft, and creamy, and the balance of flavours was spot on. I spent ages looking through the tea list overwhelmed by choice (check out the menu of teas below). They thankfully provided a Tea Book to accompany the menu, which gave a more detailed explanation of the flavours and types of teas available. I end up settling on the Singapore Breakfast. I greatly enjoyed reading through the history of Tea, and the TWG company, while occasionally glancing up for a bit of people watching. What a delightful way to spend ones time.
Then off for some more exploring. I decided to head over towards Marina Bay Sands. Catching some of the practice runs for Singapore’s national day in progress, making my journey to Marina Bay a bit longer. In addition Merlion Park was filled with people for a show as part of the practice run. I caught the firing of cannons, and a jet fighter fly around. I was inside the shopping complex when the Fireworks went off. Though I did manage to catch a quite cool light show after dinner. They projected lights and lasers onto jets of water, which gave the appearance of the lights “coming from no where.
Next in store for day 3 was a tour of the Geyland Market, somewhat famous for its wet market. There were so many local foods, and flavours on show. Many food stuffs that I’ve never encountered before. It was interesting to learn about some of the local produce available in Singapore, and what is widely used. After the tour of the markets our Temasek Buddies treated us to a breakfast in the Hawker Centre upstairs, highlighting the best dishes available in this place, and some of the more unique flavours of Singapore. Unfortunately there was fish paste in one of the dishes so I immediately threw up all this delicious food. However, not before trying one of the markets popular sweet treats – Putu Piring. Putu Piring is rice flour shaped into a ball or disc, with a spot of palm sugar stuffed inside, the swiftly stemmed. Yum.
Then we had a wander around the Geyland area. We stopped in a few of the kitchen supply stores, which was great. If only I’d had more luggage space to bring more back! I found the baking and speciality equipment really well priced, and ingredients like essences. I bought a few things, that I can’t wait to put to use. Some of the other students invested in a few extra knives, they were good quality brands at good prices. Then we made it over to our the restaurant the hosts had in mind for lunch only to find they were sold out! Later in the trip we found out that that particular place had just been listed in one of the top 50 noodle places in Singapore. So moved on over to another noodle place near by.
Before hitting up the Indian Food Fair in Little India for dinner our hosts took us for a walk around Bugis Shopping Centre, and Bugis Marketplace. So swift that I didn’t by anything, other than a bubble tea.
Walking into Little India we could just smell the whirlwind of delicious flavours and spices. While many of our group kicked off with a few beers, I had a quick poke in a few shops before exploring the food. Dinner options were plentiful with many standard Indian foods. I opted with a delicious lamb curry, accompanied with a brightly coloured biryani. The biryani was well balanced, and is not really something we have often back home.
This concluded the planned activities section of the trip. Tomorrow it’s into the kitchens at Temasek Polytechnic. Read the next post in this series HERE.
[…] Read Part 1 of the adventure HERE. […]