AsiaCuisine: Weekly Ezine Volume 5 Issue 11 Page 1 of 8 Home Bulletin Magazine Reviews Gourmet Ezine Wine comes alive Chef Nobu Matsuhisa makes Shanghai debut Volume 5, Issue 11 | 9 March 2003 Have You Heard | Chefs | Hotel & Resort | Health | Events | Products | Restaurants | Wine & Beverage Feature Story An Island Away From an Island If you're looking for a quiet, uncomplicated offshore holiday in the tropics with exciting city life seemingly far away but actually not more than a 20 minute drive away, this may be the best news you've heard in awhile. The idyllic Beaufort Singapore hotel on Sentosa island has been recently Pick your favourite channel: relaunched as The Sentosa Resort & Spa Restaurant of the Week following a substantial S$15 million Mamma LuciA Italian Caffe & upgrading of the luxurious low-rise resort Ristorante property. Wine of the Week 1998 Ernest & Julio Gallo, This includes the opening of a 6,000 square metre destination spa known Sonoma Selection, Cabernet as Spa Botanica Singapore, which has 20 treatment rooms including private VIP pavilions with their own garden, and extensive and unique in and Sauvignon outdoor treatment facilities. In addition, the cutting edge new alfresco restaurant, The Cliff, by leading Japanese design consultancy, SPIN, has recently opened in place of Siggi's restaurant, as part of The Sentosa's new chapter of life. The luxury hotel group, which includes sister property The Sukhothai, in Bangkok Thailand, is owned by Hong Kong-based developer HKR International, whose recent branding strategy for their hotels has been to align each one closely to its destination or location. All of this also comes in the wake of a ten-year master plan to rejuvenate Sentosa island itself, which experienced its heyday as a family theme-park some decades back and is currently undergoing repositioning and reinvestment to transform it into a world-class luxury lifestyle destination. The plan is led by Philip Ng and Darrell Metzger, and is strongly supported by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Singapore Tourism Board, who aim to create a tourism product that matches the best in the world. Teahouse file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\multi\My%20Documents\Electronic%20Media\E... 6/11/2003 AsiaCuisine: Weekly Ezine Volume 5 Issue 11 Page 2 of 8 at China Square Address: China SquareFood Centre 51 Telok Ayer Street Level 3 Singapore 048441 Tel: (65) 6533 0660 Website : http://www.tunglok.com/ Elena Gudgeon Have You Heard? Norway Extravaganza Last week saw the annual Norway Seafood Buffet put up by the Norwegian Embassy and Norwegian Business Association, sponsored by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council and Scandinavian Airline Systems. Held at Swiss ôtel The Stamford Raffles and The Plaza, the dinner was a smorgasbord of 45 dishes that were prepared using 18 different mind-boggling kinds of Norwegian fish and shellfish including mussels, camchatcha crab, langoustines, haddock, catfish and more. Frank A. Naesheim, managing director of Snorre Food Pte Ltd, the supplier of quality seafood from Norway was also responsible for putting together the buffet dishes. This year, there Sambonet was a touch of Asian ethnic flavour such as plaice fillet in banana leaf, salmon satay with peanut sauce and monkfish masala. "We mixed flavours Tel: (39) 02 9100 8220 that Asians are used to", Naesheim explains. Ambassador of the Royal Fax: (39) 02 9100 8320 Norwegian Embassy, Nygaard Enok says that there is no better way to Website : showcase the best of Norway's seafood exports than a splendid buffet spread http://www.sambonet.com/ Email: which creates a buzz of positive atmosphere amongst the guests. [email protected] Not your average kind of hawker Articulate and armed with degrees, there's a new breed of graduates who have entered the bonafide of work force. Gone are the cushy work-desks and swivel chairs while studiously typing away at the keyboards, these graduates have rolled up their sleeves to become "gao luk" (roasted chestnut) hawkers. As reported by Streats recently, they are however, not your ordinary sweaty hawkers. Instead they rely on electrical machines and dispense the nuggets of sweet meats in a nifty little paper bag with plastic handle. The owner of this franchise chain gets his supplies of chestnuts from the Qianxi county in the Chinese province of Hebei. Singapore a hub for food and more In a bid to woo big-spending tourists from China, Singapore has decided to step up her mouth-watering appeal by targeting at their taste buds. As recently reported by Streats, hotels and restaurants will employ new Chinese Tulip Chocolate cuisine or fusion food to sell the republic as a high-end lifestyle destination by displaying the creative aspects of the cuisine. At the frontline is the Director of Email : Kitchen, Chef Sam Leong from the Tung Lok Group. Together with Zhang [email protected] Jing Jie who was a guest chef at World Gourmet Summit 2002, they will Archives. count on delicacies such shark's fin with foie gras and crispy prawn coated with wasabi-mayo and mango salsa to "appeal to executives and diplomats" Top hotel school ties up with local university Nanyang Technological University has tied up with Cornell University which was ranked top as the hospitality management school to run post-graduate courses, marking the start of a new drive to attract smaller, specialist brand- name schools here. Last week, The Straits Times says that the Economic Development Board has unveiled plans to bring in some of the world's best schools in hotel management, culinary arts as well as design and arts from the US and the Europe. The president and CEO of Raffles International, Jennie Chua, thought that institutions with such excellent track record would be bound "to attract the best and brightest in hotel management from the region and beyond". file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\multi\My%20Documents\Electronic%20Media\E... 6/11/2003 AsiaCuisine: Weekly Ezine Volume 5 Issue 11 Page 3 of 8 Chefs Chefs Galore For the seventh year running, the WGS 2003 has once again invited the world's top-notch chefs to help mere mortals like us stretch our gastronomic horizons. The following is just three of the many masterchefs whom we'd be featuring over the next few weeks. Oriol Balaguer - Estudi Xocolada, Barcelona, Spain Oriol Balaguer's exceptional gastronomic fanfare has been epitomised as the Bauhaus of dessert making. Revolutionary in nature, his elaborate creations astound many urbane palates and delectate pastry aficionados. In September 2002, he started a new company called "Estudi Xocolada" the Chocolate Studio, with the objective of creating delectable pastry works that astound even the most urbane palates. Oriol Balaguer will be hosted by Grand Hyatt Singapore, mezza9. Patricia Yeo - AZ, New York, USA Patricia Yeo's lauded culinary alchemy is surmised by critics as innovative, elegant and intricate which personifies a new style of upscale cuisine. AZ is Yeo's big break in the culinary field and ultimately establishing California Asian cuisine onto the New York gourmet map and being voted as one of the Best New Restaurants in New York by Food & Wine in July 2001. Patricia Yeo will be hosted by Club Chinois, Tung Lok Group of Restaurants. Stefania Moroni - Altro-luogo Aimo e Nadia, Milan, Italy Opened since end-2001, Altro-luogo Aimo e Nadia is a project by Stefania Moroni, together with her parents, Aimo and Nadia Moroni, and artist -scientist cum musician, Paolo Ferrari. It is a restaurant where contemporary art, food, and wines are paired with perfect harmony. Stefania Moroni will be hosted by Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore, Pontini . Peace of cake Fifteen student chefs and a lecturer from the Culinary Arts Centre Sdn Bhd in Penang, Malaysia paid a visit to YB Dato Kee Phaik Cheen, chairman of the Penang State Tourism Industry Committee, and presented a 'Croquemboche' (a pyramid of sweet-filled profiteroles topped with a peace flag) in support of the Malaysia for Peace Flag campaign launched by culture, arts and tourism minister, Dato Paduka Abdul Sheikh Fadzir. The organising chairman, Mohd Helmi Bin Mohd Tahir, baked the cake together with his classmates, and was commended by Dato Kee for the 'sweet idea' of promoting peace this way. She said she hopes the message can be spread through the mailing of cookies with peace messages to all ambassadors. file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\multi\My%20Documents\Electronic%20Media\E... 6/11/2003 AsiaCuisine: Weekly Ezine Volume 5 Issue 11 Page 4 of 8 Hotel & Resort Indulge your senses at Raffles Hotel The constantly evolving and yet classically elegant Raffles Hotel has become the first hotel ever to offer its residents an opportunity to select their preferred designer toiletries. This is luxury like you've never known it, because from 1 April 2003, residents who book the 'Sensory Indulgence' package will be able to select their personal range of luxury amenities such as bath and shower gel, body lotion and perfume from a choice of eight designer labels including Burberry, Bvlgari, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermes, Issey Miyake and Nina Ricci. This package is priced at S$2,500+++ for two persons for a three-night stay in a luxurious Palm Court Suite. Call (65) 6337 1886 for reservations. Health Eggs found to reduce risk of breast cancer As reported by www.foodnavigator.com, women who consume more eggs as teenagers may be less likely to develop breast cancer. This finding was published in Breast Cancer Research, which found that aside from a good diet consisting of sufficient amounts of dietary fibre and vegetable fat, the high levels of essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals in eggs has a similar effect as dietary fibre in binding oestrogen within the digestive system.