Singapore Food Festival 2012 @ Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay

The Singapore Food Festival is back! The Singapore Food Festival 2012 edition marks the 19th run of the festival! It's on from 13-22 July 2012. The theme this year for food festival is "Seafood Tales of Temasek". Just as the theme says, it's lots and lots of seafood this year!

I was at the Festival Village at Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay (this year's it's moved to Marina Bay from Read Bridge, Clarke Quay) on Friday, 13th July. There was so many people and I see lots of tourist as well. I just read the there was a record high of 40,000 people who visited the Festival Village on opening day!



This year's venue is much bigger than previous years, it's no longer on a 'bridge' but located next to Marina Bay Sands, at the Waterfront Promenade. It's like an 8 minute's walk out of Marina Bay Sands exit where Carnivore is located.


I was there at around 7 plus and saw Chef Eric demonstrating cooking a dish.
A few chefs are having demo sessions, you can check out the SFF website for details.


This was the famous Lim Hai Sheng carrot cake hawker cooking the delicious Chai Tow Kueh!

Walk around and you can see many hawkers all gather under 1 roof, or rather tent! I think there are around 50 stalls!


I think I saw the duck fat unhealthy? Think again... poster last year. I got attracted to that poster again!


2nd Kitchen from Balestier Road has very nice food. I have been to their shop at Balestier Road before and liked their food.


Fried Hokkien Noodles for you?


This is what you will get. It's quite tasty.


Walking around, I heard someone shouting 'sushi, sushi'. It sounded very Japanese by the way it was shouted. I turned to see and hey it's Chef Sho Naganuma from Hide Yamamoto.

He's there promoting for HY California, which is part of Hide Yamamoto restaurant at Marina Bay Sands.


Did you see what I see? Whole salmon there!
Probably the first year you can get such great sashimi at the food festival!


One of the highlights of Singapore Food Festival is the Singapore Food Festival Platter presented by Seafood Paradise. As I was waiting for my platter, a group of photographers / journalists suddenly rushed towards the stall and the next thing I know, lots of people were beside me. I suddenly realised it's Mr Teo Ser Luck beside me!
(So I took a photo as well lah....)


This is the Singapore Food Festival Platter. There are two types, one with Chilli Crab or the Signature Creamy Butter Crab.

The platter also has Stir-fried Live Geoduck with Asparagus in XO Sauce, Crisp-fried Prawns tossed with Salted Egg Yolk, Deep-fried Coral Trout in Nyonya Style and Supreme Seafood Fried Rice. The Fried Rice is really nice!


Tasting it suddenly reminds me of their delicious crab I ate at Seafood Paradise some time ago.
I should visit the restaurant for more of this yummy stuff!


I met Cuisine Paradise and others at the Food Festival and they had an extra portion of these Mussels in Laksa by Neo Garden and passed a box for us to try. Only available at the Festival Village, they are quite tasty and you might not stop eating if you start.


Spotted at the drinks kiosk or stall, Somersby Apple Cider.

It's the wife's favourite. I got this to cool down as it can be quite warm at the Food Village!


The folks at Covelli Italian Bistro and Wine Bar (located at Orchard Central) was bringing things to taste at our next table. Being there at the right time, they also brought some for us to try! It's their newly developed Squid Ink MERINGUE and Sea Urchin Mango CHEESE MOUSSE.

Interesting mix don't you think? Wanna try it yourself?


The best way to pay for your meals here is to get a NETS FlashPay card. You get 20% discount by using their cards ;-)

There are so many things to try and you might get carried away buying things. A 20% discount will help your money go a few steps longer!

If you want to read more about other activities during the Singapore Food Festival, visit their website at: http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/

Visit the Singapore Food Festival Village and enjoy!

Singapore Food Festival 2011 @ Read Bridge, Clarke Quay (15-24 July)

Have you gone down to Read Bridge at Clarke Quay? Do you know it's the 18th year of the Singapore Food Festival. Singapore Food Festival 2011 runs from 15 to 24 July 2011.

The theme for this year's festival is "Curry and Spices". It's interesting isn't it? They have partnered the Indian Restaurants Association of Singapore to bring us the theme Curry and Spices.

Many food that uses spices are on sale. Most of Singapore's best-loved curries and dishes can be tasted! There are also interesting food events held at restaurants in Little India too!



Singapore Food Festival was officially opened by Mr S Iswaran on Saturday.




Look, Read Bridge has again covered by a big white canopy. That makes your eating event here a rain or shine event!

Oh look, can you see a little blonde hair boy happily enjoying his food too? He's so cute!




I noticed something different in the air when I was there. The air seems to be filled with smell of spices! The theme of this year is "Curry and Spices" and this stall clearly lives out to the theme!



You can buy the spices you want here!
They smell really good, it's the smell that I remembered going to Indian spices shops when I was young! Mum buys her curry and spices bit by bits from the Indian traders previously. But careful, some are really pungent and sting the eye!




I walked around before the official opening and noticed that the curry from this stall selling fish head curry was quite popular.



I spotted at least two families eating it. Looks like the curry fish head that we locals love are equally enjoyed by these two groups of tourists!

A few of us met up at the event, (Camemberu, CalvinTimo, and a few others) and we thought we would share the food, so we can try more things. Here are some of the food we ate!




I could not resist the gelato stall which had flavours like Chocolate Chilli, Vanilla Saffron, Sansho Pepper, Raspberry Ginger, Wasabi. It's an Italian gelato stall with a difference!




I bought Vanilla Saffron to try!
I kind of like it! Creamy and smooth gelato. But it melts rather quickly, so waste no time!




One very familiar seafood brands in Singapore, Jumbo's having a stall there too!
I realise they are selling the packs of ready to cook chilli crab sauce too! (I must get one of it, and pass to aunt or mum to cook for us! haha.)




Looking at these crabs, it kinda make you salivate! They are sold in portions of 250 gm for $10.
That's $40 / kg, that's about the market rate for chilli crabs.




How could you resist not getting the mantou to dip with the chilli crab sauce?
Mantous were $2 for 4.




250gm was around half a crab according to the person who sold me the crabs.
So here the half a chilli crab that we shared. The sauce was spicy and yummy!




If you walk at the end of the bridge that near to the Clarke Quay restaurant side, the whiff of Chai Tow Kueh will attract you! The Lim Hai Sheng Carrot Cake has this guy frying the carrot cake and it smell so good! I remember they were also at last year's Food Festival.




Here's the tasty Chai Tow Kueh we shared.




For Japanese beer lovers, Asahi is one of the main sponsors of the event and you can get your Asahis here! ;-)




Another of the many dishes we shared. This was the Ngo Hiong.
We tried the kebabs, naans, and many more, but I will spare you the photos. Go try it yourselves!


Singapore Food Festival 2011 is not only the Festival Village that's on Read Bridge.
If you walk along Central River Promenade, there's food stalls too!

If you are interested, here are some interesting events that you can join in too!

• SFF Culinary Adventures - Tiffin Cruise - 15-24 Jul, 4-10 pm. 45 minutes per cruise, Singapore River Cruise Liang Court Jetty ($38+)
• SFF Culinary Adventures - Trishaw Heritage Trail @ Little India, 16, 17, 23, 24 July, 10 am to 1.30 pm, Little India, $88+
• SFF Culinary Adventures - Spice and Canapes in the Sky - 16, 17, 23, 24 Jul, 5-7 pm, Singapore Flyer, $108+
• Longest Table @ Little India - 23 Jul 2011, 6-10pm, Race Course Road. There are two categories of sit down buffet dinner at $80 / $100.
• A curry-licious Experience @ Little India - 23 & 24 Jul, 6-10pm, Race Course Road, Little India, 23 July - $10 per entry, 24 July, $5 per entry.
• Kampong Glam presents "Of Rendang Tales and Spices" - 23, 24 Jul, Kampong Glam, details at http://www.malayheritage.org.sg
• National Library Board presents "Garden Walks" - 23, 24 Jul, details at http://golibrary.nlb.gov.sg
• Jurong Bird Park presents "Asian Curry High Tea Buffet". 23, 24 Jul, 3-5 pm, Bongo Burger Restaurant Terrace, Adults $25+, Child $20+
• Central Food Festival by the River - 1 Jul - 14 Aug, various shops at Central.
• Restaurant Association of Singapore Presents "SFF Culinary Classes" - 16, 17, 23, 24 July, 9am - 12 pm, 2 pm - 5pm (2 sessions) at TOTTS (Bukit Timah), $88.
• At-Sunrice presents "Spice Odyssey" - 20 July, 6 - 8 pm, At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy. $108

It's interesting ya? I noticed there's a Curry Buffet at the Singapore Bird Park!
For more details about the events, go to http://www.singaporefoodfestival.com.sg

Enjoy eating!


For those who loves to view photos instead of read, here are more photos of the event that I took.

Singapore Food Festival 2010 Launch : Clarke Quay Food Street

If you have not already known, the Singapore Food Festival has started in Singapore.
I guess of all the different Festivals that is held in Singapore, the Singapore Food Festival would probably be the most loved by all.

I was there at the Clarke Quay Food Street last Friday to 'check it out'.
Checking out both the food and people there!

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Oh look who I spotted first.  Mr KF Seetoh, Singapore's renowned food personality and founder of Makansutra. (Oh yes, he was even on Martha Stewart's show last year!)

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More people spotting, I spotted the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Lim Hng Kiang there too.

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If you are wondering where exactly is the Clarke Quay Food Street, it's on Read Bridge. They have covered Read Bridge and brought in more than 30 stalls from various famous restaurants and hawkers all literally under one white roof!

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How do we eat everything here? Not possible right?  Momo and I met up with Aromacookery and we decided of 'join forces' to conquer the food there. Armed with two pieces of $20 prepaid food card we bought the following:

I queued for the Lim Hai Sheng Carrot Cake. This stall's the famous Carrot Cake stall from Ang Mo Kio Ave 6.



I think so. The carrot cake was quite good. I liked it because there was lots of crunchy 'chai po' that you can taste when you eat it. It was also very very fragrant. This was the $4 version.

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Next Momo queued for the Rojak. Apa Rojak. What an interesting name. Rojak is a Malay word. If you read it all in Malay, it would translate to What Rojak?

But I realise that their Apa is a translation from Chinese, which means Dad's Rojak. This stall's from Lau Pa Sat Festival Market.



The rojak was not too bad. We had the fruit rojak and there was enough 'hae kor' (prawn paste) in it to hold everything together.

What do you like in rojak? I like the fried dough fritters (you tiao) in it.
This was the $4 version.



Hey, more people spotting. Guess who else I saw?

- Luke Nyugen, a celebrity chef that's on Food Network Asia and owns the Red Lantern restaurant in Sydney.
- Sylvia Tan, a popular Singapore Food Writer who has published a few books.

Luke was seen carrying a plate of the same rojak! They were filming something.

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Next, I went to queue for some duck. I think why I stopped there was because of the poster at the side. "Duck Fat Unhealthy? Think Again..." Hmmm

I am not sure where De Tai Roast is from though.



Their duck did looked tempting hanging there.



I bought two duck drumsticks. A little expensive at $5.80 each.
The taste was OK only to me.



If you want me to say which is nicer, I think the roast duck above was nicer than the braised duck below.

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Aromacookery queued for the Ngoh Hiong.
Xin Sheng is from the west of Singapore. Taman Jurong residents would probably know it.



The Ngoh Hiong did really made a great entrance with a huge leaf that was used to hold the food. It looks really 'photogenic'. The Ngoh Hiong taste not too bad either.

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Using credit from Aromacookery's card, Momo got the Yeh Lai Siang Hainanese Chicken Rice.



Aromacookery, Momo, Camemberu (who we met there with) HungryCow like the chicken rice.
I think my taste is a bit different. I think it's because I can't appreciate rice balls!

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There we nearly finished up the $40 credit on the prepaid food card we had.


Head down to Clarke Quay with your colleauges or family or friends from now till 24 July, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Look even the kids are glad to be there.
(More people spotting, these two little cute ones would be the future King and Queen of Caldecott Hill.)



Thanks for reading this long post!

Clarke Quay Food Street
Read Bridge (next to Merchant Court Hotel)
4:00 PM to 11:00 PM
16 - 24 July 2010

Remember to bring your Kopitiam card or purchase a limited edition Food Festival prepaid card.
They do not accept cash.