Friday, July 05, 2013

Gordon Ramsay in Singapore for Singtel Hawker Heroes Challenge

You have heard it on radio, see it reported in various blogs, seen it in the newspapers. It's true!

Gordon Ramsay accepted the challenge by Singapore Food Bloggers: Catherine Ling (Camemberu), Daniel Ang (Daniel’s Food Diary), Leslie Tay (iEatiShootiPost), Philip Lim (KeropokMan), Karen Wee (SuperFineFeline), Melissa Koh (Melicacy) and Rayner Ng (HisFoodBlog) fully supported by Singtel to have a cook-off against Singapore Hawker Heroes.

After eight days of intensive voting and over 2.5 million votes, Singapore has chosen Mr Ang Kiam Meng from Jumbo Seafood (319,922 votes), Mdm Foo Kui Lian from Tian Tian Chicken Rice (318,151 votes), and Mr Ryan Koh from 328 Katong Laksa (316,611 votes), as their most popular hawkers to challenge Gordon Ramsay at the SingTel Hawker Heroes Challenge. 

News sure spread quick and fast! This afternoon at the Maxwell Road Food Centre, hundreds of Gordon Ramsay fans crowded around the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice because the crowd  heard that Ramsay is going to 'learn' from Mdm Foo Kui Lian.

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

Here's Mdm Foo and Mr Ramsay. So, a friendly chat between the two of them. So... who shall reign supreme? (oops, phrase from the wrong show.....)


It's my working day today, after debugging some codes (yes, I am an IT guy), doing some data analysis, fraud investigation etc, it was lunch time. I thought maybe I should see the guy in person! I was just watching his shows on TV two nights ago! Off I went to Maxwell FC in a taxi.

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

I see Mdm Foo and hundreds of people all around. So many fans around!
Half were fans of Tian Tian Chicken Rice who were queuing to buy chicken rice. (It was business as usual!)
Half were fans of Gordon Ramsay waiting for him to appear!

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

It's my lunch time after all, so I queued up and got myself some chicken rice!
The photo above was someone else's food. My chicken rice is the next photo. I was trigger happy taking photos! I am sure those who follow me on Instagram saw live pictures of what was happening.

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

I saw Catherine of Camemberu there and we shared some chicken rice! Somehow the chicken rice today was nicer than what I had before. I guess it's full force / flavour out today for the hungry crowds!


Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

While eating, I looked around. You can spot a fan of Gordon Ramsay in an instant! His book and a marker all ready! He's very patient, I hope he gets the autograph he wants!

We were sharing a table with 2 Gordon Ramsay fans! The two ladies were there since 10:30 am! One of them later got to take photo with Ramsay himself! A real fan who had flown to London and eaten at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

There's nothing the main stream reporters won't do! Look! Up high there! We witness the shoving and pushing of TV crew and newspaper reporters. A reporter's camera actually dropped and his lens totally (chui!) gone! Ouch! Is it true that TV and print media folk 'buay ngam' one?


Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

When Ramsay appeared, the crowd went mad! Yes, you can view the videos that's floating around now. I wonder how many were there today!

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

The daring ones rush forward to take photos. Yes, happy folks!
Folks tweeted, facebooked and were chatting on their mobiles excitedly!

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

Another photo of Gordon.
I noticed it was mostly ladies that rush forward to take photos with him!

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

The 'practice' session that was suppose to be finally started. Gordon has already gone inside the stall! Mdm Foo must be thinking, what are you doing in my territory!

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

That's Gordon chopping chicken. Can't get clear photos, because there were nasty security guys who were rude! I took photos of the rude guys instead and 'ahem' they became polite!

Who do you think will win? Mdm Foo or Gordon?

Gordon Ramsay for #hawkerheroes

While the rest (i.e. the fans and media people) were shoving and pushing outside, I quietly moved to the other side of the stall. Remember, Tian Tian is a double stall?  :-) The lady serving me chicken rice earlier took out her camera too!

Here's a short clip of the ending of the practice session. After this I took a cab and went back to work!

By the way, if you want to meet Mr Gordon Ramsay in person and taste the food of our 3 Hawker Heroes and Gordon Ramsay, head down to Newton Food Centre this Sunday. The first 1000 people will get to taste the food for free!

Newton Food Centre
500 Clemenceau Avenue North,
Singapore 229495

Sunday, 7 July 2013
From 6:00 pm!


See you there! I want to know who will win!



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2 comments:

Jackie B said...

Lucky chicks!

Anonymous said...

NO.i don't believe these were the stalls Singaporeans had chosen, as multiple votes from same voter can vote in. And child crabs not hawker foods. It is obvious been manipulated. the 3 candidates didn't demand cooking skill as in stir fired in CKW. They all biased to western cooking techniques. And for chilli crabs and laksa, simply the sauce ! No cooking skill. And for chicken rice, it is the sm, poaching chiken. It will be really raw deal to to pitch with CKT. But hat won't happen because compare to the 3 WINNING dishes, they are not to angmoh palate.

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