Your Ultimate Guide to SAVOUR2014

Last year I did a guide to Savour2013 and I thought I’ld do it again this year 🙂

Savour is all about being fast, efficient and trying as many things as you can within the 5 to 6 hours while you are there. But the Festive Guide is impartial and not all that helpful and some of you might want to do some extra research and ask questions – so here’s the ULTIMATE GUIDE to SAVOUR2014!

YOU NEED TO PLAN.

I am trying to work on this as fast as I can for the benefit of people who are at Savour right now and who will be going for the event over the weekends, so I’ll be publishing as I continue to update. Do keep refreshing for more information. Once this post is completed, I will remove this sentence.

PRICES

The Festive Guide does not show the prices of each food item, so here’s a breakdown for everyone. It will help when you want to plan your budget. The prices in this record is according to the booklet. This part also acts as a summary, stating my rating for the ones I myself have tried.

Chef Han Liguang

• Chendol Xiao Long Bao – $6  — 0.5 Star
• Singapore Chilli Crab – $12  — 2.5 Stars
• Combo: Chendol Xiao Long Bao + Singapore Chilli Crab – $14

Chef Claudio Sandri

• No price records as chef is only here for Weekends

Chef Riccardo Catarsi

• Linguine, Crab & Nduja – $10 (Small) & $16 (Large)  — 3.5 stars
• Home Cured Salami Platter, Sopressata Veneta, Salame Dolce and Salame Piccante – $16
• Roast Cod, Salsa Rubra – $16  — 3 stars

Chef Henrik Yde

• Frozen Red Curry with Prawn & Coriander Salad $14
• Banana Cake with Coconut Jelly of Dark Sugar & Salt – $8
• Spicy Minced Duck with Foamy Yam Meringue & Mint – $12  — 4 stars

Chef Mark Best

• No price records as chef is only here for Weekends

Chef Emmanuel Stroobant

• Homemade Foie Cras Terrine Tempura – $18
• Low temperature Prime U.S. Beef Rib Eye – $18
• Soy-marinated Wagyu Beef Shank – $12
• Slow Roasted Organic Lamb – $18
• Nitrorita/ Virgin – $ 12 (with Tequila) & $6 (without Tequila) — 5 Stars

Chef Ezio Gritti

• Crispy Roll of Marramundi With Fresh Tropical Fruit – $14  — 2 stars
• Three Worlds – Cauliflower, Mango & Chicken – $10
• White Chocolate Mousse with Watermelon & Ginger Sauce – $18

Chef Bruno Menard

• Trio of Tartare with Vintage Original Sturia Caviar – $16
• Valrhona Dulce Chocolate Crea with Passion Fruit Coulis & oft Chocolate Macaron – $8 —5 Stars

Chef Kentaro Torii

• 5 Cheese Tortellini with Saffron Cream Sauce, Slow Roasted Kurobuta Pork Cheek, Beetroot Puree & Autumn Truffle – $14  — 3.5 Stars
• Roasted Suckling Pig Lion’ Porchetta, Sherry Vinegar Sauce, Roasted Vegetables – $16 — 3 stars
• Combo: 5 Cheese Tortellini with Saffron Cream Sauce + Roasted Suckling Pig Lion’ Porchetta + Valrhona Dulce Chocolate Crea with Passion Fruit Coulis & oft Chocolate Macaron – $18 ONLY

Chef Christopher Millar

• No price records as chef is only here for Weekends

Chef Mark Sargeant

• Rocksalt / Pan-Fried Rye Bay Scallop with a Tomato, Chilli & Broad Bean Salsa – $10
• Rocksalt / 32 Day Aged Roast Sirloin of Angus Beef in a Yorkshire Pudding with Horseradish & Watercress – $18
• Oxwell / Cured Scottish Salmon , Artisan Sourdough Bread & Capers – $10
• Oxwell / Braised Pressed Free Range Chicken Leg, Roasted Red Petter & Almond Sauce – $16
• Oxwell / Vairhona Chocolate Pot, Fresh Cream & Homemade Honeycomb – $8

Chef Alvin Leung ( 3 Michelin Stars MUST TRY / Make him your first stop )

• Molecular – “Xiao Long Bao” – $8  ( OOS when we reached the counter at 8 plus)
• Lap Mei Fan – $12
• Umami – $18 ( OOS when we reached the counter at 8 plus)
• Map Tai – $10 ( But we were only charged $8 at the cashier)  — 6 stars!!

Chef Moon Kyung Soo

• Kanpachi Truffle Soya – $16
• Hokkaido Botan Ebi – $18
• 72hr Miso Braised Short Rib – $10

Chef Daniel Sia

• The Disgruntled Chef Crispy Lamb Shortribs – $18
• Pind Balluchi / Lamb Galouti Kebab – $14
• The Disgruntled Chef Braised Pork Cheeks – $18
• Pind Balluchi / Hara kebab – $12

Chef James Knappett

• 4th of July – $14
• Jose – $12

Chef Daniel Chavez

• No price records as chef is only here for Weekends

Chef Michael Caines

• No price records as chef is only here for Weekends

Chef Julien Royer

• Obsiblue Prawn ‘Ceviche’ – $16
• 55′ Organic Egg – $12
• Strawberry – $10

Chef Christophe Paucod

• Eclair D’escargots, Fondie De Tomate, Beurre Ail & Persil – $16
• Cervelle Des Canuts Et Sa Baguette De Campagne – $8
• Tatin DE Boudin Noir Aux Pommes – $12

 

 STEP BY STEP THINGS TO DO 

 

Step 1. Once you have cleared all checks and successful entered, make a bee-line for Bo Innovation by Chef Alvin Leung and order all items that you would eat. There will probably be a queue, but do not worry, your time shall not be wasted here.

Step 2. Open you goodie bag and look for your festive booklet. Open it up and start marking your dishes. Circle those that you must try  and box those that you will consider if you have enough time and budget. This helps you quickly decide what dishes to go next after you are done with the previous one and not waste time having to ponder and decide.

Step 3. Refer back to my blog for the prices. Sorry I do not have all the prices stated here – I am hoping that friends who are visiting on Sat Lunch would tell me the prices and I will update them here. Note down the prices of those that you have circled and boxed and the compare your selection against your budget.

You are given $30 Savour dollars upon entry and you can purchase more at Savour counters located all around. *HINT – the counter behind Savour Arcade always have the shortest queue. At this point you may need to reselect your must-tries if you are on a tighter budget / or belt.

All additional dollars come in packs of $10 so plan well. You can try you luck asking for spare dollars if they have at the counter.

Step 4. By now your dishes from Bo Innovations should be ready or collection so the next time you should do is to find a seat. Hopefully you are not alone and have friends who can help look after the seating space and your barang barangs while you spilt the tasks and scourer for more food.

Step 5. Enjoy you gourmet from the rest of the chefs at the Village, however, don’t forget that there is the Marketplace and the Arcade too so don’t spend too much time and miss these out! Try to allocate at least 1 hour for the Marketplace and half an hour for the arcade. There is alot of free food tasting in these two places and you can get great fresh produce and exotic groceries too.

Step 6. Savour the night, run around, scream, shout, make friends and have a blast 🙂

 

 PHOTOS AND REVIEWS

Here are all the ‘delicacies’ that I have tried and I have placed them in my recommended order of tasting. Eg. I would highly recommend you to run for Bo Innovation by Chef Alvin Leung as his dishes gets sold out by about 8pm. That’s no wonder for a 3 Michelin Stars Chef! Then of course, going back to the way it should be, we start with appetizers and end with desserts.

1.

Mao Tai – Calamansi, Kaffir Lime, Lemon, Preserved Kumquat
Chef Alvin Leung | Bo Innovation, Hong Kong
3 Michelin Stars

 

Do not be taken aback by the ‘no images’ in the Festive Guide. As mentioned earlier, upon entering The Gourmet Village, the first thing you should do is to rush straight to Bo Innovations and make your order of all the dishes you can take (I would have skipped the Foie Gras) . I advise not to bother sharing the Xiao Long Bao. Just get 1 each. If there is a queue, do not be baffled by it, join it. There is a reason why: All the dishes are worth trying and even though we (Jessica and I) were early there, the queue never stopped and by the time Jess got to the ordering counter, Molecular and Umami were sold out – it was only 8pm plus.

Frankly we never wanted to try Mao Tai as it seemed to like any other sorbet. However, since Jessica reached the counter ( Molecular was sold out halfway during her queue and the person in front of her took the last Umami ) , we got the Mao Tai just to justify the efforts, and boy I am glad we did.

A spoon of sorbet woke up our bored taste buds and our spirits ( we had a few underwhelming dishes before this). It was on a heavenly level of refreshing taste and innovation. I believe the sorbet is a the mix of Calamansi, Kaffir Lime and Lemon. The greenish blend was indeed the work of a 3 Star Michelin, the kind of refreshment similar to jumping into a chilling pool of fresh spring water on a hot summer afternoon (yea, Singapore weather with no such natural formations here haha) . The bits of preserved Kumquat added a hint of sweetness and chewy texture to the sour combination as the foam melts on your tongue. Digging deeper, we were surprised to find sweet and aromatic Popcorn! It’s similar to the Garrett Popcorns, but we (choose to) believe that they were Chef Leung’s own innovation.

MY RATING: 6 STARS (out of 5)

 

2.

Spicy Minced Duck With Foamy Yam Meringue & Mint
Chef Henrik Yde | Kiin Kiin, Denmark
1 Michelin Star

 

The first Thai restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin Star, it makes me wonder if Chef Henrik had allowed his standards to waiver. Why do I say this? I was attracted by the image on the Savour Festive Guide and even though we knew it was going to be spicy (we don’t take spicy food) , we decided to go ahead and order this dish just for it’s aesthetics. While the end display did not justify our kick for adventure, this dish was really appetising!

True to the unique Thai type of spiciness, the duck was juicy and went fabulous with the fresh mint leaves! Who ever knew meat can be refreshing too? I have nothing to say about the Foamy Yam Meringue though. The duck probably overwhelmed the taste of the Foamy Yam Meringue and there was no hint of Yam at all ( so if you are going to try this dish, have the Meringue before you start on the duck). It was only after we have finished the plate did the spice kick in slowly and surely! It sent me going around looking for a drink!

On a side note, I probably appeared low class while ordering this dish. I mean, it was ‘fine dining’ so most of the dishes have very long names and we were rushing to try as many dishes as we can. So when I reached the counter, instead of saying ‘ I would like the Spicy Minced Duck With Foamy Yam Meringue & Mint please ‘ I simply shortened everything and said ‘ I want THE Duck. ‘ . I got a sheepish smile from the Eurasian counter boy who repeated ‘ the Duck?’

I replied: ‘ Yes, DUCK. Thank you. ‘

MY RATING: 4 STARS (out of 5)

 

3.

Nitrorita / Virgin
Chef Emmanuel Stroobant
Saint Pierre / Blue Lotus, Singapore

Now you need some Nitrogen Frozen Lime Sorbet to cool off the smoke 😉 This sorbet was made in the most artistic ( thus expensive) way possible, cold steaming the lime liquid through Liquid Nitrogen and stirring throughout the process. The result? A sorbet so smooth and fluffy you just can’t stop having it running down your throat ^.^ I’ll let the video below tell you more 🙂

MY RATING: 5 STARS (out of 5)

 

Combo

After the appetizers, let’s go for the main course 🙂 This is another must have dish at Savour2014 , simply because of the value you are getting here. This combo goes for $18 – getting them individually will set you off by $38 savour dollars. Let’s cut the chase and look into the details.

4.

5 Cheese Tortellini with Saffron Cream Sauce, Slow Roasted Kurobuta Pork Cheek, Beetroot Puree & Autumn Truffle
Chef Kentaro Torii | Forlino, Singapore

If you are a lover of cheese of all sorts, this dish is for you. If not, you’ll suffer with this like the way Jessica did 😛 Inside the innocent looking cheese coated dumplings is actually another round of semi-hardened cheese! Though there is no hint of which 5 cheese were used, I am guessing melted Cheddar Cheese for the sauce and in the dumplings,  my favourite Brie Cheese, maybe some goat cheese and a hint of blue cheese. It’s delightful and innovative enough for me , although I agree that the cheesy taste is a tad too overwhelming.

As for the Kurobuta Pork Cheek, the portion was too small I couldn’t taste much, although I love the pleasently smooth , melt-in-the-mouth texture. The beetroot puree didn’t taste any bit like beetroot, more like raspberry paste I would say. Sadly, I am no appreciator of truffles and couldn’t understand the hype, so Jessica had more of it instead. Hopfully she’ll blog about it later! (After 1st April I hope! Psst. we have a bet 😛 )

MY RATING: 3.5 STARS (out of 5)

 

5.

Roasted Suckling Pig Lion’ Porchetta
Chef Kentaro Torii | Forlino, Singapore

 

At first bite, I really liked the taste and the slightly crispy skin. The meat was also chewy with a bouncy texture – the more you chew, the stronger the aroma! However, this was the point where we both discovered that the pork has a slightly stinky taste (xin wei) to it, indicating that either the pork was not well treated or it is not fresh anymore.

Also, if you look at the well portioned out image below, it has a mix of soft (left 2)  and hard parts (right 2) and we were supposed to have 2 pieces each.  As I took my portion of the right side, I found this portion too hard and dry. Chewing was difficult and the bad taste continued to linger around my mouth. Although the first mouth taste was great, the excitement didn’t last long.

The cherry tomatoes were very juicy though and tasted awesome with the sauce. Once again, fresh food makes good food.

 

MY RATING: 3 STARS (out of 5)

 

6.

Valrhona Dulce Chocolate Crea with Passion Fruit Coulis & Soft Chocolate Macaron
Chef Bruno Menard | La Cantine, Singapore

 

If you were to get the combo, leave the best for the last! Funny Jessica thought it was Caramel and got a shot in the head through her tastebuds when the Passion Fruit’s Coulis strong sweet and sour taste caught up! I got the better end of the deal watching and laughing my head off! 😛

The taste and aroma was very strong and true to the characteristics of Passion Fruits. The texture was mousse-like and absolutely smooth. After recovering from the initial shock, Jess enjoyed it to the last bit – likewise for me 🙂

What gave it the 5 star is actually the Soft Chocolate Macaron. I was expecting it to be soft, but I didn’t expect it to be THIS soft – Upon entering through my lips, the sweet thing melted and turned into a thick and extremely smooth chocolaty melt! I was pleasantly surprised and continued to concentrate on the texture as it slowly continued to melt away and slowly but surely, slip down my throat in the most calming and comforting way. BEST. I would buy a box of these macarons if they had!

MY RATING: 5 STARS (out of 5)

7.

Singapore Chilli Crab
Chef Han Liguang | Ladyrinth Singapore

 

Other than being photogenic, this number didn’t make any impression. There was nothing chilli about it, but the ice cream was sure a surprise. I couldn’t really make out a clear taste, but there was a hint of crab in it. It was definitely blended with something else but I just point a finger to it. The Crab on the other hand was tasty but definitely not your chilli crab- it was more like a typical well fried soft shell crab.

I guess I just have something against dishes that are not accurately named.

MY RATING: 2.5 STARS (out of 5)

 

8.

Chendol Xiao Long Bao
Chef Han Liguang

Though pretty and delicate as it looks, this dish is really just well decorated and coloured. I do understand that a certain level of skill and technique is required to bag a spoon of Chendol into a twisted piece of skin, but the taste was too underwhelming. It was blend and didn’t taste right at all. We were absolutely disappointed.

MY RATING: 0.5 STARS (out of 5)

 

9.

Roast Cod, Salsa Rubra
Chef Riccardo Catarsi | &SONS, Singapore

 

Such a pretty, luxurious, neat and splendid looking dish! This was among the must tries, but frankly, if cod fish is within your everyday/ easy reach, you might want to give this a miss. Don’t get me wrong. The fish was absolutely fresh and tasty, as though it was still alive and swimming 5 minutes ago. The treatment was awesome with the right amount of saltiness on it’s skin (yummy!) and a smooth thick taste of typical fresh cod fishes with a layer of (it’s own) oil. However, this also tasted like any other fresh and well treated cod-fish. There was no special flavour or innovation.

MY RATING: 3 STARS (out of 5)

 

10.

Linguine, Crab & Nduja
Chef Riccardo Catarsi | &SONS, Singapore

 

MY RATING: 3.5 STARS (out of 5)

 

11.

Crispy Roll of Marramundi With Fresh Tropical Fruit
Chef Ezio Gritti

 

MY RATING: 2 STARS (out of 5)

 

12.

Rocksalt / Pan-Fried Rye Bay Scallop with a Tomato, Chilli & Broad Bean Salsa
Chef Mark Sargeant | Oxwell & Co/ Rocksalt, Singapore/UK
Voted UK’s Best Chef

 

MY RATING: 4 STARS (out of 5)