Epicurean Market 2015
I had my first experience at a food fair this weekend, at Marina Bay Sands' Epicurean Market 2015. This is the third edition of the event, and I had an amazing experience overall. I spent most of my time at the Celebrity Chef arena, tasting dishes from the various fine dining establishments in Marina Bay Sands. There was also a Farmer's Market selling lots of fresh produce and a Wine Walk which I just quickly walked past. I thought that the event had a really interesting concept, allowing visitors to sample food at fairly affordable prices (as compared to dining in the actual restaurants). There was an entrance fee of $28 that allowed us access for all 3 days of the event, and also came with 2 free wine glasses and commemorative SG50 coke bottles. The food, needless to say, was absolutely amazing. More descriptions and my verdict on the various dishes I tried below, but first, a picture of the event ticketing counters and entrance taken on the first night.
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| Event Entrance |
DAY 1
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| Long Chim - Eggplant salad |
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| CUT - Wagyu short rib |
Next we checked out the daily special from Sky on 57 by local chef Justin Quek. It was yet another amazing wagyu dish: Seared wagyu tri-tip with slow-cooked egg and lu shui truffle sauce. The serving size was very generous in my opinion. The combination of flavours from the beef, egg and truffle was simply delightful. Totally worth the cost of $18. Finally, we had dessert from CÉ LA VI, a coconut pandan verrine for $6. Beneath that cream was a yummy coconut sorbet, which went well with the pandan cream and tropical fruit flavours within.
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| Sky on 57 - Seared wagyu tri-tip |
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| Ce La Vi - Coconut pandan verrine |
DAY 2
Was back for a really short time (maybe just under an hour) on Saturday since I was headed to the nearby Suntec City for dinner anyway, and sampled a few more dishes. Singaporeans love to queue, and usually, if there is a long line at a food stall, the food there must be great. This was exactly the case at Waku Ghin, which always seemed to have the longest line. So I heard that the signature dishes were the Marinated Botan Shrimp as well as the Slow-cooked Tasmania Short Rib. I had a hard time deciding which one to try, but ultimately went with the less adventurous option of tasting yet another beef dish since I am not really a fan of caviar. While the short rib was extremely delicious, I thought that the beef dishes from CUT and Sky on 57 had better value for their respective price tags. Waku Ghin's dish was pretty small. Also saw head chef Tetsuya Wakuda up close chatting with some visitors, but didn't get a picture with him. Wasted opportunity.
Since I was running a bit late for my dinner appointment, I didn't have too much time to decide what to try next, so I decided to check out the food by RISE, which is the international buffet restaurant at the MBS hotel. Without reading any reviews, I just went with the items that I felt like trying at that very moment, namely the fish taco ($7) and churros with chocolate ($6). Unfortunately, both were quite mediocre (hence the smaller pictures). The taco was a bit soft (I thought they are meant to be crispy). Only now that the event is over did I come across a couple of online articles praising their other dishes. Another wasted opportunity.
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| Waku Ghin - Tasmania Short rib |
DAY 3
I was all set to check out more celebrity chef creations after my disappointing experience at the RISE booth. My first stop was Adrift by David Myers, a modern Asian restaurant. To my pleasant surprise, the man himself was at the head of the queue greeting all his customers; I was seriously starstruck and was excited to take my first ever picture with a celebrity. The pineapple tamarind glazed pork ribs for $10 were finger lickin' good, literally because it was nearly impossible to eat this with a fork. The sauce was just perfect and the pork was cooked to perfection - a great start to my Sunday lunch.
Then I decided to check out Spago, which is Wolfgang Puck's second restaurant in MBS, due to open later this year. This was a unique booth, giving visitors a sneak peek into some of the food that we might be able to get when the store opens. I went for the first item on the menu, handmade sweet corn agnolotti with summer truffles. Agnolotti is a stuffed pasta originating from the Piedmont region of Italy. WOW, this dish was one of my favourites, and only $12 for a nice helping! Those truffles just complemented the dish so perfectly.
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| Chef David Myers |
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| Adrift - Tamarind pork ribs |
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| Spago - sweet corn agnolotti |
The pork ribs and pasta were already pretty filling, so I decided to get dessert. It was hard to decide because nearly every stall had interesting sounding desserts. Once again, I ended up taking a "safe option" of panna cotta from the Italian restaurant Mozza. I chose this one because I wanted to try something from a different restaurant. In the end, the safe choice was also a "safe" experience because the panna cotta (not pictured) was good but not spectacular. Perhaps I should have trusted the long line at the Waku Ghin dessert counter instead. At this point in time I felt like I had space for another light dish, so I headed over to Hide Yamamoto and tried their chilled corn soup. It was yummy! Lots of ingredients inside like radish, leek, dill, zucchini and more.
Aside from Spago, the other restaurant making its debut appearance at this year's fair was Bread Street Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay. Just walking near the booth I could hear many people saying how good the pork sliders were. The signature fish and chips also seemed to be really popular. However, I eventually didn't try anything from here. I also skipped db Bistro, which apparently had some amazing hot dogs, and Punjab Grill, which had some kind of butter chicken tarts.
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| Celebrity chef arena |
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Though it burned a big hole in my wallet, I had a truly memorable time. I was really happy with some of my choices, but also left with a bit of regret for not sampling some other dishes. The highlights for me include the sneak peek of Spago with that delicious sweet corn pasta, all the 3 Wagyu beef dishes that I tried, especially the one with the slow-cooked egg from Sky on 57, and definitely the photo with celebrity chef David Myers (yes, I am still pretty stoked). On the other hand, I was slightly disappointed with the mediocre food from RISE, and for not trying the more unique desserts (e.g. from Waku Ghin) or being more adventurous with the shrimp and caviar dish from Waku Ghin. Guess I'll return next year to check those off my list.
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| Souvenir coke bottles |
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| Re-entry wristband |
