Epicurean Market 2014 @ Marina Bay Sands - 10 pairs of tickets giveaway!

Food lovers in Singapore have it good. Many famous or celebrity chefs are coming to Singapore, either to open shop or for the various food events. Even food trucks from US (The Lime Truck) are having charity appearance and managed to raise quite a bit of money for a local charity.

Early last year (Jan 2013), there was the first ever Epicurean Market organized by Marina Bay Sands. I remembered being there and walked around, bought some food, tasted some food, got up close and person with celebrity chefs, attended Masterclasses etc. It was one memorable event. You can read about it here.

Then I wondered it's been more than a year, when's Epicurean Market for 2014 coming?
Then I see adverts and emails coming. They have shifted it to September. That's less than 1 month away.



Just 2 weeks ago, I was on an airplane and I saw this page on the airline's inflight magazine. It's a reminder that I have 10 pair of access tickets (valid for 3 days access) to give away.

But first.. these are (what I have been told) the Top 10 experience at Epicurean Market for this year:

1) Mystery Box cook-off between celebrity chef restaurants (13 September)
If you have watch the cooking shows on TV, you would know about mystery box challenges. Watch for the first ever, a mystery box cook-off between executive chefs Jonathan Kinsella (db Bistro Moderne) and David Almany (Osteria Mozza). The chefs will have about 45 minutes to whip up a dish each in this cook-off and a trio of judges will select the winner. 

2) LOUIS XIII de Rémy Martin tasting (12 September)
Discover the king of Cognacs, LOUIS XIII de Rémy Martin, made available to the public for the first time ever. Created in 1874, LOUIS XIII is an exceptional blend of 1,200 eaux-de-vie aged over 100 years, with each decanter highlighting the passionate work of four generations of Cellar Masters. Experience the LOUIS XIII with an amazing dessert pairing. Ticket for this exclusive masterclass is priced at S$50 (original ticket value of S$350) with a limited capacity of 40 participants. Limited-edition tickets have been packaged for this exclusive session, at $73 per person (includes the $23 ticket access to Epicurean Market for three days). The tasting is held on 12 September 2014, 4-5pm.

3) Learn to make handmade pasta from the experts at Mozza’s booth
Drop by Mozza's booth and you will not only taste fresh handmade pasta, you will also dip your hands into fresh dough and make pasta. Learn from the masters at celebrity chef restaurant Mozza to make your own orecchiette by hand. The orecchiette is the most typical pasta shape of Puglia, a region of southern Italy. Its name comes from its shape, which resembles a small ear.  

4) Uniquely Epicurean takeaways
Pick up unique items at the celebrity chef restaurant booths as they present exclusive items that are otherwise not available for sale. Guests can get to buy items such as special steak seasoning from CUT by Wolfgang Puck, spice rubs from Mozza and a specially-created db Singaporean chilli sauce by db Bistro Moderne. Waku Ghin will also debut Japanese pastries in addition to their award-winning cuisine.   

5) Great FIJI Water Race at Epicurean Market (13 September)
The Great FIJI Water Race will be held at Epicurean Market on Saturday 13 September and it is a race for adventurous foodies. I have participated in a Great FIJI Water Race before at another event and it's really fun! Participants will be racing to complete tasks and challenges at the different zones within Epicurean Market. For example, one task involves celebrity-chef spotting, taking the photos and putting them on Instagram to earn points. Other tasks will test their wine knowledge or ability to create coffee art in the shortest amount of time. The winner of The Great FIJI Water Race will walk away with the grand prize of S$2,000 cash, one year’s supply of FIJI Water and two nights stay at Marina Bay Sands.

6) Celebrity chefs autograph sessions

Get one-on-one time with renowned chefs such as Tetsuya Wakuda, Nancy Silverton and Justin Quek as they autograph cook books for fans and give personal tips. The cookbook signing sessions will take place right after the celebrity chef’s masterclasses at the chef’s booth. This should be interesting. I love Masterclasses and autograph sessions! The photo above was a Masterclass I attended last year. 

7) Vermouth and Aromatized Wine - The Perfect Aperitif (13 and 14 September)
Take a peek into the fascinating history and origins of vermouth and aromatised wine as Marina Bay Sands’ mixologist Lucas Swallows demonstrates how to create light, aperitif style drinks using top Italian and French aromatised wines. Guests will also learn how to store and utilise these premium spirits at home.

8) Junior Pastry Academy with Executive Pastry Chef Benjamin Siwek, db Bistro Moderne (14 September)
Aspiring junior bakers can take part in an interactive workshop with db Bistro Moderne’s Executive Pastry Chef Benjamin Siwek as he leads 25 children in a Junior Pastry Academy session, guiding them to create delicious chocolate chip cookies and marzipan animals. The pastry class is open to children aged 5-10 years old. Pre-registration is required, email dbreservations@marinabaysands.com to register.  Train your children to cook, and they can cook for you instead!

9) The art of cocktail tasting and setting up a home bar by Proof and Company Spirits (12 and 14 September)
Learn the art of cocktail tasting and setting up a personalised home bar in style with two award-winning head bartenders, Joe Alessandroni and Zdenek Kastanek from Proof & Company Spirits. Through these two master classes, guests will learn how to assess the balance, flavour, ingredients and overall quality of cocktails, as well as learning how to build a home bar by selecting spirits, bar tools and other necessities.  

10) Go Green at Epicurean Market
In line with Marina Bay Sands’ eco practices, Epicurean Market will feature sustainability activities. Guests can bring home chili seeds and nurture them to start a little herb garden at home. The seeds, available at the RISE booth, are packaged with an easy-to-follow chili-dip recipe. RISE will also offer their own concoction of green juices (kale, spinach, wheatgrass, celery, cucumber, green apple and ginger) for the health-conscious. Paper, plastic and food waste will be segregated for proper recycling and processing after the event concludes.

Visit the MBS Website at http://www.marinabaysands.com/ for more details and also the latest update. You can also follow their Event Facebook page or follow them on Twitter or Instagram to keep up to date of the event. The hashtag is #EpicureanMarket


Now.... the Giveaway:

• For the giveaway, 10 persons will get 1 pair of 3 day pass worth $46 dollars each (2 x $23).
• You just need to shout out why you should be picked at the Epicurean Market Giveaway link at https://www.facebook.com/keropokman.com 
• Contest is for readers who will be living in Singapore only.
• Closing date is midnight 31 August 2014.
• 10 random pick from the list of people who show enthusiasm in wanting to win it in their comments.
• If the winners do not reply within 48 hours, new winners will be picked. 

Terms and conditions:

Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd. is solely responsible for contacting the winners. No refunds are allowed and the prize is not exchangeable for credit, cash or in kind. If unclaimed after the redemption period, the prize will be forfeited, and the winner shall have no further right to claim it thereafter.

Winners of the Epicurean Market Ticket Giveaway are not eligible to win the same prize in similar contests hosted by Marina Bay Sands Facebook, blogs, magazines and online publications.

Epicurean Market @ Marina Bay Sands Singapore

Today's the last day if you would like to enjoy a day out nibbling away food from different stalls, or attending informative workshop and masterclasses at the MBS Epicurean Market.

For most Singaporeans, you would be familiar with IT or PC Shows. Imagine instead of the big banners of Canon, HP, Dell, you have Celebrity Chefs posters and their restaurant names filling the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre. The space is big, so you won't get squeezed like in the IT Shows.

First of all, congratulations again to those who the tickets and vouchers to the Epicurean Market Giveaway last month. Hope you enjoy it!



Yesterday, I was excited as I got of the taxi stand at the MBS Convention Centre. I was planning to visit the Brioche class that's presented by the Executive Pastry Chef from CUT, Chef Jen Shen.


Masterclasses and Workshops


Here she is, Chef Jen demonstrating how to make Brioche right in front of us.

After the demo, I know why many people rather buy Brioche rather than make it themselves, it's so tedious to make it, it takes about 2-3 days with the resting of the dough before we get to eat it!

Chef Jen's quite entertaining and quite witty too. It was a good session. If only she would give us the full recipe to their Brioche!



Chef Jen said that they use 2 different type of yeasts in their Brioche recipe, one of it is this wet yeast. Chef Jen's nice that she passes samples of the ingredients around, so that the audience can all smell it. Oh, it smells so 'sour'. Give it time and feed it to the dough, it will turn into something smelling so good!



This was the dough that's to be rested over night before it can be used. It already smells sweeter and it was such a soft dough.



For demo purposes, they had a batch of dough they made they day before and we were shown how this Brioche master recipe can be turned into different yummy stuff.

The above were the doughnuts. The master dough also be made into buns for the sliders and Chef Jen made some Brioche loaves too.



I was secretly excited that we were told we get to try out the Sticky Rolls. The above is  different types of sugar and molasses that was going into the making of the sticky rolls. A very sweet mixtures of 4 different types of sugars and Vietnamese cinnamon that smells so divine. Yes, Americans love it really sweet!



Ooo... what a happy sight! Ready for baking! Doesn't it already look tempting?



Yes, freshly made Sticky Rolls, baked in the ovens behind where Chef Jen was standing.
Yes, I love sweet stuff and this was divine.
(If you don't like sweet stuff, you will cough and choke with the sugar haha)


Celebrity Chefs Area



At the Celebrity Chef Area, huge-bigger than life posters of the Celebrity Chefs who have their restaurants in MBS popping up at the Celebrity Chef area. This seems to be the most packed area of the Convention Centre. We were seeing queues everywhere!


The db Bistro Moderne's 'stall'.


See who's cooking! Chef Daniel Boulud himself. The sous chef on the left was shouting an impromptu dish. "Anyone wants Truffle Scrambled Eggs cooked by Chef Daniel for $30?" Oh.. look at the hands that went up!


I was intrigued by Chef Jen's demo, so this was the CUT stall.


The Wagyu Sliders for $5. Do you want some too?


The "Loius", which is crab meat starter. $3.
It's tasty and refreshing!

I also bought some large cookies, a combination of it for $6.


Other Areas:



There are also many stalls around that usually do not have 'shops' outside, they are the suppliers to many restaurants in Singapore. Giorgio Ferrari is one of them. Camemberu was with me and HungryCow and she recommended that we should try the stuff from this supplier!


They have a quite nice slab of Saga-Gyu for only $10. We earlier bought CUT's version of it with sauces and dips to go with it, but this is for those who likes pure meat.


A delicious slab of Japanese Saga-Gyu for $10 and only with salt and pepper after grilling. It's a nice find in the midst of hundreds of stalls!

Oh, their Italian Gelato is delicious too! A scoop for only $3.




We were walking around and we saw that Swiss Butchery had a stall selling sausages. Oh yummy! $3 for a sausage. We shared 3 different kinds of sausages!



At the other end of the Convention Centre, there are also stalls selling lots of Frozen Goods. You might want to check it out and compare prices if you are cooking at home for the coming Lunar New Year.


If you would like to go, click on to Marina Bay Sands website for more details.

Epicurean Market
Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre
10 Bayfront Ave
Singapore 018956