Marking its 23rd year in a row, Singapore Food Festival comes back this July with a line-up of events offering gastronomical delights for Singaporeans of all ages under the theme “Savour the Past, Taste the Future”.
This year, with a whopping number of 18 events that span across 15th – 31st July, Singapore Food Festival (SFF) has something up their sleeves for all to enjoy, so go ahead and jio all your friends and family. Here are the things you HAVE TO do at this year’s festival:
1. Revisit Food From Singapore’s Past
Singapore is a hub where foods from all over Asia have congregated and since evolved to form the Singaporean Cuisine that we see now. In its evolution, we’ve seen many timeless foods come and go, and SFF gives you the rare opportunity to get a taste of food from our past.
Events like The 50 Cents Fest (30-31 July) bring back the iconic UFO Oyster Cake, and the nostalgic Ice Kachang Ball at prices as low as 50 cents. These ridiculously cheap street snacks are even served from old-timey push carts to follow the theme of the past.
Relive fond memories of eating from the great food stalls of the Farrer Park District with One Farrer’s Food Street (16-17, 30-31 July) at their pop-up food stalls featuring recreations of Farrer’s Hokkien Prawn Noodles and Rojak, as well as innovative dishes like Chilli Crab Pie.
2. Go on Heritage and Food Tours
Organised by Kim Choo Kueh Chang, one of the mainstay dumpling makers of Singapore since 1945, Heritage Town Trail (16, 23, 30 July) is a guided tour through Katong and Joo Chiat to bring you on a journey of rediscovery of our Singaporean roots.
Don’t worry, you won’t go hungry. They’ll stuff you with plenty of food samplings and even end off with a Nyonya Kueh appreciation session.
Tickets for the Heritage Town Trail are selling at $40 nett per pax, with a maximum of 30 people per session. Do make a booking at least one week in advance if you wish to participate in this learning journey!
Most of us have probably been on school excursions to Kampong Glam when we were younger, but for those who haven’t, then the Malay Heritage Experience is for you.
Envelope yourself in the rich culture and heritage hidden in the streets of Kampong Glam that are filled with shops catering to the Malay community. At the end of the tour, you’ll be rewarded with a feast featuring mouth-watering dishes from the Malay cuisine.
Breathe in the sights and sounds of Little India with Spice Trail. Learn more about the Indian culture while you wander through streets selling spices, fresh produce, sundries, jewellery and clothes. And of course, the trail concludes with a bang with a live cooking demonstration by a master chef.
3. Taste Food of the Future
STREAT (15-16 July), SFF’s signature event, features a world-tilting five-course dinner menu birthed through the collaboration of International Celebrity Chef Susur Lee, Tunglok Heen’s Senior Executive Chef Ken Ling and Restaurant Labyrinth’s Chef-owner Han Liguang.
In the hands of culinary geniuses, their pop-up restaurant offers favourite picks amongst Singaporean street food, modified to give us sensations like no other i.e. the food of our future.
Apart from that, STREAT also features innovative creations from a curated medley of Singaporean food establishments, such as The Disgruntled Chef, Char and Casuarina Curry Restaurant.
While the STREAT event is over, fret not, read on for more events you can head to for mouth-watering modern dishes.
Another event that features collaborations between culinary geniuses, Open Stoves (23-24 July) pairs up 5 Timbre+ resident chefs with 5 guest chefs to develop never-before-seen dishes.
For example, Chef Christian Calledo (Iskina Cebu Singapore) in collaboration with Chef Bjorn Shen (Artichoke / Bird Bird) offers up their extremely mouthwatering creation: Cebu BellyChon Curry Noodles with Salted Vegetables and Lime. Trust me, you do not want to miss out on this.
Open Stoves also features live cooking demos, a BBQ Blowout and live music for all to have fun with.
4. Cooking Lessons For The Whole Family
What better way to learn how to create Singapore’s most beloved foods than to be taught by chefs themselves?
Kid’s Nyonya Kueh Workshop by Rainbow Lapis (16, 23, 30 July & 6 August): Make timeless memories with your child while you get hands-on with making Ang Koo Kuehs together. At the same time, your child gets to learn more about Singapore’s heritage desserts.
Insider’s Kitchen Tour by Sembawang Confectionary (17, 24, 31 July & 7 August): Sembawang Confectionary gives you an exclusive tour of their bakery and an opportunity to learn how to make tasty treats from the past, even throwing in a cake decorating lesson while they’re at it. Special sessions are available for children under 12.
5. Food Appreciation Sessions
In celebration of all things food, there’s bound to be events with platforms to truly appreciate dishes and what they represent respectively.
Kueh Appreciation Day (24 July): Like our Singaporean culture, Kueh comes from Singapore’s various ethnic and dialect groups, from Teochew, Hokkien, Hainanese, Hakka to Eurasian.
Kueh Appreciation Day features rarely seen specialties like the Eurasian Pang Suzie, Hainanese Larp, and the Teochew Sausage Bean Kueh on top of familiar favourites. Kueh fans, it’s time to bury yourself in this treasure trove of Kuehs.
Apart from Kuehs, SFF also offers a Tea Infused Heritage Journey (18 – 22 Jul, 25 – 29 Jul) held by TWG Tea Salons, showcasing two Chinese and Indian inspired tea gastronomy dishes that encapsulate the harmonious marriage between modernity and heritage.
Choose from TWG Tea’s popular rendition of tea-infused chicken rice and a brand new tea-infused Indian curry dish created just for the Singapore Food Festival. The set includes a choice of two tea pairings from China and India, two of the largest tea producing regions.
With a choice of either Tea-infused Chicken Rice or Barramundi Fish Curry, each set comes with a choice of dessert and a choice of tea pairing.
6. Try Local Favourites With A Funky Twist
Singapore, famous for its mouthwatering one-of-a-kind cuisine, has us locals pining over our food. Sure we’ve had the usual favourites like Chicken Rice, Oyster Omelette and Chilli Crab, but at Street Hawkers inspired 5 course cocktail pairing menu (18 – 23 July) by Tippling Club, we’ll be having redesigned and redefined renditions of our local favourites.
Chef Ryan Clift will be taking local food from famous hawker centres throughout Singapore and reshaping them with his own modern, fine dining twist. All dishes will be paired with specially created cocktails by Tippling Club’s mixologists.
The five-course menu features, Newton’s Oyster Omelette with Pomelo Lemongrass Gimlet, East Coast Chilli Crab with Chilli Rose Sour, Katong Laksa with Tomato Raspberry Snapper, Maxwell Chicken Rice with Ginger Yuzu Buck, Ann Siang Chendol with Cheeky Uncle. Tell me that doesn’t make you ravenous.
7. Eat Singapore’s Trendiest Foods
As part of SFF in collaboration with Singapore Garden Festival, The Indian Chefs and Culinary Association, Singapore Halal Culinary Federation and Food Gen 2 hawkers are assembling at Gardens by the Bay to bring us amazing ethnic dishes at Dining In The Garden City (23-31 July).
Enjoy the view and fresh air in our city garden with trendy dishes like Rainbow S’mores from 26 at Marina, Plaster Blaster from Springleaf Prata, Coconut Ice Cream Chendol from Big O Group and Salted Egg Fish Skin from JP Pepperdine.
8. Old Favourites, Modern Foods and Food Trucks All In One Place
If you’re short on time to get the full SFF experience considering how all events are spread across Singapore and occur on different dates, at least go to the Singapore Favourite Food Village (22-31 July).
With three zones: Old Favourites (serving traditional local food), Modern Takes (serving modern Singapore creations) and On-the-Go (where food trucks will be set up), Singapore Favourite Food Village is as wholesome as any event gets.
That’s not all; while you feast on the wide array of foods, you’ll be entertained by concurring street performances and live cooking demonstrations as well.
9. If You’re Lazy, The Food Comes To You
Maybe not literally to your doorstep, but Chatterbox Food Truck by Mandarin Orchard (15-31 July) will be rolling up to several locations all over Singapore to bring you a taste of the legendary Chatterbox Chicken Rice, one of the best in Singapore.
To celebrate the restaurant’s 45th anniversary, Chatterbox chefs will be making special variations of the Mandarin Chicken Rice, such as the chicken rice maki.
So if you have any cravings for chicken rice, keep a weather eye out for this pop-up truck.
Keep track of the Chatterbox Food Truck by following Mandarin Orchard Singapore on Instagram @mandarinorchard and on their Facebook page.
In our busy schedules, I think Singapore Food Festival 2016 is the event of the year to make some time for. Bring your homies to Singapore Favourite Food Village, or Ah Ma and Ah Gong to The 50 Cents Fest, just jio anyone and everyone, because this is good food, and no one should miss out on good food.
—SNAP & WIN—
Take your best flatlay image of your favourite SFF dishes and share it on Instagram with the hashtags #SFFflatlay & #SingaporeFoodFestival and tag @Visit_Singapore to win delicious prizes! Full T&Cs here:
*This post was brought to you in partnership with Singapore Food Festival 2016
