Crispy sweetbread with creamy morel mushrooms in home-made puff pastry, The French Kitchen.
The Importance of Ingredients
With the Integrated Resorts opening in Singapore, some heavyweight chefs are coming to set up shop in Singapore. From Marina Bay Sands: Guy Savoy, Santi Santamaria, Tetsuya Wakuda, Daniel Boulud, Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck. From Resorts World Sentosa: Joël Robuchon (!), Kunio Tokuoka, Scott Webster and Susur Lee.
There seems to be a link between gambling and haute cuisine. Well it’s probably more a correlation with money and the sort of tastes that these high rollers have, look at Vegas and Macau/Hong Kong, not so much Genting Highlands though (but Genting Singapore yes!) And with the casinos, the Michelin guide is usually not too far behind. There has been speculation that the Michelin Guide might be coming to Singapore. I recently heard from a few chefs that Michelin is indeed coming, probably next year or the year after.
My concern though, is whether chefs can get the sort of ingredients needed for Michelin caliber cuisine. A few months ago I had a serious craving for sweetbreads. I couldn’t find them on menu anywhere, so I asked a chef to order some for me. He did but said that they weren’t good and did not serve them. I caught wind that The French Kitchen was serving them and made a beeline for it. They were prepared well, but sadly the sweetbreads were frozen and the texture was a little off. Apparently only frozen and not fresh sweetbreads are allowed. The reason being that the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has very strict control on what sort of food can be imported into Singapore. Unfortunately for gastronomes, that list is pretty long. I understand and appreciate the AVA’s role and intention to ensure our food safety. But sometimes I think that they might be a little overprotective.
I’m curious as to see if the AVA policy will change once the Integrated Resorts open. And if it does what was the problem with these ingredients before? Ok never mind that, I just hope that the AVA will allow more types of food in.
I wonder if there is any sort of advisory panel of chefs that the AVA consults with in regard to what to bring in.
Carpaccio of peachwood smoked duck breast with Granny Smith apple puree, sorbet of red beets and yellow frissee salad. The best rendition of that ingredient. One of my favorite dishes of 2008. Sage.
I hope to see more purveyors in 2010. Most restaurants, at least in a western context, get their ingredients from Classic Fine Foods, Euraco and Indoguna. What happens is that everyone serves more or less the same stuff. I remember sometime in 2008 where it seemed that every chef had a culinary boner (thanks Andrew from Top Chef) for smoked duck breast. It was on menus everywhere!
