I don’t get out to events as much as I’d like. However, last night I was fortunate enough to be invited by  Chef Anderson Ho, one of the most talented chefs I know, to Lavish’s 18 Anniversary gala dinner at Gardens by the Bay.

  

The evening’s spread was prepared by Chef Teo Yeow Siang, a truly accomplished chef who represented Singapore at the Expogast Culinary World Cup 2014 in Luxembourg.

The theme of the night was ‘catering redefined’ and we tasted plenty of award winning dishes in a showcase of the future of catering.

What a nostalgic backdrop that served as an homage to 1960s Singapore.

We were greeted with a beautiful light display that spanned most of the space above us. Old world food stalls peppered the perimeter, serving crowd pleasing favourites such as laksa , chicken rice, satay and tandoori chicken. Each stall was decorated to have an old world theme, which was a sharp juxtaposition to the LED light displays and funky clear perspex backlit bar.

Jerry Sim, strategic Business Manager for Lavish took the stage and explained the premise of this dinner – Menu 2.0, in the next room reflected the future of modern contemporary cuisine with an emphasis on Asian flavours. Once the curtains were drawn back we were ushered across from the past, into the future.

What ensued were some memorable dishes. Sadly I didn’t get around to trying them all, but what I savoured, I am sharing with you – a little glimpse of my delicious life.

A molecular deconstruction of the classic Singapore sling 

Dragons breath – a delightful liquid nitrogen dessert that stuck to the top of my mouth due to the immense cold and gave me the pleasure of being a ‘fire breathing dragon’.

Braised beef cheek with bush tomato , smoked onion and potato foam.

Lobster fritters with powdered seaweed -a real crowd pleaser.  

Chawanmushi , scallop tartar, wasabi yuzu and spring onion foam. 

Onsen egg , mushroom ragout , truffle crumble and porcini foam.   

Braised beef Mantou buns.

Cauliflower jelly, marinated smoked eel, salicornia cress (my favourite salty cress for pairing with fish dishes) and trout roe.

Pan seared king crab in brick pastry with lemon purée and oyster leaf (a member of the borage family whose leaves actually taste like oyster).

Salmon and prawn roulade with mustard espuma.

Foie gras with port wine jelly with beetroot meringue and sous vide apple – the dish was so nice I ate it thrice.

The food was excellent and so was the company. On the plus side I also got to rub shoulders with local celebrities both from stage and screen and a few of my personal Singapore Chef idols as well.

Many thanks to Lavish catering for the amazing spread, all the hard work from the chefs and service team really paid off. I left sizably impressed and positive about the future of catering in the Singapore market.

Can’t wait to see what menu 3.0 holds.

Here’s to the future of contemporary food in 2016. Huat ah!