Earlier this month, Chef Khalid Arif from the hit MBC 1 TV show, “Sabeh el Kheir Ya Arab,” joined 20 other world-renowned chefs from 15 cities across Europe, America, the Middle East, China, India, Hong Kong, and Australia to participate in the Singapore International Culinary Exchange (SPICE).
The objective of the culinary event, which took place between Oct. 4 and 7 in Singapore, was to learn, absorb, experiment and create Singaporean inspired dishes, infused with the chef’s own cultural gastronomic twist.
“The Global Chef Exchange, which is part of the SPICE program, aims to immerse the visiting chefs into Singapore’s culture and culinary scene. By exposing them to authentic Singapore cuisine and culinary ingredients, we hope to inspire them to create dishes with a distinct Singapore twist at their own establishments when they return home. This is in line with our continued efforts to showcase and create business opportunities for Singapore’s food industry through SPICE, the Singapore Takeout and other ongoing efforts,” said Ranita Sundramoorthy, director of attractions, dining and retail of the Singapore Tourism Board.
“There are four world regions represented between us, Latin America and Europe [Karlos Maldonado, Nam Nam, Copenhagen, Denmark and Jose Alija, Nerua, Guggenheim Museum, Bilboa, Spain], Australia [Hayden Fyfe, Pranzo, Perth], and the Middle East [Khalid Arif, Asia Box, Saudi Arabia; Mohammed Kamal Eddine, Executive Arabic Chef of Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE; and Khalil Mustafa Oqdeh, Executive Chef, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai, UAE]. So, it’s very interesting to conceptualize a dish together given our diverse backgrounds and our culinary influences and to discuss how we might infuse the ingredients in front of us to create something great,” enthused Chef Arif from Saudi Arabia.
During the four gastronomy packed days, chefs literally tasted their perfect world: a world where fast food is good food, food is everywhere and the best of Indian, Malay, and Chinese specialties have been cooked by someone that has been doing what they’ve been doing for generations.
Chefs visited the heart and soul of Singapore’s food culture, the hawaker centers, which are the healthy version of the junk-food filled American food court, and practiced and tasted a variety of Singapore cuisines through engaging workshops at the Gaggenau Experience Centre and ToTT’s (Tools of the Trade) exercise centers. Furthermore, cooking demonstrations were conducted by renowned local chefs such as Chef Malcolm Lee from Candlenut Kitchen, Chef Willin Low from Wild Rocket and culinary authorities such as Peranakan and Eurasian Chef Damian D’Silva.
Singapore, long known as the transit capital to the rest of the Far East, is fast transforming into the culinary capital of the world, playing host to the World Gourmet food Summit, currently in its 15th year. As a melting point of several cultures, Singapore sets the precedence for culinary innovation attracting foodies from all over the world to the gastronomic summit annually in April and well-organized and informative global chef exchanges such as SPICE. From street-food to fine dining restaurants, the chefs experienced the diversity and multicultural influences that make Singapore’s food truly unique.
“Singapore is located in such a culturally fascinating region, which is reflected in the food. Every Singaporean is an expert on food, and has an opinion on how flavors and ingredients should be combined to heighten the overall experience. From strolling through a hawker food center, to Little India’s food market, or a high-end restaurant, it’s easy to understand why Singapore is innovating the way the rest of the world eats. You can find everything in Singapore, every culinary fare the world has to offer. Yet, it’s reinvented in a way that makes it unique and presented in a way that makes it genuinely Singaporean, and that is an art. Food comes from the rest of the world to come alive here,” explained Arif who was very much inspired.
All formalities and pleasantries were quickly bottled, sealed, and stored away once the aprons were adorned and knives were sharpened for the 45-minute quick-fire “ice-breaker” challenge on the first day. Teams huddled, planned and prepped, with knife skills and food knowledge ready and displayed their interpretation of Singapore-inspired dishes.
A colorful array of bok choy, galangal (a subtle, mustard-scented rhizome similar to ginger), fresh coconuts, laksa leaves, belachan, tamarind, lemongrass, fragrant kaffir lime leaves, vibrant red chilies, noodles in every texture and a selection of meats, fish and poultry, tantalized chefs with endless Peranakan inspired possibilities. Chefs quickly appreciated each other’s cultural reference points and abilities to conceptualize a cross-continental delectable dish in less than five minutes and execute it to perfection under some serious clock-ticking pressure.
Alija and Maldanado, both reputed the world over for their gastronomic fare, along with Arif and Fyfe, food heavyweights in their own right, selected a local fish with a subtle coconut-hinted Singaporean-inspired spicy curry sauce.
“This ‘quick-fire’ activity was quite an experience, because you are getting to know chefs from all around the world with different gastronomic influences. But, when it comes to action, we all share the same love for food, and so the pieces magically come together to create beautiful delicious dishes,” shared chef Karlos Maldanado, from NamNam (Copenhagen, Denmark), a soon-to-be-opened Singapore-inspired restaurant in Copenhagen focusing on Singapore street food, which is owned by renowned restaurateur Claus Meyer.
Throughout the four days, chefs feasted, explored and experimented, along an educational food trail around iconic food locations such as Chinatown, Tekka Market and Tiong Bahru Market. Nothing short of a Peranakan culinary fête, the chefs channeled their piqued senses on the last day and created an entirely new Singaporean inspired dish.
For the finale showcase on the last day, chefs organized themselves into teams and prepared and presented two Singapore-inspired dishes to Singapore’s food and beverage industry representatives and media. The chefs would then be incorporating these two original dishes into their restaurants’ menus within the next six months.
Pounding knives and grinding pestles filled the air with the tangy aroma of lemongrass and chilies, while boiling shrimps, crabs and sizzling fish were pungent, yet, fragrant indicators of being on an island nation.
Camera crews and journalists elbowed their way around the various teamwork stations in effort to get the best coverage, while attempting not to disrupt the showcase. However, the final challenge was not only happy-go-lucky pounding mortar and pestles, with both chefs Khalid Arif, Asia Box, Saudi Arabia, and Matt Stone, from Greenhouse by Joost, Perth, Australia (also the recipient of Australia’s best young chef 2010 and 2011), suffering cuts deep enough to warrant a visit to a local clinic.
“These are two of the deepest cuts I’ve ever seen during all the time I’ve been in the industry,” revealed Stone.
“An almost Singapore Sling, but at least we didn’t have to leave the final showcase entirely, despite taking some time to address our injuries. Our team dishes would have been slightly different had we not been injured,” disclosed Arif.
For the finale, the Middle Eastern team created two Singaporean-inspired dishes. The first dish was a sensory mélange, a plump shrimp curled atop a crispy-skin fillet of fish sprinkled with oven-roasted and crumbled lime leaves, accented by nasi goreng seasoned rice stuffed into cabbage leaves. The second dish incorporated one of Singapore’s national dishes, Hainanese chicken, which was infused with an Arabian date puree and complemented by a bed of thinly sliced chilly spiced eggplant.
“It’s an amazing experience to be surrounded by and learn from such a diverse and talented group of culinary artists. I personally have learned so much through the Global Chef Exchange, as my restaurant, Asia Box, is inspired by the gastronomic fare of this region. Experimenting with other chefs, the engaging workshops, the competitive challenges, have inspired a few Singaporean influenced recipes I am refining and will include on the menu at Asia Box in the near future,” elaborated Arif.
SPICE, Singapore International Culinary Exchange, is an international gastronomic initiative collaboratively fronted by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and SPRING Singapore. Its mission is to establish Singapore as a global innovative culinary capital and a must-visit food destination, raise international awareness of our most celebrated and exciting culinary names and make Singapore food an integral part of the global food scene.
Activities under the SPICE initiative include the Singapore Takeout and Global Chef Exchange. The initiative will reach nine strategic markets, namely London, Paris, Moscow, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Delhi, Dubai and Sydney.
