Growing up in a concrete jungle, it always fascinate me whenever I see an area set aside as a herbs garden. But amongst those that I have seen in Singapore, I must say One Farrer Hotel & Spa has one of the biggest space set aside! During one of One Farrer Hotel & Spa “Origins of Food’ discovery programme, Farm to Table and Market to Table, not only did I find out about this spanning 11,000 sqft herbs FARM, I had the experience of going on an excursion to the neighbouring Tekka Market near the hotel. OMG! this is definitely way more than what I had expected from the Farm to Table and Market to Table experience!
After we gathered at Institute of Nutrition, located at One Farrer Hotel & Spa level one, next to Origins of Food, we were brought to this lovely herbs garden which has more than 65 varieties of edible plants, herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables!!!! To be honest, I was so surprised to find jackfruit, limeberry, blooming ginger flowers and even red pineapple here! This herbs garden is not just any herbs farm, it also supplies the home grown vegetables and fruits to the hotel’s F&B outlets as well as offer a specially curated range to the Origins of Food retail area, along with an array of Singapore/regional specialty food and culinary enabling products.
Next up, we were given a mrt ticket where we took train to Tekka Market. It was kinda interesting as it felt like an adult version of a school excursion! During our trip to the market, Chef Elson shared with us some of his favourite stalls as well as tips to select the fresh ingredients from the market. Personally, I love this experience of going to the wet market where I found super sweet cherry tomatoes selling at $0.60 per 100g and interesting ingredients such as the assam leaves instead of the usual assam paste that was commonly found elsewhere. Since the trip to Tekka Market, it has been a weekly affair to brave the crowd and to get my ingredients for my healthy home cooked luncheon.
Once back at the Origins of Food – Food Studio, Chef Elson put on the apron and started sharing his cooking tips and teaching us the cooking techniques on several of his signature dishes which includes Chef Elson’s Chicken Curry with Potatoes, Singapore Chilli Crab, One Farrer Signature Durian Fried Rice and the demonstration class ended on a sweet note with Chilled Mango Sago dessert. I also gained several insights on how to make chicken curry taste more aromatic and mouth-watering. I was very sure that everyone enjoyed this experience as I saw an unanimous expression of happiness and satisfaction as we sat down to enjoy the meal that Chef Elson whipped up for us.
One Farrer Hotel & Spa’s Farm to Table and Market to Table experience is not just restricted to local cuisine, you can also find a selection of different cuisines, from Thai, Peranakan to Indian. If you are interested, it is available at $90++ per pax, you can call Origins of Food at 6705 7825 or email fnbevents@onefarrer.com for availability and bookings. I really hope that you will enjoy this experience as much as I do with your colleagues, family and friends as I heard that there were several instances where people actually booked this for their corporate outing!
One Farrer Hotel & Spa
1 Farrer Park Station Road level 6 Singapore 217562
Tel: +65 6705 7850
Email: sparetreat@onefarrer.com
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