7 inspired dishes to try at SAVOUR 2016

SINGAPORE — In a bid to cover more areas of interest, gourmet festival Savour returns with an expanded line-up featuring not one but three specially-themed editions.

The first is the familiar Savour Gourmet event, which kicked off yesterday and runs until May 15. This time, though, it will include a spotlight on budding culinary stars as part of its DBS Live Your Dream initiative, which debuts this year. This, said Karen McGregor, senior vice-president at the bank, is aimed at providing the next generation of home-grown culinary talents another platform to showcase their skills and new ideas.

As such, the event’s Gourmet Village will instead feature 10 teams that are made up of a mentor chef and his mentee who will be in charge of putting out the respective restaurant’s featured dishes. They include chef-owner Bjorn Shen and Jonathan Lee from Artichoke, head chef Denis Lucchi and William Bai from Buona Terra, and Kenneth Oh and his mentor Lino Sauro from Gattopardo, while young mod-Singapore cuisine exponent Han Liguang and his team from restaurant Labyrinth will be showcasing his imaginative celebration of local flavours.

Aside from Aussie celeb chef Luke Mangan who is mentor to Salt Tapas & Bar executive chef Ronald Li, the only other big name on the cards is Bo Innovation’s Alvin Leung. He will be mentoring MasterChef Canada winner Eric Chong who will be serving the latter’s version of a surprisingly humble dish: Fried chicken. As well as a laksa inspired pasta dish to entice the local palate.

But for those who don’t see themselves sampling all the 30 dishes presented, a quick peak at some highlights of the festival should help you make your picks count.

KUNG PAO FRIED CHICKEN (S$12) BY MASTERCHEF CANADA ERIC CHONG

Now, what’s a food fest without fried chicken? This Canadian iteration inspired by one of the chef’s favourite childhood dishes is deep-fried and served with a sauce made with Canadian maple syrup. It took a while to get the ratio of cake flour and all-purpose flour batter mix just right, Chong admitted, not to mention a specific “20 per cent ratio of spice to flour mix” for the right balance of flavour.

GAMBERO ROSSO (S$12) FROM BUONA TERRA

This is an oven-baked Sicilian dish featuring red prawns with cauliflower, almonds and raisins in a shellfish sauce. Fans of the restaurant might recognise this dish, although it has been tweaked for the event. Inspired by whisky pairing, the chefs realised that cooking the prawn heads with whisky for the sauce made the “flavours of the sea” more pronounced. The raisins, they said, brought out the sweetness of the prawns, while cauliflower and almonds were added for extra crunch and texture.

FOIE-FFLE (S$12) FROM ARTICHOKE

Featuring a corn waffle with foie gras butter, orange blossom and golden syrup, the dish was created just for the festival, although the chefs are considering putting it on the restaurant’s menu if the response is good. The inspiration for the dish is a simple ode to goose liver, as the birds are fed with corn, Chef Lee explained. “Corn in the waffle is sort of like that,” he said. “Artichoke’s menu is supposed to represent fat children’s favourite dishes ... glamourising fried chicken and waffles you see in fast food chains with a Middle Eastern twist. We want our booth to be known as a fat kid’s booth.”

CITRUS-GLAZED BABY OCTOPUS (S$12) FROM GATTOPARDO

Served with a red bell pepper aioli, this familiar dish has been on the menu for about four months, and represents the restaurant’s predominantly seafood menu. It features octopus that is first marinated, boiled, then chargrilled, and flavours that cater to the local palette here, said Chef Sauro. “The use of citrus glaze and lemons is also very common in Sicilian food and the dish is sort of an ode to that region and its tastes and flavours, while still making it suited for the Asian palate.”

PAN-SEARED BLACK COD WITH A SALTED EGG VELOUTE (S$12) FROM CATO

Also specially created for the festival, this dish is based off a fish curry dish that the restaurant already serves. In light of the persistently hot weather lately, the chefs decided to tweak the dish “for a more delicate and refreshing taste”, which they felt is uncommon take on a curry dish. They added fennel, and decided on a salted egg sauce after experimenting with a number of sauces “to try to push the boundaries with this dish”. East-meets-west, said the chefs, best describes what the restaurant’s cuisine style.

CHILLI CRAB TEMPURA SOFT SHELL CRAB WITH CHILLI ICE CREAM (S$12) FROM LABYRINTH

This is one of the first dishes chef Han Liguang created even before opening his restaurant, which he added is about creating modernised versions of local classics. “Ice cream and chilli crab sauce share the same DNA,” he said. Ice cream, he explained, is sweet and made with egg yolk and cream, while chilli crab is also sweet and “has eggs inside, thickener (corn starch) and cream”. The dish has seen several variations over the years, and he chose it for the festival because it’s the dish that placed Labyrinth on Singapore’s (dining) map, he said.

IBERICO PORK JOWL WITH TATSOI (S$12) FROM BAR A THYME

This dish, Chef Francois said, is very similar to char siew. “A lot of our guests even call it the French version of char siew.” But the differences, from the use of Iberico pork to its crisp finish, are also evident. It is served with pickled pear and a hazelnut dressing. “We’ve put a lot of thought and effort into blending the perfect fusion between European cuisine and Asian flavours,” he said.