Mark your calendars. These are the food and wine events you don’t want to miss.
$150/person for a 5-course degustation menu, or $190/person with wine pairing. Oct 26-28, 7.30pm. #01-02, 115 Amoy Street, tel: 6235-4990. See the event Facebook page or email comilona@bochinche.com.sg for details.
Argentina is one of the biggest gastronomic destinations in South America, renowned particularly for their beef, barbecue (asado), street snacks, and fine wines. But let’s face ─ it’s crazy far away. Like 28 hours (minimum) with two stopovers kinda far.
The good news is that you don’t have to cross oceans to get a taste of Argentinian culture, because we’ve got an Argentinian food festival coming right up!
Come late October, the second edition of Comilona (which means ‘feast’ in Spanish), a three-day food festival dedicated to cocina Argetina (Argentinian cuisine), will be taking place at Bochinche, Singapore’s stalwart restaurant Argentinian restaurant.
Argentina native Diego Jacquet, who is the founder of Comilona as well as executive chef of Bochinche, will be joined by eight guest chefs and an award-winning sommelier for the festival. Each night, three chefs will collaborate to present a 5-course degustation menu. This star-studded cadre of culinary talents include the likes of chef Hernan Luchetti of the three Michelin-starred El Celler de Can Roca; and chef Soledad Nardelli, who helms Chila, one of the top-ranked restaurants in Buenos Aires.
Here are some examples of what to expect: beef fillet with whisky, yacaratia (a type of edible a type of flavoured, edible wood ─ yes, wood), plums and walnuts by chef Luchetti; beef flank smoked with jarilla (a type of flowering plant indigenous to South America) and served with Andean potatoes by chef Pablo del Rio from Siete Cocinas de Argentina; and pumpkin flan with chilled corn-and-lime soup, quinoa ice cream, and Andes herbs-infused oil from chef Federico Heinzmann of New York Grill and Bar in Tokyo’s Park Hyatt.
We can’t stress this enough: The wine-pairing menu only costs $40 more, which is a real steal; furthermore, Agustina de Alba is one of the top sommeliers in Argentina, so you really should just go straight for the wine-pairing option!
$50 per ticket, $99 for three tickets. October 20, 4-10pm; Oct 22, noon-10pm; Oct 23, noon-9pm. Clifford Square, 80 Collyer Quay. See winefiesta.com.sg for full details.
The annual Wine Fiesta’s back for it’s ninth edition, presenting over 350 wine labels. Interaction with winemakers has always been a fundamental experience of the Wine Fiesta experience, and this time round, there will be 70 international winemakers at the event.
This year’s Wine Fiesta is putting the spoltight on natural wines ─ wines that are made with little or no intervention, such as using wild yeasts, skipping the filtration process, and with minimal sulphurs ─ in particular, wines from the Basket Range region in Adelaine Hills, Australia.
Basket Range wineries have been making a name for themselves in the viticulture community for the production of organic wines. Four winemakers from these independent, small-scale wineries ─ BK Wines, Carrick, Commune of Buttons, and CRFT ─ will be here for the event.
Palate-wise, natural wines are gaining popularity because they are considered to have a truer expression of the terroir of the wines. Vineyards producing natural wines also tend to have a more biodynamic and environmentally sustainable approach to cultivation. Natural wines are also very much artisanal ─ because there is so little margin for error, winemakers are actively involved throughout the whole labour intensive production, from handpicking the grapes to carefully monitoring the fermentation process.
As with recent Wine Fiesta, there’s lots of noshing to be had too. Headliners include Meat Smith, Burnt Ends, Tin Hill Social, Morsels and Cheek by Jowl. Just to whet your appetite, these are some of the gourmet bites to look forward to: Pac Man Bun with Confit Duck Leg (Cheek by Jowl), Tart of Locally Farmed Crocodile Pastrami & Fresh Goat Cheese (Tin Hill Social), and Salted Egg Crab Meat Popiah (Good Chance Popiah). Most dishes are affordably priced between $10-$15. There are even suggestions for pairing these foods with natural wines, so do give them a try.
The Wine Fiesta is also the best time to snap up your favourite bottles, since you’ll have at the minimum, a 10 per cent discount on the regular retail price!
Free entry. Nov 4, 10pm till late. 110 Telok Ayer Street, tel: 6636-8055. See fb.com/MooseheadKitchenBar for details.
Moosehead ─ arguably one of THE places to get your grill on ─ is kicking off their first ever Supper Series, beginning with a collab with acclaimed hawker joint, A Noodle Story.
If the name rings a bell… their recent Bib Gourmand recognition in Singapore’s first Michelin Guide might explain it. Or maybe you just remember it as that atas-and-affordable noodle stall in Amoy Street with the mod-Sin ramen-meets-wanton mee dish.
The menu for the supper club is succinct (just 10 items) and crazy affordable.
Noodles ($5) ─ the hawker stall’s new dish ─ sees chewy yellow noodles tossed with kelp, micro ebi, scallions and chilli pepper strands.
And of course there’s no missing Moosehead’s signature Inka oven in this popup event.
The char siew ($10 per 100g), A Noodle Story-to-Moosehead crossover, comprises Spanish pork that is cooked sous-vide for 36 hours in a soy sauce-and-honey marinade and given a slow kiss of smoke from the Inka. On the flipside, the restaurant’s famous bacon-wrapped dates get a local makeover into lipsmacking parcels of minced pork wantons wrapped in bacon and char-grilled ($8).
And it ain’t no fun without booze, so cool off with the “iced tea” ($12) and “iced milo” ($12). The former is rummy and tropical, with pineapple, ginger and aloe vera added to the base of Lipton tea. And the latter is an ice-blended, extra gao version with a dose of Amaretto. Cheers.
Free entry. Oct 26, 11.30am-2.30pm, Changi City Point; Oct 27, 11.30am-2.30pm, Mapletree Business City; Oct 28, 11.30am-2.30pm, 1 Fusionopolis Place.
If you’re working around Changi City Point, Mapletree Business City, and Fusionopolis ─ we’re super envious.
Because you’ve got a cheese truck coming your way this month and there’s lots of gourmet cheesy snacks to feast on, such as blue cheese “hollandaise” croustades (croustades are a type of puff pastry-based snacks), smashed peas crostini with mozzarella mousse and shaved parmesan, and gratin dauphinois (a cheesy baked dish of potatoes and crème fraîche).
Be sure to look your Instagram best too, because you’ll score a complimentary tote bag and cheesy recipes when you take and post photos with #saycheese at their photobooths.
You can also learn about lesser-known European cheeses over here. They announce supermarket store tastings and promotions there too, so keep it bookmarked.
The “Say Cheese” food truck is co-organised by the Centre National Interprofessionel de l’Economie Laitière (CNIEL) ─ the overararching organisation for the French dairy industry ─ with the European Union.
$25/person for 2 sticks of satay at each of the eight stalls. Oct 22, 5-9pm. See kindness.sg/blog/work/urban-kampung for details.
Miss the good ol’ days of Satay Club? Hey, this one’s right up your kampung!
There’s a mega satay cook-off happening at Queen Elizabeth Walk off Esplanade Park (it’s that stretch of the park between Tam Kin Seng fountain and Lim Bo Seng Memorial, which is also pretty much where the old Satay Club used to be) ─ eight satay hawkers will be competing to be crowed the ultimate satay master, and you get to vote for your favourite.
The $25 ticket nets you two sticks of satay at each of the eight stalls, gula melaka scones, drinks, as well as discounts on other snacks.
This satay challenge is part of the broader Urban Kampung event, organised by the Singapore Kindness Movement, to demystify the Malay-Muslim culture. Other fringe activities include kampung games and photobooths where anyone can dress up in baju kurongs and sarongs.
Photo: Wisnu Haryo Yudhanto