Savour Gourmet
Savour Gourmet was held from 12-15 May at the open area next to Marina Bay Sands. 10 restaurants set up stalls at the fair, each serving 3 dishes, priced at either $12 for most mains or $6 for sides and desserts. Portion sizes weren't that big but aligned with my expectations for this kind of event. I was there on all 4 days, and managed to try more than half of all the dishes offered. Overall I had a really good experience with the food. The crowds were quite substantial in the evenings, while the main drawback during the day times was the weather - the heat was especially unbearable during the weekend. Luckily there was a gourmet market that was air-conditioned to offer a respite from the heat.
On the bright side, there was no separate entrance fee - supposedly the first time they opened entry to all in the several years that this event has happened. I think it was a good move. However, due to the long opening hours with no break in between, those who came later in the day were at a disadvantage. On Sunday, the event was scheduled to end at 8pm, but by 5pm many of the dishes were already sold out. Another interesting aspect of this event was the popularity competition. There was a voting process where customers were given rubber balls to vote for their favourite restaurants. I would have voted for Labyrinth but they were not participating in the contest. The more popular ones will be back to compete for the title of Emerging Chef Singapore.
I tried all the dishes from Buona Terra. The first was the tagliolini with mushrooms, saffron, parmesan and black truffle (A). I thought that the flavours were rich and the pasta was really well-cooked. I also enjoyed their oven-baked Sicilian red prawns (A-), which were sweet and succulent, but the other elements - cauliflower, almonds, raisins and shellfish sauce - were slightly underwhelming. Meanwhile, their nougat parfait (A) was the best dessert I had at the event. It was drizzled with a delicious sweet wine sauce and was the perfect snack on a scorching hot Sunday afternoon.
Over at Cato, there was the Pan-seared Black Cod (A-). The fish was cooked really well and the fennel salad was good too. In fact I think it might have been the first time I have tried fennel. A fairly light dish even with the salted egg veloute. Their twice-cooked Kurobuta Pork Belly (B+) looked fancier than the cod dish but I still preferred the fish. The dish came with cured Iberico bellota ham. In the picture the pork is actually hidden below a "crisp bread", which wasn't that crispy in my case. Finally, there was a really interesting dessert - coconut panna cotta with below zero apple mousse and gula melaka crumble (A), though I think the one from Buona Terra still wins in my book. I really liked the presentation, with the liquid nitrogen smoke still visible when the dish was served to me. Seems like this restaurant has a thing for fruit caviars, being present on both this dish as well as the fish.
From Saveur Art, the egg confit (B+) was a small dish but packed with really strong flavours of truffled potato mousseline, macadamia nuts and brown butter that linger in the mouth for quite a while. Their angel hair lobster pasta (B-) was probably one of the most popular dishes at the event. You could see people snapping photos of this dish at every corner of the dining area. However, despite its immense popularity, I thought that it was a little disappointing. I would have liked it to be a bit warmer. Perhaps they prepared it too fast in attempting to cope with the high demand. Also, the pasta was a tad oily. I didn't try the dessert on offer here, which was a tropical fruit sorbet.
The only dish I tried from Gattopardo was the Paninazzo Italiano (A+) - braised wagyu shortribs burger with Sicilian tomato, fresh pecorino cheese and spicy mustard and it was one my favourite dishes of the entire event. The beef melted in the mouth and along with the other elements, just elevated the dish superbly. It was messy to eat, with sauce dripping everywhere, but certainly finger-lickin' good! Obviously I couldn't waste any bit of it so I really licked them fingers clean after. The other dishes here were a raviola with truffles, which I skipped since there was already another similar dish, and the citrus glazed baby octopus which was really delicious according to a friend. Not being a fan of octopus in general was one of the reasons I didn't try it though.
Labyrinth offered what was in my opinion one of the most unique dishes at the event. Their rendition of the Chilli Crab (A+) was actually a tempura soft shell crab with chilli ice cream and caviar. Yes, you heard it right; instead of the traditional chilli crab sauce, they actually paired the crab with a chilli ice cream. To be honest, I haven't had chilli crab before despite it being one of Singapore's most famous local dishes, but this one just sounded too interesting to miss. I was glad I gave it a try, because I was truly amazed by it - the ice cream had just the right amount of chilli flavour that wasn't too overpowering, especially for me given that I'm not big on spicy food. I guess I was also lucky that I ordered it when the event wasn't so crowded due to a heavy downpour, so they had time to prepare the dish properly. When I brought my parents on the last day to check out this dish, the ice cream was already partially melted when served. Again, it seemed like the dishes were prepared too quickly and were just left there too long, a common problem faced by many stalls. The siew yoke with umami rice (A-) was also really enjoyable. The pork belly was well-cooked, and the rice was really tasty with some crispy nori. As a whole these flavours just worked very well together with the meat, making it a very good dish.
Artichoke was serving chicken and waffles (B), or as they called it, "foie-ffle" (corn waffle with foie gras butter, orange blossom and golden syrup). It was no wonder that it was one of the crowd favourites, with perpetual long lines. Now, the chicken and waffles were also sold separately but since I was keen to try both and it was cheaper this way, I opted for the combo option, which ultimately turned out to be a mistake. The fried chicken as an individual dish actually had a dressing of truffled hummus, honey, pickles and shaved haloumi (what's that anyway?) but all this was not available on the combo dish, probably because it wouldn't necessarily go well with the waffle. But looking at other people's dishes I think that would have been the wiser option. Without that topping the chicken just tasted really mediocre to me. On the other hand, the waffle was good, and I thought that this foie gras butter was definitely unique and enjoyable.
From Bar A Thym, the Valrhona Chocolate mousse with passion fruit and almond crumble (A-) was not pictured but a really enjoyable dessert. We had this on the last day of the event, and with their other dishes already sold out when we ordered this, they were happily slashing prices just to get their food out, which was fortunate for us. I ordered their wagyu striploin, mushrooms, beans and truffles (B-) after having another pork dish, so even though they had a really interesting-looking iberico pork jowl dish (which my friend said was the best dish they had) I didn't want to order the same type of meat twice, but it was another big disappointment here. After observing what people were posting on Instagram, I also concluded that I was being scammed! WHERE THE HELL IS MY SAUCE???!!! So, while the wagyu was alright, the lack of sauce really affected the taste of this dish negatively. Seriously, if there wasn't any sauce they should have waited till a new batch of sauce was prepared. If that wasn't the case, then perhaps they just happened to forget about it for my plate, so the dish ended up being too dry.
I also tried all three offerings from Salt Tapas and Bar. First up, the tempura fish taco (A-) was really yummy with the dressing of white cabbage, pineapple salsa, wasabi mayo, tobiko and spring onions complementing the fried fish really well. It's a pity I didn't snap a picture of it. The BBQ pork ribs (A-) were also really nice and tender, with a tasty accompaniment of mash, pickled onions, sauteed peas with edamame and scallions. No picture again but definitely worth the money. On the other hand, their Churros (B-) wasn't the most memorable of dishes, tasting pretty ordinary, much like any others that you can find in so many cafes these days.
There were two stalls that I didn't try at all. One of them was R&D. Had I known from the start that Masterchef Canada winner Eric Chong was one of the guys in charge here, I might have given it a try on the first night. He was mentored by Michelin-starred chef Alvin Leung. It looked like his fried chicken dish was also quite popular, and unlike Artichoke's dish, this one I believe didn't have bones, so it would have been much more convenient to eat. Too bad it was sold out by the time I wanted to try it. The other was Lower East Side, which served 3 types of tacos. Aside from the food village there was also the gourmet market, which sold fresh seafood, lavender ice cream, cured meats, cheeses, wines, and lots of snacks. Nice that there were free samples galore, so I did spend some time circling the area just munching on those.
I am glad that I decided to attend the event, even if alone on the first two days, and am definitely looking forward to the next two Savour events - Savour Wines in September will host a new set of restaurants and a wine market, and November will see the arrival of Savour Christmas.
On the bright side, there was no separate entrance fee - supposedly the first time they opened entry to all in the several years that this event has happened. I think it was a good move. However, due to the long opening hours with no break in between, those who came later in the day were at a disadvantage. On Sunday, the event was scheduled to end at 8pm, but by 5pm many of the dishes were already sold out. Another interesting aspect of this event was the popularity competition. There was a voting process where customers were given rubber balls to vote for their favourite restaurants. I would have voted for Labyrinth but they were not participating in the contest. The more popular ones will be back to compete for the title of Emerging Chef Singapore.
I tried all the dishes from Buona Terra. The first was the tagliolini with mushrooms, saffron, parmesan and black truffle (A). I thought that the flavours were rich and the pasta was really well-cooked. I also enjoyed their oven-baked Sicilian red prawns (A-), which were sweet and succulent, but the other elements - cauliflower, almonds, raisins and shellfish sauce - were slightly underwhelming. Meanwhile, their nougat parfait (A) was the best dessert I had at the event. It was drizzled with a delicious sweet wine sauce and was the perfect snack on a scorching hot Sunday afternoon.
 |
| Tagliolini with mushroom |
 |
| Sicilian red prawns |
 |
| Nougat parfait |
Over at Cato, there was the Pan-seared Black Cod (A-). The fish was cooked really well and the fennel salad was good too. In fact I think it might have been the first time I have tried fennel. A fairly light dish even with the salted egg veloute. Their twice-cooked Kurobuta Pork Belly (B+) looked fancier than the cod dish but I still preferred the fish. The dish came with cured Iberico bellota ham. In the picture the pork is actually hidden below a "crisp bread", which wasn't that crispy in my case. Finally, there was a really interesting dessert - coconut panna cotta with below zero apple mousse and gula melaka crumble (A), though I think the one from Buona Terra still wins in my book. I really liked the presentation, with the liquid nitrogen smoke still visible when the dish was served to me. Seems like this restaurant has a thing for fruit caviars, being present on both this dish as well as the fish.
From Saveur Art, the egg confit (B+) was a small dish but packed with really strong flavours of truffled potato mousseline, macadamia nuts and brown butter that linger in the mouth for quite a while. Their angel hair lobster pasta (B-) was probably one of the most popular dishes at the event. You could see people snapping photos of this dish at every corner of the dining area. However, despite its immense popularity, I thought that it was a little disappointing. I would have liked it to be a bit warmer. Perhaps they prepared it too fast in attempting to cope with the high demand. Also, the pasta was a tad oily. I didn't try the dessert on offer here, which was a tropical fruit sorbet.
The only dish I tried from Gattopardo was the Paninazzo Italiano (A+) - braised wagyu shortribs burger with Sicilian tomato, fresh pecorino cheese and spicy mustard and it was one my favourite dishes of the entire event. The beef melted in the mouth and along with the other elements, just elevated the dish superbly. It was messy to eat, with sauce dripping everywhere, but certainly finger-lickin' good! Obviously I couldn't waste any bit of it so I really licked them fingers clean after. The other dishes here were a raviola with truffles, which I skipped since there was already another similar dish, and the citrus glazed baby octopus which was really delicious according to a friend. Not being a fan of octopus in general was one of the reasons I didn't try it though.
Labyrinth offered what was in my opinion one of the most unique dishes at the event. Their rendition of the Chilli Crab (A+) was actually a tempura soft shell crab with chilli ice cream and caviar. Yes, you heard it right; instead of the traditional chilli crab sauce, they actually paired the crab with a chilli ice cream. To be honest, I haven't had chilli crab before despite it being one of Singapore's most famous local dishes, but this one just sounded too interesting to miss. I was glad I gave it a try, because I was truly amazed by it - the ice cream had just the right amount of chilli flavour that wasn't too overpowering, especially for me given that I'm not big on spicy food. I guess I was also lucky that I ordered it when the event wasn't so crowded due to a heavy downpour, so they had time to prepare the dish properly. When I brought my parents on the last day to check out this dish, the ice cream was already partially melted when served. Again, it seemed like the dishes were prepared too quickly and were just left there too long, a common problem faced by many stalls. The siew yoke with umami rice (A-) was also really enjoyable. The pork belly was well-cooked, and the rice was really tasty with some crispy nori. As a whole these flavours just worked very well together with the meat, making it a very good dish.
Artichoke was serving chicken and waffles (B), or as they called it, "foie-ffle" (corn waffle with foie gras butter, orange blossom and golden syrup). It was no wonder that it was one of the crowd favourites, with perpetual long lines. Now, the chicken and waffles were also sold separately but since I was keen to try both and it was cheaper this way, I opted for the combo option, which ultimately turned out to be a mistake. The fried chicken as an individual dish actually had a dressing of truffled hummus, honey, pickles and shaved haloumi (what's that anyway?) but all this was not available on the combo dish, probably because it wouldn't necessarily go well with the waffle. But looking at other people's dishes I think that would have been the wiser option. Without that topping the chicken just tasted really mediocre to me. On the other hand, the waffle was good, and I thought that this foie gras butter was definitely unique and enjoyable.
From Bar A Thym, the Valrhona Chocolate mousse with passion fruit and almond crumble (A-) was not pictured but a really enjoyable dessert. We had this on the last day of the event, and with their other dishes already sold out when we ordered this, they were happily slashing prices just to get their food out, which was fortunate for us. I ordered their wagyu striploin, mushrooms, beans and truffles (B-) after having another pork dish, so even though they had a really interesting-looking iberico pork jowl dish (which my friend said was the best dish they had) I didn't want to order the same type of meat twice, but it was another big disappointment here. After observing what people were posting on Instagram, I also concluded that I was being scammed! WHERE THE HELL IS MY SAUCE???!!! So, while the wagyu was alright, the lack of sauce really affected the taste of this dish negatively. Seriously, if there wasn't any sauce they should have waited till a new batch of sauce was prepared. If that wasn't the case, then perhaps they just happened to forget about it for my plate, so the dish ended up being too dry.
I also tried all three offerings from Salt Tapas and Bar. First up, the tempura fish taco (A-) was really yummy with the dressing of white cabbage, pineapple salsa, wasabi mayo, tobiko and spring onions complementing the fried fish really well. It's a pity I didn't snap a picture of it. The BBQ pork ribs (A-) were also really nice and tender, with a tasty accompaniment of mash, pickled onions, sauteed peas with edamame and scallions. No picture again but definitely worth the money. On the other hand, their Churros (B-) wasn't the most memorable of dishes, tasting pretty ordinary, much like any others that you can find in so many cafes these days.
There were two stalls that I didn't try at all. One of them was R&D. Had I known from the start that Masterchef Canada winner Eric Chong was one of the guys in charge here, I might have given it a try on the first night. He was mentored by Michelin-starred chef Alvin Leung. It looked like his fried chicken dish was also quite popular, and unlike Artichoke's dish, this one I believe didn't have bones, so it would have been much more convenient to eat. Too bad it was sold out by the time I wanted to try it. The other was Lower East Side, which served 3 types of tacos. Aside from the food village there was also the gourmet market, which sold fresh seafood, lavender ice cream, cured meats, cheeses, wines, and lots of snacks. Nice that there were free samples galore, so I did spend some time circling the area just munching on those.
I am glad that I decided to attend the event, even if alone on the first two days, and am definitely looking forward to the next two Savour events - Savour Wines in September will host a new set of restaurants and a wine market, and November will see the arrival of Savour Christmas.
