WILLIN LOW, WILD ROCKET

Q: What are some of your favourite examples of mod-Sin interpretations?

A: The Chilean Seabass with Chai Poh Confit dish is one of my favourite dishes. One of my favourite local dishes is chicken rice. I have two dishes inspired by chicken rice. One is a straight up literal interpretation with chicken and rice, the Stuffed Roast Chicken Rice with Homemade Chili Sauce. It consists of chicken wings with its mid-section bones removed and glutinous rice cooked in chicken broth. The glutinous rice is then stuffed into the wing and the wings are roasted to a golden brown. You hold the tip of the wing and dip into the chilli sauce.

The second dish is a more subtle nod to chicken rice because there is no chicken and no rice. It is a Beef Carpacio with a ginger spring onion sesame paste. Not many guests know that chicken rice is the inspiration behind this dish. But it really brightens up my day when guests eat it and tell me, “It’s chicken rice right?”. The modern reinterpretations of these dishes give me a platform to share local flavours that I not only have grown up with but also love deeply.

Q: What would be an example of crossing the line?

A: Asian restaurants all over the world (at a Vietnamese restaurant I ate at last night in London, to boot) have a dish called Singapore Noodles — fried vermicelli in curry powder! How is that Singaporean? It probably is someone’s interpretation of something he ate in Singapore. It annoys me that something not really Singaporean is our most common and well-known dish available everywhere in the world. Nonetheless it has generated debate and interest for me as to what could be conceived as Singapore Noodles and one day I will serve my version of it.

Q: Could modern Singaporean cuisine be as popular as modern European cuisine?

A: Without a doubt!

CHEF IMMANUEL TEE, KEYSTONE

Q: As young a chef as you are, do heritage dishes and flavours still inspire your cuisine style?

A: Yes. I feel heritage is something every individual should be proud of. It is a part of us growing up and these childhood flavours along with its feeling of nostalgia is something that continues to inspire me every day.

Q: Can you give a working example?

A: My abalone dish, served as part of my 10-course tasting menu. Using the black lip abalone from Tasmania, and the organic sturgeon caviar and Iberico jamon from Spain, my abalone dish, sous vide cooked with jamon, features a delicacy from my cultural heritage … I wanted to present my own expression of this abalone dish away from the traditional Asian style. This is my take on an east meet west dish.

Q: Could modern Singaporean cuisine be as popular as modern European cuisine?

A: Yes. I believe one day Modern Singaporean cuisine can be as popular as modern European cuisine. However, this can only be achieved if … diners embrace menus with open hearts and do not hold prejudices against our local flavours. They should not feel that these dishes, traditionally seen in the hawker centres, are not worthy to be plated in fine dining restaurants. Chefs will also have to do their part by sourcing for the best ingredients and applying the right technique to elevate local flavours and dishes to another level.

CHEF DERRICK ANG, MOUNT FABER LEISURE GROUP

Q: Is there a dish that has grown more popular with today’s younger generation because of such modernisation?

A: Perhaps in chilli crab, whose medley of flavours has translated into many renditions from chilli crab pastas, to pizzas and dumplings. Here at The Jewel Box (Mount Faber), we serve up Chilli Crab in a Tux, where we stuff chilli crab in potato skins, and at the recent Singapore Culinarians (held in conjunction with Singapore Food Festival 2013) we recreated this iconic dish in a crab roll served with chilli crab sauce.

Q: Is preserving the unique flavours and general appeal of some of these classic local Chinese dishes too big a task?

A: With the increasing availability of advanced cooking tools and theoretical culinary knowledge, when put together, I like to think that we are able to overcome challenges and yet still preserve the unique flavours of our classic local dishes.

DAMIAN D’SILVA, IMMIGRANTS

Q: What inspired the pairing of your buah keluak fried rice with aged Japanese whisky?

A: The buah keluak fried rice is a robust and spicy dish. As the dish is pungent, it’s difficult to pair this dish with the right wine that can adequately bring out the essence of the dish. I chose the 12-year-old Taketsuru as it is something familiar to Singaporeans. This is a pairing that I have tried and found it to be the best.

Q: What other two heritage snacks and alcohol pairing do you like best?

A: The two snacks are otak with oatmeal stout, and tofu century egg with Nikka from the barrel. Stout has the right amount of richness to balance the burst of flavours present in a piece of otak. Otak consist of spices, coconut milk, belanchan and dried chillies. Coconut milk is difficult to pair due to its unique richness. Stout is able to cut through the different tastes and enhances its sweetness and spiciness.

As for century egg, not everyone likes this dish as some may find it overpowering or pungent.

Nikka from the barrel is a unique whisky. It is cut from a specific barrel and then bottled to maintain its sweetness. It’s got a lot of character. It’s not powerful; it cuts away the richness of the century egg and is able to make the dish taste even better.

Q: What about wine?

A: For the adventurous foodies, we would recommend them to try their food paired with whisky. Out of 10 customers, around nine of them said they actually enjoyed the whisky pairing with the local heritage dishes. We would recommend pairing a dish with two or three glasses of whiskies – they can be of the same or different type, which will make the food taste different.

Wine is so sensitive to the robustness of the food. When it comes to local food, wine might not be able to hold its weight. Out of 100 bottles of wine, probably only a handful would make a good pairing with local dishes. However when it comes to whiskies or beer, 90 per cent will make the mark.

CHEF VIOLET OON, VIOLET OON’S KITCHEN

Q: Would all these reinterpretations create more controversies?

A: Controversy is of course fun – one has to argue, disagree and agree and then there is discourse and lively discussion.

Q: What would you say to those who might construe your chilli crab pizza as an attempt to reinvent the wheel?

A: Reinventing the wheel is actually part of the whole process of being a “culinarian” – some chefs prefer to take the totally traditional route and cook in restaurants which have preserved a tradition for many years – this is great and we enjoy the cooking of these chefs. Others want to innovate and evolve and we celebrate these chefs as well – so being a “culinarian” can take many routes and each of us chooses the route that we enjoy and enthuse in.