http://mieleguide.com/feed Go 'behind the scenes' with us as we bring you bi-weekly updates that include essays by our staff, exclusive one-on-one interviews with our contributing editors & jury members, and updates on Asia's culinary scene. Copyright 2010 Ate Media Pte Ltd http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://mieleguide.com/blog/Catching-up-with-the-Miele-Guide-Culinary-Scholarship-Recipients Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Singapore Management University (SMU) business graduate Malcolm Lee has found the coursework exhilarating. Earlier in the year, when he was an apprentice at chef Bompard’s La Fromagerie, he was occasionally given the opportunity to helm dinner service alone, even on busy nights. “I once had to serve 20 guests at once,” he says. “It was crazy, but I thrive on this kind of challenges.” At the bistro at La Fromagerie, Malcolm prepared hot items like stocks, sauces, stews and braised items.

“Every little thing adds up to the whole experience, whether is it a new technique, a new dish or a new organizational skill I pick up. They have all helped me to become a better person,” Malcolm concludes. Even minor culinary catastrophes become lessons learnt. “Once, a customer ordered eggs Benedict and my hollandaise sauce split,” he confesses. “I had no more clarified butter and was running out of time. I decided to use cold cubes of regular butter and mixed them with a slightly warmer egg yolk base. Thankfully, it worked!”

Hong Kong scholar, Kit Yee is also absorbing as much as she can even as she deals with sudden pangs of homesickness. “I am learning a lot of things that I feel are good for my future. It is important to broaden my horizons and being here has also taught me to be more independent,” she says. At a recent class challenge, she was given $10 to buy ingredients from the market and prepare a dish of her choice using them. Her unusual creation was well received and demonstrated her creativity as a chef. She stuffed chicken wings with chopped apples, pears and ham and finished them with a honey glaze. Her mentor was impressed by the combination, as were her classmates.

The exemplary young apprentice held the position of chef de garde-manger (the person who oversees the cold dishes) at Le Saint Julien under the guidance of chef de cuisine Stephane Browne. “Prior to my six-month stint at Le Saint Julien, I knew little about French cuisine,” Kit Yee admits. “I have learnt quite a few things here, like how to speak a little French. I’m also happy that chef Stephane trusts me enough to leave an entire section in my care.”

Both Malcolm and Kit Yee will start their second apprenticeships in July. Malcolm will complete his at the Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) kitchens while Kit Yee will complete hers at award-winning contemporary Cantonese chef Yong Bing Ngen’s Majestic restaurant. Both will graduate in December this year. We wish them all the best.

]]> Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Catching-up-with-the-Miele-Guide-Culinary-Scholarship-Recipients http://mieleguide.com/blog/Dining-in-Mongolia Kirril Shields
For all those looking to experience Mongol fare, the diet consists largely of lamb and lamb fat mixed into a noodle dish (tsuivan), a dumpling (buuz), a soup (kjostsupa), or a fried pastry (huushuur). Mongolian tea, suutei tsai or milk tea, is a salty beverage made from green tea leaves, milk and sometimes butter (horse, yak, reindeer, cow) to which is added salt. The initial taste is somewhat unusual, but it’s the type of food you begin to enjoy and understand after a few cups. Reindeer milk tea is the most unusual form of suutei tsai and is highest in fat content, but it’s so tasty it’s hard not to overload on the drink.

For all those who wish to enjoy the capital city’s imported food scene, there is plenty to choose from. And these are not limited to the confines of a restaurant: a beautifully brewed pilsner, a man who creates divine mozzarella, a German bakery that specialises in recreating the best in German pastries, a cheap and tasty Malay diner, and then there are those Korean restaurants.

Numerous ethnicities are represented in the capital city’s dining establishments such as Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, and Korean, including one of the few North Korean restaurants found outside of North Korea; an extremely satisfying and diligent dining experience reputedly owned and run by the North Korean embassy.

If on holiday, the trick is to ask around. If you plan on living there for any length of time, then you will probably dine at most of the restaurants at least twice before you leave, so be prepared for some weird and wonderful eating experiences. You are, of course, in Mongolia, one of the most far-flung and under-developed nations in the world. Anything and everything is possible, and that is no slight exaggeration.


Kirril Shields is a shortlist panellist for Mongolia for the 2009/2010 edition of The Miele Guide. As a food critic at UB Post, Mongolia’s English language newspaper, Kirril is very familiar with the restaurant scene. He is also the English editor of the newspaper.
]]> Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Dining-in-Mongolia http://mieleguide.com/blog/Iggy-s-takes-home-top-honours-at-the-S-Pellegrino-World-s-Best-50-Restaurants-award-ceremony Cheryl Chia, Ate Media Voted by the public as Asia’s Number One restaurant in last year’s edition of The Miele Guide, Iggy’s is one of the only two restaurants from Asia that made it into the top 50 in the annual list organised by UK’s Restaurant Magazine.
Chan was ecstatic the morning after the grand celebratory dinner that was held at London’s Freemason Hall on Monday night (20 April). The modest, soft-spoken epicure revealed that he did not expect it. “It was an exuberating moment! It was a really fantastic surprise,” said Chan. “I want to take this opportunity to thank every person who has supported Iggy’s since day one,” he added.
Clearly overwhelmed with pride and joy, Chan did not fail to mention how much he is looking forward to returning to Singapore to celebrate with the rest of his culinary team. “They have put in a lot of effort,” said Chan.
Recognising how spectacular it is to be placed alongside restaurants from countries that have tremendous agricultural support like Spain, Italy and France, the unassuming restaurateur thinks that it is a great honour to be among the top 50 in the world. He is happy to be able to “represent little Singapore, a city with little or no farms, in a global competition like this.”
Chan was happy to say that he is confident that his restaurant’s new ranking is partly due to “the buzz generated from The Miele Guide. The guide has done much to boost Asia’s restaurant scene.”
Voting for The Miele Guide 2009/2010 edition is underway and will run through to 24 May 2009. We urge you to vote for your favourite restaurants in Asia. Every vote counts. Do vote now.

We want to take this opportunity to congratulate eight other restaurants from The Miele Guide that made it into the S. Pellegrino list (51st to 100th position), namely Zuma (China), L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon (China), Les Amis (Singapore), Bukhara (India), RyuGin (Japan), Caprice (China), Mozaic (Bali) and Bo Innovation (China).
]]> Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Iggy-s-takes-home-top-honours-at-the-S-Pellegrino-World-s-Best-50-Restaurants-award-ceremony http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-2009-2010-A-bigger-and-better-edition Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Aimed at providing a richer overview of restaurants in Asia, these features include an additional listing of the top five restaurants in each featured country on top of the overall ranking of Asia’s top 20 restaurants. This provides a stronger showcase for each country’s top chefs and restaurateurs.

Each featured country chapter will be accompanied by a country introduction providing an insider’s perspective of the current highlights of that country’s dining scene. These introductions will be written by our shortlist panelists who are also top restaurant critics and food writers in their respective home countries.

In order to broaden the guide’s representation in the region, Mongolia and Nepal have also been added to the list of countries being evaluated. Together with Brunei, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, it brings the total number of countries evaluated to 18. The 2009/2010 edition will also feature 400 restaurants across Asia (80 more than the previous edition’s list of 320).

This year, in order to reach out to a wider pool of voters across the region, The Miele Guide website is not only available in English but also in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

The online voting process has also been revamped to offer voters more convenience. You only need an email address to register and vote. Our unique email verification system helps to safeguard against voter abuse.

Voting for The Miele Guide 2009/2010 edition is underway and will run through to 24 May 2009. Voters also stand a chance to win one of three beautiful sets of Zwiesel 1872 crystal glassware each worth up to US$2,100. Each set of crystal glassware sponsored by Zwiesel 1872, the official crystal partner of The Miele Guide, is different. Voters will get the opportunity to choose the set they wish to be eligible to win. All sets are from the elegant and timeless Zwiesel 1872 Living Collection.

We urge you to cast your votes if you haven’t already done so. This is your chance to make a difference in Asia’s culinary scene. Click here to vote now.
]]> Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-2009-2010-A-bigger-and-better-edition http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-is-now-available-in-the-United-Kingdom Cheryl Chia, Ate Media

12-14 Long Acre
Covent Garden
London WC2E 9LP
Tel: +44 20 7836 1321

Open Monday 9am-7.30pm, Tuesday 9.30am-7.30pm, Wednesday 9am-7.30pm, Thursday 9am-8pm, Friday 9am-7.30pm, Saturday 10am-8pm, Sunday 12noon-6pm, Bank holiday Mondays 12noon-6pm


29 Corn Street
Bristol BS1 1HT
Tel: +44 117 929 9966

Open Monday 9am-6pm, Tuesday 9.30am-6pm, Wed-Sat 9am-6pm, Sunday closed,
Bank holiday Mondays closed.



Alternatively, you can purchase the guide from Stanfords’ online store or our online shop.
]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-is-now-available-in-the-United-Kingdom http://mieleguide.com/blog/Little-Hanoi-by-Tamarind-Cafe Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Through Little Hanoi, co-owner Ms Wong aims to give diners in Thailand the chance to taste healthy and authentic Hanoi cuisine. She has even found a Vietnamese chef to train her Thai chefs at Little Hanoi. The combination of vegetarian and non-vegetarian items on the menu also gives diners greater choice. “There’s something for everyone!” Ms Wong point out.

Open daily from 10am to 10pm, Little Hanoi by Tamarind Café is located on the fifth floor of Emporium Shopping Complex (Sukhumvit Soi 24, Klongton, Klongtoey, Bangkok).

For more information, please visit www.tamarind-cafe.com
]]> Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Little-Hanoi-by-Tamarind-Cafe http://mieleguide.com/blog/New-plans-for-Restaurant-Bobby-Chinn Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Restaurant Bobby Chinn is slated to reopen at a new location yet to be confirmed. In the mean time, the team behind the contemporary French-Vietnamese restaurant is planning to establish a new deli concept which will also be able to provide catering services for weddings, birthday parties and other events.

The new eatery, called Restaurant Bobby Chinn Home (Tel: +844 3719 2460), will open on 11 February this year at 77 Xuan Dieu Street, Tay Ho, Hanoi. Family-style lunches and dinners, including Bobby Chinn’s signature creations, will be served from 10.30am till late. Customers can also opt to purchase take away meals from the deli.
]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/New-plans-for-Restaurant-Bobby-Chinn http://mieleguide.com/blog/Artisanal-food-producers-in-Asia-Part-2-Khurchan Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
For the second part of our Asian artisanal food producer series, we speak with Rahul Verma, a noted food critic in India who writes restaurant reviews for The Hindu, India’s national daily English language newspaper. We asked him to introduce an artisanal product from India that he is most excited and passionate about. Rahul, who is also one of the members on The Miele Guide’s shortlist panel, reveals his affection for sweets when he tells us that he is most excited about the khurchan from Hazari Lal Jain, in Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk in the north central part of Delhi.

Khurchan is a sweet prepared with milk. The word khurchan is a Hindi word that translates to ‘scraping’, which is the essentially the technique used to make this sweet. “The most interesting bit about the khurchan is the way it is cooked,” says Rahul who then explains how the popular khurchan is slowly becoming a rarity because fewer people are willing to go through the labourious process of preparing it which can take hours to complete.

This process begins by boiling down milk into solids which are then scraped off. To get one kilogram of khurchan, the halwai (sweet maker) has to boil five litres of creamy milk for about an hour. Throughout the duration of the production process, the halwai does not leave his kadhai (wok). He has to watch as the milk boils and forms the malai (the top layer of thickened cream). Rahul says that the halwai will then use a long twig to carefully pull the malai out of the boiling milk and put it aside on a flat-bottomed platter. This process is repeated until no milk remains. “When the platter is full of the many layers of cream, the halwai will sprinkle some sugar on it. The sugar cannot be added earlier because it would make the cream runny,” Rahul adds as he explains how khurchan is served.
According to Rahul, Hazari Lal Jain’s khurchan is the best because of the high quality, full-cream milk that they use, yielding the best tasting layers of cream. Hazari Lal Jain’s khurchan is apparently so good that the former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee once bought some as a gift for Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“The halwai at this shop is never in a hurry, so the sweet takes its own sweet time, if you'll pardon the pun, to set,” Rahul reveals. He attributes the slow pace to the shop’s historical location at Chandni Chowk, the main street of the walled city of old Delhi. “This is not a sweet for those in a hurry,” Rahul points out. “But when you eat it, you do so in a matter of seconds!”

(Hazari Lal Jain is located at 2225, Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, India, Tel: +91 11 2325 3992)

]]> Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Artisanal-food-producers-in-Asia-Part-2-Khurchan http://mieleguide.com/blog/World-Pastry-Cup-2009 Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
As you can imagine, the participating teams are all feverishly preparing for the competition. I had the chance to preview the Singapore team’s showpieces and sample a few of the delicious creations they will be presenting. Team Singapore is led by pastry chef Pang Kok Keong of Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie. Together with chef Pang, team captain Hoi Kuok I (Conrad Centennial Hotel), team members Ng Chee Leong (Shangri-La Hotel) and Lim Choon Sing (Goodwood Park Hotel) and team assistant Ruben Sosa (Mandarin Oriental Hotel) have all been working hard.

Team Singapore's three showpieces


The industrious team has clocked in more than 900 hours during the past 14 months in preparation for the upcoming World Pastry Cup. “Practice makes perfect,” says chef Ng, who explains that each team is to prepare one ice sculpture, one sugar show piece, one chocolate show piece, 12 plated desserts, three chocolate cakes and three ice cream cakes from scratch in 10 hours. The pieces will then be assessed for artistic style and taste by an international judging panel with one judge from each participating country.

Chef Ng reveals that the planning process was a meticulous one. “At our weekly meetings,” he discloses, “we sketch out our ideas, discuss them with chef Pang and test them out. Those that are feasible are kept and the disastrous ones are trashed!”

The team leaves for Lyon, France on 19th January where they will have one final rehearsal there before the actual competition. “We hear that is really cold in Lyon right now,” chef Pang says. “The final rehearsal is a good chance for the team to accustom themselves to the weather before the competition and tweak the recipes if necessary.”

We wish all competitors the very best of luck!





]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/World-Pastry-Cup-2009 http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-Culinary-Scholarship-Recipients-Part-two Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
The gung ho young lady decided to take up a working visa scheme that the Hong Kong government was promoting back then and left for Australia in pursuit of something different. “I wanted to learn more about the world, its people and their different cultures,” Kit Yee explains. She also felt that it would be a good opportunity for her to learn to be more independent.

Initially, it wasn’t easy to find a job in Australia, but Kit Yee managed to complete brief stints at a seafood wet market and a bakery. These experiences transformed her career goals. “It was unforgettable,” Kit Yee says with conviction. The nine months spent Down Under ignited a newfound passion for the culinary arts. She grew to love the process of cooking, which she also found to be “very fun”. Kit Yee decided to explore the possibility of cooking professionally and signed up for a culinary course at the Hospitality Industry Training & Development Centre (HITDC) just a month after returning from Australia. The one-year course provided her with the necessary culinary basics she needed to kick start her career in the kitchen. She graduated with a certificate in Western Cuisine and Food and Beverage Operations in September 2007.

Kit Yee admits that she has always felt strongly about food. However, prior to her decision to train to become a chef, she rarely ventured into the kitchen. “My mother did all the cooking and I never bothered to help her in the kitchen,” she admits with a chuckle. “I just watched and left everything to her.”

Nevertheless, Kit Yee’s culinary talents and hard work have since earned her several awards including a silver award at the Hong Kong International Culinary Classic 2007 organised by the Hong Kong Chefs Associations (HKCA) and the Hong Kong Exhibition Services Ltd (HKES). She came in second in the Western Cuisine, Professional Vegetarian category.

She joined the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong in November 2007. “Working at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong is hard work and I have to put in long hours, but I also get to work with great chefs at the same time and I find that to be a great blessing,” she says. She reveals that her very supportive mentor Uwe Opocensky, executive chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong has already made her promise to return to the hotel once she has completed her studies at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy.

Kit Yee is grateful for the opportunity to extend her culinary knowledge and improve her skills through this scholarship. “I love challenges,” the dynamic chef declares. “I am ready to transform the pressure I expect to face into motivation for me to try my best in fulfilling all the responsibilities that’s expected of me.”

We look forward to catching up with her after she has commenced her training at At-Sunrice.
]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-Culinary-Scholarship-Recipients-Part-two http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-Culinary-Scholarship-Recipients Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Malcolm aspires to create memories and evoke emotions through his food. The 24-year-old will be graduating from the Singapore Management University (SMU) later this year with a Bachelor in Business Management and is looking forward to diving straight into a career in the kitchen immediately after that.

All it takes is a conversation with Malcolm to realise that his decision to go straight from university to culinary school was a carefully considered and planned one. Malcolm confesses that his love for food stems from his Peranakan upbringing. His mother, a Nonya, is a home chef and her love for cooking rubbed off on him. She also has very high expectations of herself. Malcolm remembers her refusing to serve a dish she had painstakingly prepared simply because she felt it wasn’t good enough. That decision left a strong impression. Today, he attributes his desire to present his potential customers with only his very best efforts to his mother’s own uncompromising standards.

According to Malcolm, cooking came naturally to him when he was a student at Yishun Junior College. When his friends got hungry, he would gamely experiment with whatever was in the refrigerator. “I found that I really enjoyed it and was encouraged by the fact that they actually liked my food,” he says with a smile.

It was a chance encounter in the United States that convinced Malcolm that he should pursue a career in the professional kitchen. While in the US on an independently sourced Work and Travel Program, Malcolm noticed that Harry’s Tap Room in Washington Dulles International Airport was advertising for a line-cook. He applied for the job and got it. More importantly, his bosses noticed how industrious he was and promoted him to head cook just three weeks into the job. This gave Malcolm the chance to really learn from professional chefs, some of whom took the time to show him the ropes.

The hard work at Harry’s Tap Room was crucial in preparing him for realities of working in a professional kitchen. Upon his return to Singapore, Malcolm became more and more interested in the culinary profession. He threw dinner parties for close friends in a bid to expand his culinary repertoire, and studied cookbooks as well as classic culinary techniques. But it was a friend’s keen observation that led him to the next turning point on his culinary career path.

A fellow project group member at SMU noticed Malcolm’s food-themed desktop wallpaper. This precipitated a conversation about his love for food. Days later, this friend asked him to consider becoming a business partner at Frujch, a now defunct café at the SMU campus which was run by undergraduates. The café needed someone to oversee food and operations. It was also having problems with its menu and its owners needed some advice.

“When I came on board,” Malcolm explains, “I trashed the old menu. The old menu was not very appetising. The ingredients were mostly canned and processed, and there wasn’t much variety.”

Malcolm’s menu overhaul proved to be a tremendous success. He speaks with great pride when he recalls the Frujch’s first day of business after the makeover. “I thought only 20 people would come,” he admits. “I was pleasantly surprised that by the afternoon, the food was sold out. I had to send friends out to buy more ingredients. Yet, by 5pm we were sold out again!”

On closer inspection, Malcolm’s new menu proved to be a strategically conceived one. “Economy of scale is very important,” he says. “I designed the whole system to ensure that Frujch did not lose money.” In order to reduce food wastage and manage a sizeable cash flow, Malcolm devised an efficient inventory that utilised a common core of fresh ingredients.

His stint at Frujch might have been short (it lasted from January to April 2008), but Malcolm insists that the experience gave him something he would never have found in textbooks or tutorials. “By that point, I knew I wanted to be a chef,” he reveals. He even took up French language classes in school in order to prepare himself for the apprenticeships he intends to take on at the many great establishments the country is renowned for. However, this young man is admirably realistic about his chosen career. “If there’s anything I have learnt from my experiences,” he divulges, “it is that being in the kitchen is hard work. That said, I am prepared for all the hard work I can get.”

We look forward to catching up with Malcolm again in a couple of months. In our next post, we will be interviewing Lai Kit Yee, our Miele Guide Culinary Scholarship Programme recipient from Hong Kong.
]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-Culinary-Scholarship-Recipients http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-Gala-Dinner Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
The table décor for the night.


The 2008/2009 edition of The Miele Guide, our inaugural issue, was launched on Friday 31 October at a very special gala dinner held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore. It was a gastronomic night from start to finish. More than 300 invited chefs, restaurateurs, industry professionals and international journalists came together to celebrate with us. The cocktail reception started at 7pm and by 8pm, everyone was seated in the beautifully decorated Grand Ballroom. The black table linens were paired with chic gold table runners and complemented by an elegant raised red rose centrepiece. Donovan Chan, creative director of Beach House Pictures (who is working with us to develop The Miele Guide TV show) was one of the many guests who thought that the décor was very tasteful. He added that the simple elegance exuded a maturity that was reflected in the Guide itself. The Miele Guide was creatively presented to each guest on a white plate as the evening’s first entree. Served by the banquet waiters, it was a cheeky gesture that amused many.

The food served was impeccable—thanks to the team at the Grand Hyatt as well as our guest chefs from Iggy’s and Mozaic—and the atmosphere was infectious. The ballroom was abuzz with conversations that were clearly food-centric and the guests had the opportunity to forge new friendships and rekindle old ones since everyone was free to choose their own seat at the dinner. The air of excitement was unmistakable. Restaurateurs and chefs sat side by side and focused on the stage in the centre of the room as the lovely emcee for the night Angela May signalled the announcement of Asia’s Top 20 (the 20 restaurants ranked in order in The Miele Guide) after appetisers were served. Mahendra Karkera, owner of Mahesh Lunch Home in Mumbai thought that Angela’s spontaneity made everyone feel at ease. Mahendra had flown in from India just for this dinner and felt that it was a very special one.

Elbert Cuenca of Elbert’s Steak Room in the Philippines had only praises to lavish on the many people who made the Guide and the gala dinner possible. “This was a wonderful evening, I am honoured to be one of the 320 restaurants featured in the Guide,” said Elbert.

Ignatius Chan was speechless when his restaurant, Iggy’s, was named Asia’s top restaurant. He admitted to being increasingly anxious as the list was announced. His biggest fear being that Iggy’s didn’t make the cut at all. The honour, Ignatius said, goes to the entire team at the restaurant, some of whom have been with him since the very beginning. It is an acknowledgement for their commitment to quality and consistency which they will all treasure.


The night ended on a deliciously boozy note when The Lounge section opened. This area saw the Sorum brothers Dannie and Ben-David, and Thomas Anostam of the Flow Cocktail team from Bangkok dishing out cocktails as delicious as the meal served at the dinner. The Miele Guide Signature cocktail was a hit. Topped with a flamed cinnamon meringue, the raspberry and apple Absolut Vodka creation was served in a martini glass decorated in ribbons in the official Miele Guide colours, red and white. Vivienne Chow, a journalist from the South China Morning Post had only this to say after tasting several of them: “These are wicked!”

The Sorum brothers adding the final touches to The Miele Guide Signature cocktails.


We would like to thank our guests who made the time to join us at this celebratory dinner, as well as the many people to worked hard to make it possible. We hope that the evening marks not only the launch of our inaugural edition of The Miele Guide, but also the start of something big and exciting for the restaurant industry in this region. We look forward to seeing you, as well as even more new faces, next year.

]]> Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/The-Miele-Guide-Gala-Dinner http://mieleguide.com/blog/Countdown-to-the-gala-launch-of-The-Miele-Guide Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
We want to thank you, the public, for telling us which restaurants in Asia are your favourite. We are also grateful to our 84 jury members from the 16 Asian countries covered in this year’s poll for sharing their expertise. The Miele Guide is very much a collective effort, one that we believe will bring our region the culinary recognition it deserves.

The 2008/2009 edition of The Miele Guide will launch on Friday, 31st October, at a gala dinner in Singapore. The chefs and restaurateurs whose restaurants have made it into our inaugural issue have been invited to join us at this exclusive red carpet, black-tie event where Asia’s Top 20 restaurants will also be announced. This gathering of Asia’s best will be a celebration of the work and talent of the region’s food and beverage professionals. Joining them will be members of the media, including some of the world’s most respected food and lifestyle journalists.

A total of 320 restaurants will be listed in this year’s guide. In-depth reviews of Asia’s Top 20 have been included. These restaurants have been ranked based on the results from public voting and anonymous tastings by our team. To find out which restaurants made it to this list, do return to our website and check out our blog!
]]> Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Countdown-to-the-gala-launch-of-The-Miele-Guide http://mieleguide.com/blog/Injecting-innovation-into-restaurant-designs Cheryl Chia, Ate Media


Blue Frog is a dining space in Mumbai that defies most restaurant design conventions. For starters, it is a hybrid between an acoustic lounge and a dining area. Steering away from the usual plain wide spaces and white table cloths, this restaurant boasts cutting edge interiors that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional. It is hard to miss out the glowing acrylic resin surface of the millwork circles that surround the restaurant. These colour-changing glowing surfaces lend a cool ambient lighting to the otherwise dark space. When it is blue, it gives out an aquatic vibe.




A close-up view of the millwork circles that form each dining booth.



These circles also form individual booths that separate one table from the next. Each booth is able to seat up to 10 people. The height of the seats is also staggered to provide an uninterrupted view of the open centre stage where performances are held. Call it dinner-theatre or a novel-concept restaurant if you wish, but it is a given that diners who visit the Blue Frog are always in for an aural, visual and tasty treat.

The unusual concept behind this restaurant is refreshing but what distinguishes Blue Frog from other restaurants isn’t just its cutting edge design but also the performative function it holds. We were curious to find out more about the people behind the unique concept of this super cool restaurant and that led us to seek out both Chris Lee and Kapil Gupta of Serie Architects, the brains behind Blue Frog’s design concept.

We found it amazing how this talented pair of architects managed to pull off this project despite living in different countries. Chris resides in London while Kapil works from Mumbai. Kapil insists that this seamless collaboration would not be possible without the existence of the internet. He says that they are always a Skype call away from each other and reveals that there is an intuitive synergy between them, after working together for almost a decade.

Both Chris and Kapil met when they were housemates and students at the Architectural Association School of Architecture London. Chris used to run Chris Lee Architects and Kapil, the Contemporary Urban India. Both now run Serie Architects together. Chris informs us that Serie works in a typological way, inventing by “harnessing the cumulative intelligence of considering things in a series”.

To Chris, architecture is beyond shock, especially if it has to do with form. When asked if he thinks Serie’s designs are as avant-garde has seen by the public, Chris reveals that he doubts there are any avant-gardes in this day and age. He explains further, “If there is to be a new breed of avant-garde, it has to be based on a transformative ideology that goes beyond form.”

Other than Blue Frog, both architects have also worked on another restaurant called The Tote. Also located in Mumbai, The Tote features a special tree-branch system, clearly inspired by actual rain trees surrounding the space. To create this effect, they punctured a series of openings in the roof, corresponding to the intersection of tree branches, allowing light to penetrate and cast natural tree-like shadows.

Chris tells us that both Blue Frog and The Tote deal with the issue of identifying a precedent type and then transforming that precedent. Explaining the concepts for both restaurants, he lets on that with Blue Frog, it was the meeting of a section of a theatre and the plan of a restaurant. For The Tote, it was the re-interpretation of the A-frame roof truss with the generative logic of the tree branch.
Kapil goes on to explain how Blue Frog is a very good example of performative design thinking. He tells us that the design behind this restaurant was driven by the desire to resolve the conflict between two antagonistic functions: the restaurant and a live music venue. Kapil says that it is through this resolution that the “artistic” can emerge. While it is true that some restaurants struggle with artistic integrity when trying to maintain function, Chris thinks that artistic integrity and function are not mutually exclusive.

According to Kapil, clients who choose to work with this talented duo do so because they are looking for an inventive solution, not just a signature aesthetic. When questioned about their signature style, Kapil lets in that they do not have one because they are “invested in research and constant innovation”. He continues to tell us that it is not difficult to convince a client once they have recognised the tangible value that this kind of inventiveness creates.

Explaining Serie’s thought process, Kapil tells us that the typological thinking that they believe in provides a strong conceptual framework from which they operate from. “Solutions come quickly and intuitively as the context of a project reveals potential typological adaptations,” adds Kapil.

Thanks to architects like Chris Lee and Kapil Gupta, the future of restaurant design brims with endless possibilities where diners can come to savour not just the food but the cool aesthetics that make up the surroundings.

]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Injecting-innovation-into-restaurant-designs http://mieleguide.com/blog/Food-and-cocktail-pairing Cheryl Chia, Ate Media More records of the early cocktails can also be found in the first bartending guide How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon Vivant’s Companion that was written by Jerry Thomas. First published in 1862, this guide gave precise instructions for mixing beverages using recipes from Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Thomas included 10 cocktail recipes alongside popular beverages like juleps, sours, punches, and cobblers. His guide sparked off a renewed interest in these social drinks and thanks to the recipes provided by the former principal bartender at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York, cocktails were officially introduced into bars.
Today, cocktails are not only drunk in bars but also in restaurants. Cocktails are also facing a growing resurgence, one that involves a substantial culinary twist, providing a larger presence at the dining table. This would have been impossible in the early 19th century when laws banning the consumption of alcohol were passed in the United States. Known as the Prohibition era, this period popularised underground speakeasies that served bootleg liquor. This bootleg liquor had a strong taste and instead of mixing it with bitters, people mixed in fruit juices, sugar water and soft drinks, resulting in more palatable cocktails. These cocktails were well received by many who would visit these speakeasies (also known as cocktail lounges) during ‘cocktail hours’ prior to dining at restaurants where cocktails were not allowed.
Cocktails returned to the dining scene after Prohibition laws were lifted in 1933. Today’s cocktails have evolved from being simple concoctions to more complex ones good enough to rival a main course at one’s meal. Today, the cocktail has become a star potion showcased in restaurants that understand and embrace the concept of food and cocktail pairing.
“I certainly encourage cocktails to be promoted in restaurants,” says Dannie Sorum, one of Southeast Asia’s most sought after mixologists and a self-professed food fanatic. “It is part of the dining experience to start off with a nice cocktail aperitif to get your taste buds stimulated and ready for the meal.”
Intended to complement and excite, the possibilities for cocktail creation are infinite, making for a fun experience. Take for example, Sorum’s Black Forest mojito, a combination of rum, Moët & Chandon, freshly squeezed lime, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries which he created for The White Rabbit, a restaurant on Harding Road in Singapore. This fruity summer berry cocktail was created to complement the restaurant’s signature Black Forest cake dessert by playing with a common berry base note. The owners of The White Rabbit had approached Sorum because they wanted to create a delicious cocktail menu that would not only complement their dishes but heighten the dining experience of their diners.
“The owners of The White Rabbit already have a very deep knowledge of what they want, which is great,” says Sorum who goes on to explain how every project is different and that he usually starts off by meeting his clients to discuss their vision and what they have in mind.
“From there, we come up with some concepts and start trialling the drinks in our laboratory in Bangkok,” he explains.



Dannie Sorum, a cocktail consultant based in Bangkok.

The Swedish-born cocktail expert trained in Australia and first ventured into Asia in 2004 when he came to Bangkok to lead the pre-opening of a new restaurant and lounge. “The jobs kept coming,” he recalls, “and we had several contracts waiting for us so we made the decision to set up our new office in Bangkok.”
The 24 year-old thus became one of the founders of Flow, a cocktail consultancy which was established in Bangkok in 2006. Flow has clients in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore. And its clientele include some of the top luxury hotels in Asia including Singapore’s St. Regis where Sorum helped concoct another dish-inspired cocktail called the Suzette. A drink that is basically a cocktail version of crepe Suzette, a classic dessert with a strong citrus flavour, it consists of a mixture of Belvedere Pomarancza vodka, Grand Marnier and flambéed Californian oranges. The cocktail is served hot alongside a plateful of mini crepes. This creation demonstrates just how everyday or classic dishes can inspire a cocktail that extends and repackages the experience of a dish beyond a diner’s expectations. Nonetheless, Sorum maintains that his creations simply offer a way to relate new cocktail flavours to something we are already familiar with like food or baked goods.
The Black Forest mojito at The White Rabbit and the Suzette at the St. Regis are just two examples of how entirely new cocktail combinations yielding different flavour profiles are being experimented with and created to match main dishes in restaurants.
Lotus, an Australian-style restaurant and bar located at Pottinger Street in Central Hong Kong is also offering its diners food and cocktail pairing experiences. The restaurant is extending the flavour of its dishes with unique five-course food and cocktail pairing menus. Some tantalising options include the lime cured tuna with green mango, rose apple, Vietnamese mint and dried shrimp paired with a pomelo and papaya bellini. The bellini contains fresh pomelo, papaya, honey, black sesame syrup, peach, elderflower and sparkling wine. The fruit-based cocktail is only one of many created by international celebrity cocktail mixologist Grant Collins for the restaurant’s signature cocktail list.
When it comes to pairing cocktails with food, there are two possible outcomes. Depending on its focal ingredient, a cocktail can either counter-balance your dish with a contrasting flavour, or it can complement it, if it shares a common theme ingredient. Ultimately, your cocktail should enhance your meal. Award-winning food writers Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page explain this concept further in their book, What To Drink With What You Eat. Both Dornenburg and Page believe that it is possible to synergise food and drink, exciting one’s taste buds at the same time. The guide chronicles the various possible marriages of beverages with different types of food to enhance not just the taste but the experience of both. They interviewed a variety of chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers and other connoisseurs for suggestions on food and beverage pairings. The book also features non-alcoholic beverage pairings that break away from the notion that wine is the only or best beverage to be paired with food.
Does the latest cocktail resurgence mean fewer diners will opt for the more common food and wine pairing? No one knows for sure, but Ryan Magarian, a cocktail consultant based in Seattle, believes that cocktails provide a more flavourful experience than wine. In a recent interview with Epicurious , Magarian said that with wine, “you’re stuck”. He is of the opinion that while wines are bottled and thus immutable, cocktails can be invented and tweaked accordingly to match any dish. Ontario-based mixologist Darcy O’Neil, owner of the informative and popular cocktail website The Art of Drink concurs. In an interview with The London Free Press, he pointed out that when a diner opens a bottle of wine, it is pretty much what he or she is going to drink for the rest of the meal. In O’Neil’s opinion, with cocktails, the process is more fun and creative because you can experience something different three or four times over the course of a meal).’
Sorum, too, agrees. “With cocktails, you can easily bring out new taste discoveries and flavour combinations that go far beyond what you do with wines,” he points out.
The novel concept of pairing cocktails with food presents endless and exciting possibilities not just for mixologists, chefs and restaurateurs but diners as well. Asia, with her exotic herbs and spices has plenty to offer to creative cocktail consultants like Sorum. “I love trying new restaurants. If the food is great I sometimes think of replicating the dish in a cocktail and I start looking for the right flavours once I am back in my laboratory in Bangkok,” he reveals. That was exactly what he did for Loof, a rooftop bar in Singapore. Inspired by the popular spicy Thai broth known as Tom Yum soup, Sorum created a Tom Yum cocktail for Loof. The drink contains a vodka infusion of Tom Yum spices, coconut liquor, lime juice and soda water, and is garnished with a whole red chilli. While it is spicy, the coconut liquor and lime juice balances the heat and the final flavour profile is absolutely refreshing.
With creative, passionate and committed professionals like Sorum leading the cocktail revolution here in Asia, food and cocktail pairings may not be relegated to a fad after all.


]]> Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Food-and-cocktail-pairing http://mieleguide.com/blog/Artisanal-food-producers-in-Asia---Part-1-Kakanin Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Anne, what artisanal product being produced in Philippines are you most excited or passionate about?
The Philippines is brimming with artisanal food products. We’ve got an infinite variety of vinegars, different types of fermented fish/shrimp paste (bagoong), pickled vegetables (atchara), and native sausages called longganiza, to name just a few. But what instantly came to mind in response to this question is kakanin. Kakanin are native desserts primarily made with rice, although other starches like cassava, sweet potato and taro are also used. Unlike most Filipino food that has Chinese, Spanish or even American roots, kakanin has been around before outside settlers and colonizers arrived. It is therefore safe to say that kakanin is truly native to the Philippines.

Assorted kakanin topped with latik (fried coconut milk curds).




The term kakanin comes from the word kanin and kain. Kanin means cooked rice and kain means to eat. There is no such thing as only one type of kakanin–it is a generic category that encompasses infinite varieties and sub-varieties depending on the particular region or village (barrio) it comes from. Some familiar examples of kakanin are bibingka (leavened rice cakes baked with low heat at the bottom and high heat on the top), puto (leavened rice cakes that are steamed), and suman (sticky rice wrapped in banana or coconut leaves and then boiled or steamed). Of course, there are also sub-types of bibingka, puto and suman that would probably take years of research to list down!
I am fascinated with kakanin because it has been something of a discovery for me over the past few years. Having lived outside of the Philippines for most of my teenage and young adult years, I don’t have much nostalgic memories of kakanin. I’m approaching this food product with a fresh perspective. Every bite of kakanin is an adventure to me. Each puto I buy always involves a different taste experience–whether it is the sticky texture of puto Pangasinan, the brown sugar flavour of puto Biñan, or the buttery pandan or ube (purple yam) puto that I find here in Manila. It’s funny how a product so purely ‘native’ to the Philippines is something that I find more exotic than any other Western sweet and pastry that I’m more familiar with.
Another reason for my fascination with kakanin has not so much to do with its taste but rather, its cultural significance. Kakanin is arguably the most palpable connection to our pre-colonial past. It’s a living, breathing emblem of a native past that most Filipinos can no longer relate to due to centuries of Spanish colonisation. Approaching kakanin from a cultural point of view gives this product so much more significance, one that goes beyond its simple taste or appearance.

What makes kakanin so exceptional?
I find kakanin quite exceptional because it is infinitely complex in its simplicity. Unlike Western pastries or desserts, kakanin usually involves a few ingredients and it takes just a few steps. The process, however, can take hours. If done the traditional way, exact measurements and procedures give way to nuanced adjustments in the grinding of the rice, the adding of the right proportion of water to the ground rice, the mixing with coconut milk, the heat regulation, and even the artful way it is being wrapped in banana or coconut leaves. The type of rice used also plays an important part, along with the coconut milk (whether it is the first or second extraction). Stone ground rice blended with water (galapong) is still the preferred ingredient over the more convenient rice flour. One’s kakanin-making expertise is garnered through ‘feel’ rather than through technical lessons learned at a cooking school.
Except for the bibingka and puto premixes one can buy in supermarkets, kakanin is still not as commercialised as breads or cookies. Processes haven’t been mechanised (except for the grinding of the rice), and as far as I know, preservatives aren’t used, even among the more commercial producers.



Suman wrapped in banana leaves sold at a local Manila market.


Who is the best kakanin producer and why is this so?
That’s a hard question because you’ll get a different answer every time, depending on who you ask. Some people will get nostalgic and recall the suman their mother or grandmother used to make when they were kids. Others swear by the puto of a particular vendor at their town’s market. What I can do is to cite some well known examples of more commercial, albeit still pretty authentic, producers of kakanin that are easily accessible and fairly established:
Via Mare
This is a well-known Filipino restaurant (they have several branches around Manila) famous for its bibingka galapong and puto bumbong. I love the bibingka and it is best enjoyed straight out of the oven with a bit of melted butter and freshly grated coconut. The texture is light and fluffy with salty hints of cheese. The puto bumbong is colored an intense violet and steamed in bamboo tubes. It’s smoky, sticky and sweet-crunchy when panocha (made out of muscovado sugar) is sprinkled on top.

Dolor’s
It is a modest establishment in Malabon (within Metro Manila) that’s famous for its colorful sapin sapin, a round glutinous rice cake made of different kakanin in rings of red, yellow, brown, dark purple, cream. I find its smooth texture to be nice and creamy and it is not cloyingly sweet. They’ve been making this delicacy since the mid-1940s and they still use a lot of the same equipment (like an ancient coconut grinder and coconut oil press) they’ve been using since they first started. Although they’re a fairly commercial operation, they’ve managed to keep their traditional methods mostly intact. (Dolor's is located at 19 Governor Pascual Avenue, Concepcion, Malabon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, Tel: +632 2820071)
Tita Lynn’s Flavoured Suman
Here’s a place (with various take-out stands around the city) that serves a sort of ‘new age’ kakanin that uses artisanal methods and plays with innovative flavours. The owner grew up learning how to make suman tili the traditional way and modified the recipe slightly, adding non-traditional fillings like jackfruit, red bean and chocolate. They even sell a sugar-free suman made with Splenda. They have managed to inject new life and new flavours into an old favourite while retaining the traditional banana leaf wrapper and familiar sweet and sticky flavour. This marks the ‘next generation’ in kakanin making.

Photos by Rikky Arquiza of F&B World Magazine.]]> Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Artisanal-food-producers-in-Asia---Part-1-Kakanin http://mieleguide.com/blog/Interview-with-Julie-Wong Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Julie Wong, The Miele Guide’s contributing editor for Malaysia is not only the editor of Flavours, a food and wine magazine but also an accomplished food writer who has several food books under her belt. The Star Guide to Malaysian Street Food, which Julie edited, was nominated for Best Food Guide at the Le Cordon Bleu World Media Awards in 2007. She also worked on a cookbook entitled Nonya Flavours: A complete Guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine.

Q: How did you come to be in this field of food writing?
A: By default really. I was putting together a monthly women’s magazine for The Star when the newspaper company acquired Flavours. As I had magazine experience, and liked food and cooking, I was offered the job of running the magazine. The job grew on me and gave me the opportunity to develop something I liked.

Q: Who or what were your major influences?
A: Ironically, it was my mom’s cooking which sparked my interest in food. She was such an uninspired cook that we all vouched to learn to cook and feed ourselves properly. My older sister became an enthusiastic cook and recipe collector, and she in turn, kindled the passion for food in me. Today, I am inspired by all sorts of things. While I can’t name a particular chef, I’d say cookbooks, as well as people who cook with love and integrity really inspire me. A great meal or even a beautiful gadget can inspire me to spend time in the kitchen, too.

Q: What is your most memorable food project to date?
A: I take on only interesting or necessary projects so each one is meaningful to me. The most memorable one would always be the latest project I’m working on because when a new one comes along, I quickly lose interest in the projects that I have completed. Especially when the new one absorbs all my energy! For now, it is a 300-page food guide to Perak.

Q: What measures do you take to ensure that you are always on top of the dining and culinary scene?
A: Eating vigorously and always eating critically. Traveling is important to open up the mind and palate. I also network with foodies, chefs and those in the industry. I never stop learning. Discovering new tastes and ingredients or acquiring new cooking skills – these feed the passion. The Internet is also a fantastic resource for food knowledge.

Q: Is there a book that you’ve always wanted to write but haven’t had the chance to as yet?
A: There are many books begging to be written. We live in a region where food writing is still in its infancy. There are hardly any books on Malaysian food history or food culture. I have been told that for Malaysian cuisine to move forward, we first need to codify our food so that we have a standard reference – something similar to what the encyclopedic Larousse Gastronomique is to French cuisine. That would be the mother of all books to attempt. I would also like to complete what we have started with Nonya Flavours: The Complete Guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine. The sequel would focus on the Peranakan cuisines of the Malaccan nonyas, the Kelantanese nonyas and then the food of the Peranakan communities in other parts of Asia such as Thailand and Indonesia. Together, they will be a useful compendium to Peranakan food in the region.

]]> Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Interview-with-Julie-Wong http://mieleguide.com/blog/Schooled-in-cuisines-of-East-and-West Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
When Mrs. Kwan Lui, the founder of the academy, first started the school in 2001, her intention was to teach, to share and to advance the integrity of cuisines. The very fact that there is very little professional culinary education in Asia compelled her to start the school. Of course, her extensive experience in the food and beverage industry, managing her family’s food business as well as her own line of spice pastes called Asian Home Gourmet, made her the perfect person to spearhead such an enterprise.

Mrs. Lui strives to equip students at the academy with the means to carve their identities not just as certified professionals but most importantly as global chefs. “We deliver the GlobalChef pathway in our pedagogy, in our students’ development, and in graduate placements,” she says.
The school executes the GlobalChef pathway through an emphasis of an all-rounded culinary education that includes training in Eastern and Western culinary heritages, herbs and spices, and Old and New World cuisines and practices. All the programmes offered by the school feature a work and study rotation.
The At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy has three professional diplomas: the Advanced Culinary Placement Diploma (ACP), the Diploma in Culinary Craft & Service Excellence (DCCSE) and the Diploma in Pastry & Baking Arts (DIPB). The ACP is jointly offered with Johnson & Wales, a top American university.
“Through our programmes, budding young chefs-to-be can look forward to a challenging journey which requires not only passion but also a level of maturity and tenacity to become a successful global chef,” says Christophe Megel, CEO of At-Sunrice. The former executive chef of the Ritz Carlton, Millenia Singapore has had an illustrious international culinary career and he brings inspiring drive and passion to his role in At-Sunrice. His mission, he explains, is to cultivate global chefs in a living environment of culinary authenticity.
The Miele Guide is pleased to be working with the academy through The Miele Guide Culinary Scholarship Programme. Our collaboration is the result of a shared belief in providing a value-added education in the culinary arts that enables aspiring chefs to realize their dreams.

“The At-Sunrice vision is to advance culinary art. The Miele Guide-At-Sunrice Scholarships will help those who are deeply motivated to pursue the chef profession,” says Mr Megel.

Download the scholarship application form here.
For more information on the At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy, visit their website here.
]]> Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Schooled-in-cuisines-of-East-and-West http://mieleguide.com/blog/Stronger-Asian-representation-at-Bocuse-d-Or-2009 Cheryl Chia, Ate Media
Every Bocuse d’Or has a different theme which is revealed ahead of time. Competitors are required to prepare a meat dish as well as a fish dish for 14 persons in 5 hours and 30 minutes in front of an audience of over a thousand cheering fans. For the 2009 competition, the theme ingredients are Aberdeen Angus Scotch beef, Norwegian fresh cod, Norwegian hand-picked scallops and Norwegian wild prawns. Celebrity chef Daniel Boulud will preside over the jury of 24 chefs as President of Honour.

This year, an exciting new regional selection–the Bocuse d’Or Asia–was launched. Held in Pudong, Shanghai in May this year, the inaugural event welcomed entrants from ten Asian countries who competed for the honour of participating in the international competition next year. Only the top four would make the trip to Lyon in 2009. The countries that took part were China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

To date, only one Asian chef has ever won an award at the Bocuse d’Or. That was back in 1989 when Singaporean chef William Wai took home the bronze trophy. In 2009, four promising chefs will represent Asia at the Bocuse d’Or finals: Yasuji Sasaki (Japan), Farouk B. Othman (Malaysia), Jason Tan (Singapore) and Lee Jun-Hi (South Korea). We spoke with Farouk Othman, Jason Tan and Lee Jun-Hi who are already hard at work preparing for the finals next year.

Farouk Othman, Chef de Tournant, The Westin Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Farouk attributes his success at Bocuse d’Or Asia (he won the silver trophy) to the coaching he received from his mentor Chef David King. Farouk underwent a rigorous series of trials that helped him to get accustomed to the intensity of the competition. “I approached each trial like it was the real thing,” says the 30-year-old. “I had to cook at unfamiliar facilities, basically other fully-equipped restaurant kitchens, and we had the media come in to take photos while I was cooking—it was like an internal set up of the actual Bocuse d’Or. This happened twice a week and got more frequent as the date of the competition drew nearer.”

Through the trials, Farouk was able to familiarise himself with the complexities and challenges of cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen for the first time. They also helped him to get a better sense of time management, especially when it came to setting up and cooking in front of an audience. “It simply got better with each practice,” the Malaysian chef admits.

When asked what his secret weapon will be Farouk reveals that he believes being Asian bestows him with the ability to bring something different to the kitchen. “I am proud of our food culture in Malaysia. It is essential to ensure that the originality of our very own culinary traditions is preserved.”

Farouk has already embarked on preparations for the grand showdown in Lyon and is aiming for nothing less than gold. “I will spend at least 20 hours a week preparing for the trials and menu,” the ambitious chef says. “As we get closer to January, I will devote even more hours to preparing for the competition. It’s only gold we’re looking for and we will achieve nothing less than perfection in Lyon!”

Jason Tan, Chef de Cuisine, Julien Bompard at The Ascott, Singapore
Jason considers it an honour to be representing Singapore at the Bocuse d’Or world finals and is grateful for the support of his mentor Chef Julien Bompard. “Throughout my career, Chef Julien has constantly given me opportunities to excel,” he says. “He offered me the chance of a lifetime by giving me a job at Robuchon a Galera in Macau and has encouraged me to take part in the Bocuse d'Or.”

Trained in French cuisine, Jason says he opted to “combine the essence of Asian ingredients with French techniques” in a bid to showcase Asian flavour in his competition dishes at Bocuse d’Or Asia. To refine his dishes, he conducted multiple tastings in order to ensure that the flavours combined and harmonised well.

However, Jason maintains that discipline is the key to success in the kitchen. “I worked with Chef Francky Semblat at Robuchon a Galera,” says the humble 25-year-old. “Through him, I have acquired the discipline and spirit of working in a Michelin-starred French kitchen”.

“In Lyon, my menu will focus more on French and European cuisine,” the chef divulges. “But maybe I will throw in a touch of an Asian twist”.

Lee Ji-Hun, Commis II, The Millennium Seoul Hilton, Korea
It has been a lifelong dream of Ji-Hun’s to compete at such a highly regarded international competition alongside the world’s greatest chefs. He is also very excited about the finals next year because he is also the first Korean chef to compete at the Bocuse d’Or.

Determined to do his country proud, the 32 year-old chef as has spent 6 months practising under conditions similar to that of the actual competition. Furthermore, he has devoted time to researching and analysing previous editions of the Bocuse d’Or in the hope that the added background knowledge will hold him in good stead. “On top of that, I think constant practice will only lead to success,” says Ji-Hun.

We wish all four chefs who will be representing Asia at the Bocuse d’Or finals in Lyon next year all the very best. Perhaps 2009 will see an Asian chef win top honours at this spectacular international competition.

]]> Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Stronger-Asian-representation-at-Bocuse-d-Or-2009 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Culinary-scholarships-an-investment-in-the-future-of-dining-in-Asia Tan Su-lyn, Ate Media
We hope that with our scholarships, we will help passionate young Asian talents to acquire knowledge and new skills in an environment conducive to learning under the tutelage of experienced professionals. We also hope that the scholarships will focus attention on the chef profession within Asia. While we are well aware of the accomplishments of celebrity chefs from the rest of the world, we have yet to truly celebrate the talents of our own.

Admittedly, spending a year in culinary school doesn’t turn one into a full-fledged chef. But when such an opportunity is presented to an ambitious young person hungry to learn, we believe that the experience will help extend his or her culinary reach. By encouraging each aspiring chef and giving him or her a chance to study at a respected culinary institution of learning, our aim is for each scholarship recipient to eventually be better able to contribute to our growing Asian dining scene and propel it to ever greater heights.

Ultimately, the goal of creating The Miele Guide is to encourage growth and development in the Asian restaurant industry. We want to create a way to recognise the hard work and achievements of the people who keep it vibrant, viable and exciting. Through these scholarships (and we hope to add more scholarships to our programme as we grow), we seek to keep nurturing ever more such individuals who will continue to make Asia the finest place in the world to dine in.
]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://mieleguide.com/blog/Culinary-scholarships-an-investment-in-the-future-of-dining-in-Asia