Despite the heat, throngs of people were making their way to The Promontory @ Marina Bay and I couldn’t help but get excited when approaching the entrance and the waft of food smells greeted me. What were we all here for? Savour 2014 – a 4-day event which celebrates Michelin starred Chefs and panders to all gourmands’ taste-buds. In other words, lots of good food and drinks.
Chowchow won tickets for all 4 of us and so we managed to save on the entrance fee. Nonetheless, we each forked out $25 for Savour dollars to be spent on the food inside.
Walking in, we were greeted by the sight of a roasting veal. Unfortunately for us, we were there during lunch and the veal was only ready for the dinner crowd. So that’s probably what I was sniffing when walking to the entrance. We quickly made our way through the Jasons Gourmet Market and headed to where the ‘restaurants’ were.
Started off with Mikuni’s Hokkaido Botan Ebi in Tenshin Sauce with Caviar (S$18). I really liked the detail of gold flakes and this was the only real cold dish that I had. Was served by none other than head chef Moon Kyung Soo! About this dish…can’t really fault it but to sum it up, it tasted like prawns in lobster bisque.
This is a really fun dish by Chef Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation, Hong Kong. It’s Lap Mei Fan (S$14) which is a molecular gastronomical version of foie gras, rose wine and topped with crispy rice. Creamy without being too rich, this is happy food!
Needing some staples, we ordered Cajun Garlic Fries by Spathes Public House (S$8) which is really quite nice as I tend to prefer chunky fries instead of shoe string fries. The sauce is creamy but not cloyingly so like how some aioli sauces tend to be. Apparently, this is cheaper (S$6) if you went to the actual Spathes Public House at Mohd Sultan. Hmm….
The above dish, I really wished that I ate on the spot when it was served hot. This is the 5 Cheese Tortellini with Saffron Cream Sauce, Slow Cooked Kurobuta Pork Cheeks, Beetroot Puree and Autumn Truffle (S$14) by Chef Kentaro Torri of Forlino. I saw Chef Torri in the kitchen so again, I’m impressed that the food’s QC was done BY the executive chef! Ok…onto the taste. The walk from the stall to my table was ‘long’ enough to cool this dish down despite the hot afternoon sun. So, it wasn’t as amazing as I thought it should be although everything on it was good. The pork cheek could’ve been more amazing, I think.
Speaking of amazing pork cheeks…
This is the half eaten Braised Pork Cheeks, Miso Daikon on Mousseline Potatoes by Chef Daniel Sia of The Disgruntled Chef. Just found out today that Chowchow is friends with Chef Sia. This dish was really good. It’s a bit like comfort food but then again, it is served with miso daikon and potatoes that wake you up from home comfort and back to fine dining.
Above is a very interesting dish. It’s called Eclair D’escargots. Yup…it’s a savoury eclair filled with escargots, tomato, garlic and persil. This dish is the brainchild of Chef Christophe Paucod of Lugdunum Bouchon Lyonnais, Japan. I like how it changes your mindset of how escargots can only be eaten with garlic and butter. It’s light, it’s yummy and I want more.
Chef Daniel Chavez of OLA, Singapore has elevated the humble octopus in this Spanish Octopus “A La Plancha” with peas and tomatoes (S$16). The octopus was tender but had a crispy grilled taste. I was amazed.
We went back into the Gourmet Market where Chowchow ordered Pork Chops (S$16). Tender and grilled to perfection, this dish shows that sometimes, you do not need a Michelin-starred chef to cook you good food. Sometimes, it’s the quality of your ingredient that matters more.
Note to Jasons: please do not put your cashier in the middle of the walkway that separates 2 sections of the Gourmet Market. Cue the bottleneck of human traffic there.
I had a work hazard moment – I started guessing how much the event cost and what sort of returns the organiser and partners received from this event. *Shakes head* That’s what you do when you organise too many events.
Overall, we had fun and we would’ve spent more if we were less conscious about it. There were a lot more food that we didn’t try and there were Master Classes happening but we gave them all a miss. If I were feeling rich, I’d gone for the oysters which were going at S$18/half dozen or the Oyster Shooters (S$22 for 4 alcoholic flavours).
I’m looking forward to Savour 2015 but in the near future, there’s the World Gourmet Summit!!
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