Five things you must eat at Wine Fiesta 2016

SINGAPORE — What is wine without food? At Wine Fiesta, seven chefs including Andrew Baldus from Meat Smith, Dave Pynt from Burnt Ends, Petrina Loh from Morsels, and Rishi Naleendra from Cheek by Jowl will each present three dishes specially created with locally-sourced ingredients for this event. Here are some highlights:

1. Salted egg crabmeat popiah (S$12) from Good Chance Popiah

This new spin on a classic local snack features hand-pulled Sri Lankan crabmeat, green and purple lettuce, and Good Chance’s traditional popiah fillings, paired with chilli jam, caramel sauce and salted egg yolk mayo wrapped in a wheat wrap.

2. Crocodile pastrami tart (S$13) from Tin Hill Social

As exotic as it sounds, this tart is made with locally farmed crocodile, as well as fresh goat’s cheese from Hay Dairies, the only goat farm in Singapore producing fresh and pure goat milk locally. There is also homemade wild pepper lavosh, Malay ginger blossom, and wild pepperberry.

3. Grilled Iberico pork jowl (S$15) from Morsels

Few things are as amazingly tender and lush as grilled pork jowl, especially when it is from Spain’s famous black Iberian pig. Here, the simple dish is paired with glutinous rice, shaved cured egg yolk, fermented mushrooms and spring onion kosho.

4. Dry-aged wagyu tataki (S$15) from Cheek by Jowl

This selection of beef, in this case the rump, is already a prized choice, dry-aged for an extra hit of umami. Here, it is lightly seared, sliced thinly and served with fermented soy and Thai basil. Best enjoyed with BK Wines’ Gower Pinot Noir 2015, or the 2016 Lucy M Noir de Florette.

5. Khanom Wan Thai (S$7) from Tamarind Hill

To finish on a sweet note, chef Wanthana Nikonsaen has prepared an assortment of four classic Thai desserts: Sweet sticky rice with egg custard; pink diamond with coconut milk (aka the familiar red ruby dessert); baked taro cake; and tapioca pudding.