FBD 2007 – Not Just Another Meal

Good food makes a fine meal, but put that with good company and that’s an experience. The strange and fun thing about the annual Food Bloggers’ Event is that it is like a mass blind date with familiar strangers. You think you know them because you’ve read their blogs – their food preferences or if they have been travelling but you have no idea how they look like. The wonderful thing about food is that it has got a special way of connecting people. Deals are made over power lunches and well, friendships over food blogger events.

This Food Bloggers’ Dinner was comparatively HUGE. On hindsight, maybe I won’t have volunteered my services this year if I had known that it was going to be so big and there were more logistics involved than the first one we had. We had a grand total of thirty-one people who showed up – thank you all for coming!


Photo of jasmine tea perfumed duck consommé with foie gras tortellini by Samuel from Yum.sg

The food was delicious. My favourite was the jasmine tea perfumed duck consommé with foie gras tortellini, which was a really exciting experiment that we worked out with FIJI Water was delightful. The flavours hit you in waves, first the duck, second when you bite into the foie gras and then a subtle after note of jasmine, very exhilarating. The pasta, well there are only three words, I Love It. Confession: I childishly told Chef over the phone when he was telling me that he was including my favourite pasta in the menu, ‘of course chef, if you don’t include it, I won’t be your friend anymore!’ I liked the fish as well, I’m glad that Chef did not serve a sea bass or a cod but something rather more unusual like the whiting, this was really yummy as well. To sum it up, I really enjoyed dinner but I’ll refer you to the other blogs for more details on the food.

Finally, a BIG THANK YOU to the many very generous partners that sponsors gifts for our lucky draw and who made it all possible. Razorsharp, who if you attended last year’s dinner would know that they had sponsored Kasumi knives that I personally love very much, sponsored us for the second consecutive year with their new line of Mario Batali products such as the Dutch oven, lasagne pan and a super duper sharp knife made from Hitachi steel. FIJI Water had also sponsored the water for the night - I like their water, it is soft and has a very clean taste - and the water of the absolutely gorgeous jasmine tea perfumed duck consommé with foie gras tortellini. EDM books for sponsoring three beautiful books – At the Table of Jim Thompson, New Chinese Cuisine and The Oriental Hotel Cookbook. Cathay Photos who sponsored gift vouchers and the essential photo-blogging tool the ColorVision Monitor Syder. The Cellar Door and GreenGrocer who generously sponsored gift vouchers. The Les Amis Group for extending the invitation to one very lucky food blogger to preview their soon-to-be-opened-renovated flagship restaurant, Les Amis. Yum.sg who joined us and co-sponsored with Coriander Leaf a cooking class for two. 2AM dessertbar, a dessert and wine bar that is opened by a fellow food blogger, Janice who will be hosting 2 for a tasting of her sweet offerings. Last but not least, the team at Le Papillon – the tireless wait staff, the cooks behind the hot stoves and ovens and Chef for agreeing to assist in hosting this year’s dinner and acceding to my numerous requests and last minute cancellations.

Here are some other related blog postings:
The Hungry Cow's, Ivan's, Mia's, Cheryl's , ShunMan's , Kelvin's and Chocolate Reindeer's.

Finding Wow at Le Papillon

I dine out quite a lot. Thankfully, for the high proportion of my pay check that I plough back into the economy through meals, I usually have good meals. Occasionally, after walking out of a restaurant I feel that I overpaid and the worst case scenario is when I simply feel that I was cheated of my time, money and calories, in those cases I'm usually really pissed and will whinge. But most of the time I’m satisfied, and every once in a while there are moments when the only appropriate reaction I can muster is ‘wow!’ The greatest thing about these ‘wow’ moments is that you never really forget it.



One of those moments happened when I was at Anderson Ho’s restaurant Le Papillon. It was my third visit there, and I was dining with a close friend and fan of Anderson’s who always has a special chef’s menu planned for him. Amongst the seven courses that were planned for the night was a pasta course of prawn oil penne with arugula salad, parmesan and bottaga and it was a showstopper. Not just I, but all four of us around the table at one point or another (probably after about two bites) uttered ‘w-o-w’. It was divine – annoucing its arrival with enticing aromas and depth of flavour that hit many notes and remained well composed. Enchanted, I emailed chef the next day and gushed about it and he very kindly assured me that it was going to be in the next menu and it still remains there today (yay!). Since that day, I’ve become a fan.

My last meal there, the delicious pasta, as I have discovered, currently has evolved and now takes the form of rigatoni with crustacean and seaweed, bottaga, arugula and parmesan. But this time we had a slightly varied form, substituting the bottaga with grilled mentaiko, a hand-carried gift from Japan from Sam to me, and it was still absolutely divine. That was still my favourite dish, but it was also surrounded by other great tasting courses such as its prelude of fresh mud crab salad with tomato gelée and gazpacho espuma appetiser that was had gentle breezy flavours and a good lift from the Tabasco, refined and refreshing. The main courses of skate with lobster emulsion and morels , smoked chicken with onion gratin and braised beef shin were good but I generally prefer appetisers to main courses.

When Le Papillon first opened in 2006, most foodies and culinary critics who had frequented Fig Leaf were excited about the return of Anderson after his ‘sabbatical’ from the culinary scence at SATS. Whilst it opened to positive feedback and reviews, there was a general consensus and I agree, many felt that it had not reached its potential. In addition with many new places, it has it teething problems and a fair share of on and off day, but it is now coming into its form, finding its definitive voice and slowly reaching its potential. At the moment it serves great food and some absolutely brilliant dishes that have developed into signature dishes and found a permanent spot on the menu such as the pesto and feta on watermelon, arugula salad and pedro ximenez reduction, and I think its only going to get better. For me, I feel that in him I have found something that I really relate to in terms of taste. Anderson is grounded in classic French techniques, he understands the local ingredients and he has this wonderful ability of combining flavours that evoke feelings of familiarity and nouvelle in me.

Le Papillon
Red Dot Traffic Building
28 Maxwell Road
#01-02
Tel: 6327-4177
www.le-papillon.com.sg

* See the whole set of photos here.

Buy Local: Plug for the New Kid on the Block

I was going keep silent about this place until Wong Ah Yoke, our island food reviewer, lets the cat out of the bag (and food mob invades) about Anderson Ho's new restaurant. However, since our very up-to-date and savvy food blogger, Chubby Hubby has already made a plug for this new kid on the black, i figured i don't think i would do much damage if i added my two cents worth.

Chef Anderson Ho, as his book Asia Dégustation testifies, makes gorgeous and powerful flavoured foods. He used to be part of the dynamic duo at Fig Leaf along side Jimmy Chok, but that was quite a while back and how he is flying solo after several years at SATS. I dined at this restaurant on Day 2 of its opening, and like how most restaurant face teething problems in the first month or so, Chef Anderson seemed to be slowly finding his groove in his kitchen as he sent a series of 5 delicious courses to our lunch table. In any case, it is very promising.

The building where it is located is easy to find, but the restaurant itself requires some earnest seeking. Tucked away in the corner of this potentially sore-eye causing, blood red-coloured building, you probably would not spot this place if you didn't purpose to find it. The set up is intimate with a chef's table that will sit 6 and a private room that will host 8.

Our lunch intended 3 course set lunch expanded to a 5 course (thanks chef!): Warm Caesar Salad, Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Reggiano, Pan-seared Baby Sea Bass with Garlic Chips and Tapenade, Braised Beef Shin with Risotto and Duo of Créme Brulée. The food exhibited good technique—warm melted cheese with crisp and fresh lettuce leaves and perfectly braised beef shin with gelatinous tendons and an al dente risotto—was satisfying and more importantly showed great potential. In any case, here's our chance to support our chefs. Buy local!

le papillon
28 Maxwell Road
#01-02 Reddot Traffic Building
Singapore 069120
Tel: 63274177