Singapore Food Festival serves up journey of culinary rediscovery

Themed “Rediscover the Foodie in You”, SFF 2020 will see more than 25 F&B partners serving up gastronomic experiences for festivalgoers to enjoy at home.

This weekend and next (August 21-23 and August 28-30), Singapore’s dining scene will come to life in the form of virtual food tours, live masterclasses, chef collaborations, food bundles and limited-edition food merchandise.

“The Singapore Food Festival has always been about putting the spotlight on our vibrant and evolving local F&B landscape. While we are unable to host SFF in its usual form, we are excited about the possibilities that the festival’s very first virtual edition will bring,” said Ranita Sundra, director of Retail and Dining at the Singapore Tourism Board.

Programme highlights:
This year’s festival has four components: Live Masterclasses, Food Bundles, Virtual Food Tours and SFF food merchandise.
The Live Masterclasses, which are free for viewing, will offer a behind-the-scenes look into the creative process by renowned chefs and experts. Viewers can tune in via Webex for their tips, tricks and secrets. A total of 17 masterclasses will be held, featuring some of the top names in our F&B scene – such as award-winning pastry chef Cheryl Koh of Tarte by Cheryl Koh, chef Julien Royer of three Michelin-starred Odette and bartending honchos Colin Chia and Charmaine Thio of speakeasy bar Nutmeg & Clove.

Meanwhile mobile marketplace Shopee will be hosting Food Bundles that festival-goers can order for delivery. These food bundles feature tantalising offerings and dishes that Live Masterclass chefs and presenters will demonstrate. Look out for treats such as Damn Easy Hokkien Mee (right) by Chef Ming Tan who will cook from Singapore virtually alongside Chef Margarita Forés who will join live from the Philippines, and Kueh Kuehs presented by Jeremy Nguee of Mrs Kueh and Claire Ariela Shen of Cooking Art.

For foodies who also love exploring, the Virtual Food Tours lined up this year will surely whet appetites. Rediscover Singapore’s charming precincts with local TV personality Chua Enlai. Journey virtually through the historical Tanjong Pagar and Chinatown precincts, as well as whimsical Katong and Joo Chiat to discover stories behind popular eats in the area, tales behind its heritage food businesses, and lesser-known food gems..

Limited slots are available for participants to join local tour guides on a physical guided tour over the two weekends, with more details available on the SFF website.

Finally, foodies will be treated to SFF food merchandise such as Uniqlo’s UTme! range of T-shirts that pay tribute to Singapore’s much-loved hawker culture with 8 exclusive limited-edition designs featuring famous hawker dishes – think laksa, kueh tutu and nasi lemak– specially created for SFF 2020 by popular local illustrator Mandy Kew. Local craft brewery, Brewerkz, has developed an SFF exclusive beer, Passion Gao Siew Dai, to accompany the delicious festival dishes. Glico x Wee Nam Kee’s collaboration this year to produce Chicken Rice Pretz will surely be another one to look out for, while local bakery stalwart Cedele’s prawn otah cookies and Violet Oon’s signature Sambal Bajak and Goreng Chilli (the condiments go best with grilled meats and seafood) will also be made available for sale.

The first 90 early-bird participants who pre-book the SFF 2020’s offerings – such as pre-booking a Live Masterclass session or ordering an SFF Masterclass food bundle in advance – will be rewarded with SFF Boxes that contain some of the delicious SFF food merchandise.