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The Miele Guide Voting Opens

Hi y’all. I’ll get back to regular blogging in a bit (and for once I have quite a few posts lined up). But first I wanted to tell you that voting for the 2009/2010 edition of The Miele Guide, Asia’s first independent restaurant guide, has just opened. We need your votes.

The Miele Guide was created in 2008 in order to better recognise and celebrate Asia’s best chefs and restaurants. It was our attempt to create, for the very first time, a standard of recognizing our best restaurants that was on par with established non-Asian guides. Our 2008/2009 edition ranked Asia’s top 20 restaurants and profiled an additional 300 great places in Asia in which to dine.

Restaurants will be selected after four rounds of judging. The first round of judging consisted of creating a shortlist of great restaurants as determined by the region’s top full-time restaurant critics. The second and third rounds of judging are being conducted simultaneously via online polls. You, the public, in addition to a jury of food professionals and prominent food lovers are invited to cast your votes. These votes–your votes–determine which restaurants make it into the final, published guide. Voting ends 24 May 2009. Finally, our in-house team, with help from contributing editors across Asia, will be dining anonymously at the most highly rated restaurants to confirm our annual ranking of Asia’s Top 20. (Keep reading)

Slow-cooking an egg

When I was a kid, if I had had my way, I would have eaten eggs for breakfast every day. My mother, however, believed that too many eggs was bad for a growing child. Given that she had a medical degree, and I was just a pint-sized glutton, who was I to argue? These days (thank the food gods), the idea that an egg a day leads to dangerously high cholesterol levels has been pretty much proven to be the myth that I always believed it was. Now, I can happily have eggs — soft-boiled, sunny-side up, scrambled, poached, baked, or even steamed in a custard — on any day of the week without fear. And at any time of the day. I could eat eggs for breakfast, lunch or dinner (although I will admit I wouldn’t have them for all 3 meals in the same day — even for me, that would be a tad excessive).

I always enjoy ordering an interesting egg dish for lunch or dinner when dining out. One of the best I have ever had is Joel Robuchon’s egg cocotte topped with a foamed mushroom cream and served over a parsely puree. A staple at Robuchon’s many Ateliers, this fabulous little dish is elegantly served in a martini glass. Judging by the number of both traditional journalists and food bloggers who have raved about this dish, in print and online, I guess I’m not alone. For those of you who have yet to try this little taste of heaven, the egg is slow-cooked at a low temperature so that while the egg is indeed cooked, the white is just barely set and the yolk is runny. For years, I’ve wondered exactly what temperature and what techniques Monsieur Robuchon uses. (Keep reading)

The Miele Guide: Vote now

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a project that S and I — with loads of help from a fantastic and hard-working team — have been working on for several months. I’ll be the first to admit that The Miele Guide is an ambitious project. Our goal with this publication is to launch the first really independent and credible guide to Asia’s best restaurants. It is something that S and I have been talking about for years and are thrilled to finally get off the ground.

In simple terms, what we are hoping to do, through The Miele Guide, is raise the profile of Asia’s top restaurants and to make them as well known as their counterparts overseas. If successful, The Miele Guide should be able to draw attention to the culinary richness of Asia as a region. At present, there is no credible Asia-wide restaurant guide which Asian food lovers consider a benchmark reflective of our region’s taste, culture and collective culinary standards. Our hope and goal is that The Miele Guide can set that standard.

In order to put together the best possible list of Asia’s best restaurants, we are conducting four rounds of evaluation. In the first, a panel made up of 84 of Asia’s top restaurant critics have created a shortlist of what they believe are the best restaurants in the region (each was asked to nominate what they felt were the 20 best restaurants in their home country). Now, it’s your turn. Our second round of evaluations, which has just started, depends upon your participation. We’ve launched a public vote on our site, www.mieleguide.com.

Please take some time to click over and vote. You’ll need to register — this will take all of a minute and a half — before you can vote. And when you do, you’ll stand a chance to win one of three pretty cool prizes. We’re giving away dinner for 2 at the top-ranked restaurants in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo (respectively), plus a 2-night stay at a five-star hotel in each city. Voting should also take just a few minutes. Visa is our Official Credit Card. In order to vote, you’ll need to key in a few digits from your Visa card number — just a few, i.e. just enough to register you as a unique voter.

Once registered, you’ll have 10 votes. If you live in one of the 16 countries in Asia that we’re covering, you’ll only be allowed to vote for a maximum of 3 restaurants in your home-country. Voting is simple. Just choose the country whose restaurants you want to see and a shortlist appears on screen. To select, just click on the restaurant’s name. If there is a restaurant that isn’t on the shortlist that you want to vote for, no problem. We’ve made allowances for you to be able to write in your own nominations.

Voting is open from now until 31 July at www.mieleguide.com.

So far on this blog, I’ve avoided running pictures of myself. But the one I have included I actually kind of like. Pictured from left to right is me, The Miele Guide’s Associate Publisher Ms Pauline Ooi, and S. And of course, The Miele Guide is holding court centre-stage. The photo was taken by superstar fashion photographer Geoff Ang, whom I’ve known and whose work I have admired for almost a decade. I was told by the PR firm who is helping us publicize The Miele Guide, after seeing the rather scary pictures that the Straits Times ran of S and me a couple weeks back, that we had to have proper press portraits taken. Which we did.

Thank you again for your support. Please tell your friends about The Miele Guide.

Are there really just 5 world-class restaurants in Asia?

For the past few years, I have considered it a mixed honour to be one of the (few) jury members that help Restaurant magazine determine its annual list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. I have honestly felt a great sense of pride to have been asked for my votes each year, as well as a great sense of responsibility. But every year, when the results are announced, I feel somewhat let down. I won’t bore readers with my detailed analysis of why Restaurant magazine’s jury system is flawed and biased to favour restaurants in the Western hemisphere (for that, you can read a previous post, archived here). I just want to express my continued dismay at the results of this very important and respected survey.

The 2008 results have just been announced. If you want to see the list, please click over here. In addition to profiling the world’s top 50, Restaurant magazine also lists the next 50 (i.e. those ranked between 51 – 100). This year, only 5 restaurants in Asia made the top 100; all are ranked in the bottom half of the list. Bukhara, in India, at #55, continues to hold its place as Asia’s top-ranked restaurant. Iggy’s, in Singapore, is in second place, at #77. The next three Asian restaurants are all situated in Hong Kong. Pierre Gagnaire, Robuchon a Galera (technically in Macau), and Zuma are ranked at #88, #98, and #99 respectively.

Each year, when these results are announced, I have the same reaction. While it is always cool to scan the top 10 or 20 restaurants and pat myself on the back for having visited several of them, the thing that irks me is the question, “Surely, Asia has more than just 5 world-class restaurants?” Glaringly missing (as usual) are restaurants in Japan.

I am actually in Fukuoka right now. Over the past few years, S and I have been coming to Japan almost every year just to eat. Over the past week while travelling across this country, I have been indulging in great food. At super-high-end ryokans, small zen-like kappo spaces and swish restaurants, I have eaten meals that are undoubtedly as good if not better than the meals I have had in Paris’ or New York’s best eating establishments. The Michelin Guide to Tokyo, despite all its flaws, did a great thing when it awarded more stars to restaurants in Tokyo than in both London and Paris combined. This move loudly declared what all foodies already knew — that the food and the restaurants in Asia are as good as any in the West. The only problem is that not enough Westerners have eaten at these places (or have even heard of them) … and the media in the Eastern hemisphere just isn’t as good at promoting these establishments as their counterparts in the West.

For several years, S and I have grappled with this problem. Yes, things like how Asia’s restaurant industry is perceived really does keep the two of us awake at night. And of course, I’ve complained about what I have believed to be an imbalance to anyone and everyone who would listen. But over the past year, we decided that it was time to either put up or shut up — to quite literally put my money where my mouth was. So, we started working on what we could do to correct this imbalance.

The result, which you all will probably hear quite a bit about over the next year (and hopefully for a long time to come) is The Miele Guide. The Miele Guide, which we are publishing with the huge (and long-term) support of the ultra-high end kitchen and domestic appliance manufacturer Miele, will be the first truly independent and (hopefully) authoritative restaurant guide to Asia.

To put this guide together, we will be going through 4 rounds of evaluation. In our first round, an invited panel of 90 of Asia’s most influential restaurant critics have helped us create a shortlist of what they believe are Asia’s best restaurants. It was very important for us to work with respected local food writers and critics in each country. That means people like Susan Jung, food editor of The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong; Wong Ah Yoke, the main food reviewer for The Straits Times in Singapore; Rashmi Uday Singh, one of India’s most famous food journalists; and well-known food writers Yuya Tomosato and Jun Yokokawa in Japan.

In Mid-May, our second round begins. At that time, we want you, the public to cast your votes online. You will also have the option of nominating restaurants that you feel are missing from our shortlist. Concurrently, a selected jury of respected foodies and food and wine professionals across Asia will be invited to place their own votes.

In our final round, The Miele Guide’s editorial team, joined by contributing editors stationed across Asia, will dine anonymously at the top ranked restaurants to verify the combined results of Rounds 2 and 3. One of the things that we felt was very important was to commit to never accepting any free meals from any restaurants that are under evaluation. We have also commited to never accepting any kind of advertising or sponsorship from the industry.

From these four rounds, we will then decide and announce the top 20 restaurants in Asia, plus the best restaurants in each respective country. Please note that while Miele is our naming sponsor, they will not exert any influence over the selection and judging process that determines which restaurants appear in The Miele Guide.

We hope to launch The Miele Guide through most major bookstores internationally at the end of October this year. Of course, any survey will run into criticism. One restaurateur-friend, when I explained what we were doing, whistled loudly and then said, “Wow, you’re going to create some enemies. Especially with that top 20 ranking.”

And while we understand that the final results might stir up some controversy, we’re ready for it. Most importantly, if it gets the world talking about the restaurants in this part of the world, if it gets people passionately debating the merits of Asia’s top ranked restaurants to the point where their names become as recognizable as El Bulli, Fat Duck and French Laundry, then we have done our job. After all, our goal is not to antagonize specific restaurateurs or put others down. Our goal is to create a standard of evaluation and a standard of recognition that can really help promote Asia’s best restaurants to the world.

P.S. (updated 24-04-08) My web development chief has just informed me she has created banners for The Miele Guide. They are available in 3 sizes. We’d appreciate all the help we can get in spreading the word, so if you would like to host a banner for The Miele Guide, we’d be thrilled and very grateful. Please find them here at mieleguide.com/spread=the-word. The password is “thenewstandard”. Thanks!

Phở expert speaking in Singapore

One of the coolest projects that my darling wife S and I enjoyed working on last year was the development of a series of public programs on food and culture for the National Museum of Singapore. All of the courses last year were sold out and all were loads of fun. We ran chocolate tastings with Valrhona’s regional pastry chef; had a bespoke mixologist run through the history of cocktails, accompanied by tastings of course; ran a very well-attended modern etiquette workshop; and got famed local foodie Christopher Tan to speak about the different ways that a mortar and pestle are used in Southeast Asian cuisine.

This April, we’re launching a whole new line-up of programs for 2008. Some of the most popular – like our chocolate tasting – will be repeated, but for the most part, many are brand new. Several are also tangentially linked to exhibitions that the Museum will be organizing. The very first event this year is titled “The Story of Phở, The Story of a Nation”.

I don’t know about you guys, but I love Phở. It’s a wonderful dish which, I have learnt over the years, has a rich history. For this inaugural lecture, we’ve invited one of the world’s foremost experts on Phở, Mr Cuong Phu Le, to fly up to Singapore from Australia, where he’s based, to speak about this beloved noodle soup dish.

Cuong, pictured above, is an amazing guy. He loves Phở so much that he has even created a multi-disciplinary project called I LOVE PHO that is currently on tour around Australia. It will be presented as the major project to reopen the newly renovated Casula Powerhouse, an arts centre in New South Wales, in 2009. In the project, Phở will be examined and interpreted through literature, the visual arts, film, performance, a food festival and a symposium. To produce this cross-cultural project, the Casula Powerhouse will bring together a distinguished group of cultural professionals including researchers, writers, academics, cooking instructors, filmmakers, performers, visual artists, businesses, community members, writers, curators and Phở lovers of Vietnamese backgrounds and from different corners of the world. The project may go on a tour around the world thereafter.

We’re really thrilled that Cuong is taking some time to come to Singapore to speak. His lecture is being held on Friday, 11 April, at 7pm. During the one hour talk, he will demonstrate how the story of Phở actually mirrors that of Vietnam’s own development. Cuong will present a general survey of the origin, development, expansion and transformation of Phở, along with Vietnam’s historical trajectories from colonialism to modern day.

I had the chance to chat with Cuong briefly last week. What he has to say about Phở is really faschinating.

CH: Have you always loved Phở? What is your earliest memory of this dish?

Cuong: Phở is so common and ubiquitous in Viet Nam that I used to take it for granted. Like most Vietnamese, we only become mad about Phở when we are displaced physically and spiritually.

I can’t actually recall my earliest memory. The memories I most cherish are more recent, during my research for the I LOVE PHỞ project. I spent three hot summer months in Viet Nam travelling from South to North and eating Phở everyday with the mission of searching for the best Phở in Viet Nam. After one month of eating Phở every day, one day I just realised that I was in utopia. I also realised you could not find the same bowl of Phở in different shops … like the old saying, “You can never step in the same river twice.”

CH: But, on that journey, did you find any one Phở that was better than all the others? Would you be willing to recommend one specific place?

Cuong: That’s a difficult question. Let me share something interesting with you instead of answering you directly.

Interestingly, in Vietnam, no one really cooks Phở at home– they don’t know how and they feel no need to learn. Outside Vietnam, however, immigrants have begun to prepare the dish at home – exchanging cooking tips, discussing ingredients, with the hope of bringing a little bit of home into their “life in exile”.

Thus, if you are in Viet Nam, people could show you to a specific Phở place without problem. On the contrary, in Australia, for instance, people tend not to tell you any specific place because they think their home-made Phở is the best.

CH: One friend told me that the name “Phở” comes from the French “pot au feu”. Is this true? And if so, does that mean Phở is actually a fusion dish?

Cuong: That’s another difficult question because the origin of the name “ Phở” is still being debated up to now, even in Viet Nam.

There is one speculation that the dish was of Chinese origin – once prepared with typically Chinese ingredients such as noodles, ginger and star anise. Nguyen Ngoc Bich, a Vietnamese scholar, believes that the name Phở derives from the Mandarin Chinese “fen” (pronounced “phan”), used to announce the arrival of a hawker as in “Nguu nhuc phan”. (“Nguu”– “cow or buffalo”, “nhuc” – “meat”,and “phan” – “rice paste”). Vietnamese hawkers, he argues, would not call out “phân” which in Vietnamese means “excrement”. Thus, they dropped the final “n” and created a new word ‘Phở’.

But there are other speculations. According to Nguyen Dinh Rao, a president of UNESCO’s Gastronomy Club in Hanoi, the name Phở came from an earthenware oven known as a “coffre-feu” in French. When customers spied a hawker bearing a wooden beam holding a bucket on either end with a charcoal stove underneath, they would shout, “Hey! Feu!” (Fire!). The hawker responded “Oui ! Feu!” without understanding what Feu is. Through continuous repetition, the appelation may have lead to the name we use today.

To back Mr Rao up, Didier Corlou, a French-born former Executive Chef at the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi and also the organiser of a major seminar on Phở held in Hanoi in 2003, agrees with the French connection. He pointed out the resemblance between the soup and the French dish, pot-au-feu. The act of grilling onion and mature ginger for the base of Phở broth is similar to the method used in French cooking to impart colour and taste to a dish of meat and vegetables simmered in a rich-tasting broth.

Phở is a fusion food at its birth. Phở is a blend of French/Chinese/Vietnamese and more that has captured so many flavours and textures. To produce this cultural fusion, take the broth cooking with grilled ginger and onion (like French does); mix them with exotic spices including star anise, cinnamon, cardomom (like Chinese does); add Vietnamese fish sauce and simmer it slowly for years of Chinese influence, French colonisation, the American/Vietnam War, Communism, Transnational movement, Integration, Mass tourism, Capitalism and Globalisation. Phở at the end becomes so varied no two bowls of Phở are really ever the same. In the process, it has become a global dish!

CH: Why do you think Phở has become so popular internationally? What about it makes it so appealing to so many people of different backgrounds and cultures?

Cuong: There are also a lot of answers to that question. Here are just two that might suffice.

Deborah Upton suggests, “The search for new taste sensations and eating experiences is considered a means of improving oneself, adding ‘value’ and a sense of excitement to life”. Thus, Phở’s popularity comes as no surprise in an era when “Whatever’s ethnic one day becomes chic and public culture in the next”.

Secondly, Phở contains in itself traits that appeals to modern society: individualism, convenience, interactive, options and speed. That demand is well expressed in the sentence by one Phở addict on the Internet. “I like doctoring the stuff until I achieve the optimum effect: brightened with squeezes of lime or lemon; charged with tiny cartwheels of jalapeno; crackling with bean sprouts; herbed with mint or basil from the plate of greenery that comes alongside. Not only do I end up with a universe in a bowl — salad, pasta, meat, soup, a kaleidoscope of texture and flavor — it is a universe of my own making. What, in this narcissistic age, could be more gratifying?” (from an eGullet.org, Phở forum discussion)

CH: How can you tell if a Phở that you’ve been served is good or bad? What should a great Phở have?

Cuong: I am not a chef. I am only a person who goes around to collect stories relating to Phở.

But there are a few irrefutable golden rules.The broth has to be clear, honest and sweet smelling. It should have the aroma of beef and beef bones and be steaming hot to the touch.The rice noodles should be thin, soft; yet firm.The added beef must be cooked, tender and sweet smelling. It must be attractively presented with garnishes of harmonious colour.

Anyway rules or not rules, as Vietnamese and foodies, we know good Phở when we taste it.

Ticketing
Tickets for The Story of Pho, the Story of a Nation (Friday, 11 April, 7pm) can be booked online at www.nationalmuseum.sg (go to Online Booking Page) or at the Visitor Services Counter at the National Museum of Singapore (93 Stamford Road Singapore 178897). Tickets are S$10 each. To go straight to the booking page, click here

A juice a day keeps the wife thinking I’m staying healthy

Business trips can take a lot out of a person. Running around from airport to airport, hotel to hotel and from meeting to meeting can be exhausting at times. And while I have the great fortune of traveling for work to some gorgeous places, it’s still nowhere as enjoyable or relaxing as it would be if I were visiting the same spots on holiday with my wife. Because of my schedule on these work trips, I try, when on the road, to eat a little healthier than normal.

This past week, I’ve been travelling around Thailand (writing this from Chiang-Mai). I was in Bangkok at the start of the week and discovered a fantastic way to (at least pretend to) keep healthy. While walking around the supermarket in the (amazing) gourmet hall in Siam Paragon, I ran across a cute little juice stall called Freshie. They sell a range of juices, some straight and others mixed. I tried the Power Detox blend. It’s a blend of carrot, apple, beetroot, melon, tomato, cucumber, orange, pineapple, wheatgrass and soluble fiber. I bought it originally because I was hot, tired and feeling in need of some energy. The juice was surprising delicious. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I had at least 2 of these each day that I was in town.

Another juice blend that I love is Wagamama’s raw juice. It’s one of the famous noodle chain’s most popular drinks. It also has less ingredients than the Freshie Power Detox and thus a whole lot easier to make at home.

Wagamama’s raw juice

1 apple, peeled, cored and halved
200ml (7fl oz) orange juice
1 tomato, cored
5cm (2in) piece of cucumber, roughly chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped

Push all the ingredients through a juicer and pour into 2 glasses

Teen titans

Sean preparing Prarie Oysters

Several weeks ago, S and I attended a pretty extraordinary dinner. It was a private affair, held at the house of a friend of a friend. Our meal was prepared by two chefs. Upon arrival, we were asked to select one of three cocktails, a blood and sand (scotch, orange juice, white vermouth, cherry marnier), a white velveteen (frangelico, white cranberry, vodka) or a Georgia mint julep (mint, cognac, apricot liqueur). After our (very strong but tasty) drinks, we were presented with menus that got our juices flowing. Dinner was going to be a 13 course affair with what looked like some pretty complex dishes. A meal like this would have impressed S and me no matter who was cooking. But given that the two chefs were teen boys, we were pretty much gobsmacked.

Borthers Jonathan and Sean Gwee, aged 18 and 15 respectively, are both articulate, polite, and obviously intelligent. They’re also serious foodies. When we met, Jonathan was half-way through reading Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Younger bro Sean was working his way through Hervé This’ Molecular Gastronomy. Now, I have both books. I’ve gotten through maybe a chapter of McGee’s and haven’t even opened This’ work yet. And while I do intend to get to them one day, I will admit that both books are a tad intimidating.

The brothers Gwee have been cooking for years. Jonathan is most interested in pastry and dessert while Sean is into preparing meaty main courses. Last year, at the urging of family and friends, the brothers began to offer ridiculously well-priced, private degustation dinners.

Jonathan serving lemon foam

Here’s the menu they served us, as written on their menu: Paté, chicken and duck livers with roasted butternut squash; Reduction of Salad, roast parsnip with thyme sauce, roast shallot with parmesan wafer, tomato jam with garlic crouton; Garlic Velouté, browned garlic soup; Prairie Oyster, raw egg with worcestershire sauce; Deconstructed Pork Belly, roasted salt pork, pork crackling and granny smith with demerera sugar sorbet; Risotto, flavoured with black olive and topped with buffalo mozzarella; Lemon, palate cleansing foam; Lamb, seared loin with pan fried gnocchi and red wine reduction; Beef, roast tenderloin glazed with marmalade accompanied by roots anna; Panna Cotta, with candied flower petals; Cannoli, filled with mascarpone and brandied cherries; Thyme, thyme ice-cream; and Chocolate, Valrhona Araguani chantilly. The food was impressive. It was executed confidently and deftly.

It was also presented with a good dose of humour. S and I were a little curious about the brothers’ “Prarie Oyster”. It’s not that normal to serve your guests a hangover cure composed of raw egg at a dinner party. Younger brother Sean, assisted by a friend, brought out the raw eggs, a dozen glasses and a squeeze bottle of Worcesterchire sauce. He explained the origins of the Prarie Oyster while preparing each one — essentially transferring each egg into a glass and squeezing the sauce over. He also advised us to bite into the yolk; it was the only way to appreciate the dish’s flavours. When I did, I couldn’t help but smile. The brothers had served us a mango-flavored version of Ferran Adria’s very famous skinless ravioli, sauced with caramel. It was a cheeky, amusing, and impressive course. The boys are clearly fans of Adria and his peers. The “Chocolate” course turned out to be Adria’s Frozen Chocolate Air (they found the recipe on the awesome Hungry in Hogtown. It was delicious. I couldn’t believe how tasty, rich yet clean it was on the palate. The “Lemon” course was a yummy lemon foam.

My own personal favourite courses, besides the Chocolate, were the lamb with gnocchi, the panna cotta and the cannoli. I was particular impressed with Jonathan’s cannoli shells. They were among the best I’ve ever eaten. Unfortunately, Jonathan is currently stuck in Basic Military Training, so the boys’ private dining services have been put on hold for a while. When I last spoke with them, they said they might offer some mid-year and again at the end of the year. If you want more information, you can email them at sedentary@gmail.com (for Jonathan) and ultimited@hotmail.com (for Sean).

Best restaurants results (finally)

Six months ago, in response to the way that Restaurant Magazine fashioned its annual list of “The World’s Fifty Best Restaurants”, I launched a little survey of my own. Through its results, I hoped to celebrate the very best restaurants (as well as our favourites) in Asia-Pacific. I also hoped that the results would held publicize a lot of restaurants that deserve to be as well-known as their counterparts in the West.

I know that I’m incredibly late with the results, but a lot has happened in the last six months. And as they say, better late than never.

Some of the final results were predictable, but some of them were surprising (to me), especially the results for our favourite restaurants. I should say right from the start that, like all surveys, these results are hardly definitive. They are simply the sums and averages of the responses of a number of your peers. They are also biased towards certain countries due entirely to the number of respondents from specific places (like Singapore, for example). I’d like to do this survey again and again. I hope that with each annual edition the number of respondents grows larger and larger. And with a wider pool, the results should become more trustworthy and less biased.

I’ve divided the top-rated restaurants into 3 tiers. Instead of toques or stars (or chopsticks), I’m awarding woks. Only two restaurants this year have earned the highest rating of 3 woks. Nine restaurants earned 2 woks and sixteen restaurants earned 1 wok. A rating of 1 wok, I should say, is still pretty outstanding. There were many more restaurants that didn’t get enough votes to qualify even for this rating.

Best in the region!

Tetsuya’s, Sydney, Australia
Tetsuya Wakuda’s eponymous restaurant blew all the other restaurants in this survey away, garnering up to 10 to 20 times as many votes as many others. This self-trained Japanese chef’s innovative cuisine is, quite simply, genius.

Iggy’s, Singapore
The only other restaurant with close to as many votes as Tetsuya’s was Iggy’s. No surprise that owner Ignatius Chan is one of Tetsuya’s buddies. Iggy and his chef Dorin Schuster serve wonderfully brilliant contemporary cuisine in a charming and clubbish space in the Regent Hotel, Singapore.

Excellent!

Hua Ting, Singapore
Jean-Georges, Shanghai
La Petite Cuisine, Taipei
Lei Garden, Singapore
Les Amis, Singapore
Oso, Singapore
Saint Pierre, Singapore
Whampoa Club, Shanghai
Xi Yan, Hong Kong

Very good!

Au Jardin Les Amis, Singapore
Circa The Prince, Melbourne
Fook Lam Moon, Hong Kong
Il Lido, Singapore
Imperial Treasure, Singapore
Kee Club, Hong Kong
Marque, Sydney
Opia, Hong Kong
Palladio, Shanghai
Quay, Sydney
Robuchon a Galera, Macau
Shimpei, Tokyo
Third Floor, Kuala Lumpur
Vue du Monde, Melbourne
Yung Kee, Hong Kong
Zanotti, Bangkok

The restaurants that topped our list of favourites in Asia-Pacific were a little different from the ones that topped our list of “best restaurants”. There were a few restaurants, as you would expect, that made both lists. But while our voters named two chic high-end restaurants as the region’s best, when asked to name their favourite places to eat, casual cafes and eateries reigned supreme. I’ve divided the favourites into just two groups.

Our favourite three restaurants (with equal votes) are the Din Tai Fungs in Shanghai and Taipei; the Greyhound Cafes in Bangkok; and Icebergs Dining Room and Bar in Sydney.

The next group consists of 10 restaurants. They are Akashi in Singapore; Biscotti in Bangkok; Bistrot Moncur in Sydney; Da Paolo in Singapore; Ember in Singapore; Kee Club in Hong Kong; Kuriya in Singapore; Tetsuya’s in Sydney; The Cliff in Singapore; and Yung Kee in Hong Kong.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in this year’s survey. I hope that you agree with some, if not most, of the results. If you don’t, then please take part in next year’s survey.

Door to door

Quite a few months ago, I read about a couple of young guys who started a web and phone based local (hawker) food delivery service. Because most of the delivery services that I’ve tested here in Singapore have been unimpressive (cold food, high prices, etc), I wrote down Dabao.sg‘s web address and phone number but never bothered to try them out. Then, a few weeks ago, a friend with a keen interest in food admitted that he’s been using Dabao.sg with pretty good results. He said that the food they procured was both good — obviously, they invest time finding well-reputed and popular hawker stalls from which to buy their food — and, equally important, it’s served hot. He said that his wife was partial to their oyster omelette. He liked their beef hor fun, reportedly bought from the famous beef hor fun coffee shop on Geylang Lorong 9.

S and I have since ordered from Dabao.sg twice. The first time we took our friend’s advice and tried the oyster omelette and beef hor fun. Both were excellent. Tonight, we tried beef fried rice and century egg porridge. The former was good. Unfortunately, the latter could have been considerably better; it was a tad too watery and quite bland. But, 3 out of 4 is pretty good. I’m pretty impressed with Dabao.sg. I especially like that getting hawker favourites delivered to my door is as simple as sending 1 text message from my handphone. Delivery is pretty swift; both times the food came within 45 minutes. And as my friend reported, the food came hot.

But don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.

Food is art

photo taken in 2001 at Tasting Australia

I spent a little over two years recently working for a government agency. Most specifically, I was working within the arm of the government responsible for looking after the arts. While there, one of the things I campaigned for quite aggressively (internally of course) was recognition of the culinary arts as a proper artform. And not simply as a trade. As you can imagine, very few of my colleagues sympathized with my cause. Mostly, I think, because few understood what I was going on about.

A buddy of mine, who is one of Singapore’s most talented contemporary artists, just emailed me a bit of news that has made my day (maybe even my month). Documenta is arguably the most important regular contemporary art exhibition in Europe. It takes place once every five years in the German town of Kassel. Each edition is helmed by a different artistic director, who builds his or her own curatorial team. Documenta 12, scheduled to take place 16 June 2007 – 23 September 2007, is being led by Roger Buergel.

A few months ago, Buergel announced some of the artists that he will be bringing to Kassel for this most significant and important of art exhibitions. One of those, surprisingly, was celebrity chef Ferran Adria, of El Bulli! Buergel acknowledged Adria as “the most famous chef in the world” but wouldn’t reveal the details of how Adria will be participating in the art show.

When my friend emailed me this astounding news, I quickly googled both “Documenta” and “Ferran Adria” and was surprised by how little coverage has been given to what I believe is a rather important event for the culinary world. In fact, all the reports that I found came from fine arts media. Am I just blind or has the world’s mainstream food press possibly missed out on one of the most exciting stories of recent times? For perhaps the first time, a chef has been elevated to the status that he deserves. He’s being considered a true artist and being exhibited alongside other creative geniuses from other disciplines.

Perhaps after Documenta 12, more and more non-foodies will start to recognize the culinary arts for what it is, a serious artform. One that requires just as much creativity, training and innovation as other artforms like film-making, painting, or architecture.

Technorati tags: ferran adria, documenta, art

Meme: Five things to eat before you die

One of my favourite food writers and bloggers, Melissa from The Traveler’s Lunchbox has just tagged me with her very first meme. “Things To Eat Before You Die”, also known as “The Foodblogger’s Guide to the Globe”, asks participating bloggers to list five amazing food experiences that they think everyone should have at least once in their lives. I’m more than happy to take part — as I said, Melissa is one of my favourite people on the Web — plus I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone else’s lists.

Melissa actually tagged both me and my wife S. S is a tad swamped on a couple projects this week, but she promises to post her own list soon, tagging 5 other bloggers as well.

So, without further adue, here are 5 things I think everyone should eat at least once.

1. Macarons from Pierre Hermé

No other single cookie has as many devoted fans around the world. But no other single cookie has ever tasted as good as one of Pierre Hermé’s macarons. If you haven’t had the fortune of visiting either of his Paris or Tokyo outposts (or haven’t had any really generous friends hand-carry them home for you), you have no idea what you are missing. These are simply the sexiest, most sinfully delicious cookies on the planet.

2. Sakura ebi

I was introduced to Sakura ebi at Iggy’s, one of Singapore’s best and one of my favourite restaurants. Since it opened, it has featured a Sakura ebi pasta dish on its menu. It’s one of the two or three dishes there that I’ve become completely addicted to. Sakura ebi are tiny shrimps, measuring only 4 to 5 centimetres in length. They have a lovely, powerful taste and a fantastic, slightly crispy texture. They’re most famously cultivated in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, where they are harvested from Suruga Bay twice a year. Apart from Japan, Sakura ebi are cultivated only in Taiwan. While Iggy’s is able to serve fresh Sakura ebi, its difficult for the rest of us to buy this delicacy fresh. Fortunately, most Japanese supermarkets stock packets of dried Sakura ebi, which when heated a bit before serving, are almost as good. Inspired by Iggy’s, I’ve been making my own Sakura ebi pasta at home, basically by adding these tasty pink shrimps to my classic mentaiko pasta recipe.

Chubby Hubby’s Sakuri Ebi Mentaiko Pasta
Serves 4

1 packet dried Sakura ebi (around 20g)
1 small onion, diced
2 tbsp butter
1 packet mentaiko (usually has 3 to 4 sacs)
1 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
1 tbsp prawn oil
150g cappellini or linguine

Put the butter, prawn oil and the mayo in a mixing bowl. Scrape the mentaiko out of the sacs and into the bowl. When the butter is soft, mix the ingredients together. Sauté the onions. Mix them into the mentaiko sauce. Boil your pasta. Drain the pasta and mix it with the sauce. On a very hot frying pan, quickly heat up the Sakura ebi. Toss those into the pasta. Serve.

3. A really proper frito misto in Venice, Italy

I love fried foods. And I’ve always enjoyed a good frito misto — which is essentially a mixed plate of battered and deep-fried seafood and vegetables. But until I started taking regular trips to Venice, I never really knew just how good frito misto can be. The best I have had is at Ostaria Boccadoro, a small, humble eatery off the tourist track. I first discovered this great little place in the summer of 2005. I’ve been back several times since and the frito misto has been consistently outstanding. Despite being deep-fried, the seafood is never overcooked. The range of seafood is fantastic — fish, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, the most amazing small soft-shell crabs and, of course, squid. They are all always terrifically plump, tender and full of natural flavours. The batter is always crisp, very light and never oily. The ostaria’s owner is very amusing. He demands that anyone eating his frito misto must do so with his or her hands. Maybe it’s a psychological thing, but to be honest, I think it does actually make the dish taste better.

Ostaria Boccadoro
5405/a Campo Wildman, Cannaregio
tel: 041 5211021

4. Corner Bistro’s bistro burger

I couldn’t create a list of must-have food experiences and not include Corner Bistro. This dark, neighborhood bar in New York’s West Village has a very special place in my heart. It was where my friends, flatmates and I spent many a night, wolfing down bistro burgers and throwing back pints of McSorley’s Ale. The burgers here are fantastic (among the best I have ever had). They’re especially good at 2 in the morning, after a long night out and just before you head home to crash.

Corner Bistro
331 W 4th St
New York, NY 10014
USA

5. Sushi at the crack of dawn in Tsukiji fish market

I have to admit that this is something I haven’t done yet but have been meaning to do for the longest time. Friends who have gone have raved about the fantastic quality of the sushi and sashimi served at the little restaurants within Tokyo’s main and most famous fish market. I hear rumours that Tsukiji is considering closing its doors to non-trade, i.e. foodie tourists like you and me. If this is true, we all had better visit sooner rather than later.

Time to pass the meme along. In order to stick to Melissa’s spirit of picking bloggers that represent as much of the world as possible, I’m tagging:

1. Greedy Goose in Singapore
2. Jam-Faced in London
3. Cook Sister in South Africa
4. Spiceblog in Australia
5. Tasting Life in The Netherlands