The Epicurean food & wine market is back this year, the fourth edition from 12 to 14 August, 10am to 2am. With old guards and new members brought into MBS’s F & B family, this will be the gourmet food fair of the largest scale in MBS’s history.
New members include John Kunkel’s Yardbird Southern Table & Bar, set to open their permanent space in the integrated resort in 2017. We tried their Lewellyn’s Fried Chicken, Watermelon and Waffles ($12), which I felt was a bold item that stood out amongst its more bourgeois peers.
Half a waffle, a juicy piece of hot chicken, watermelon cubes, spicy honey sauce and Bourbon maple syrup formed this mini platter. The portion was generous, so were its flavours if you can imagine. Dunking a fried chicken in a potent alcoholic sweet brew made me nearly drunk at one point though I was mostly sober enough to enjoy the whole thing. While there was room for improvisation, I definitely appreciated the audacity of its execution.
Punjal Grill’s San Marzano Tomato Chicken in Vanilla Tart Shell ($12 for 2) might seem to be a little on the pricier end, but these flavourful Italian tomatoes do wonders to Indian spices, and when put together, they formed such delicious tarts that had me hankering for more.
My favourite dish of all the lot would definitely be Spago’s Agnolotti with sweet corn topped with Australian winter truffles ($16). It was a rather simple arrangement of filling the pasta with Japanese sweet corn and topping the cooked dish with Australian winter truffles. In the end you get a sweet-savoury-piquant taste hovering around different locations of your palette. It was a fine example of how the simplicity of premium ingredients triumphs!
Credit: City Nomads
If you have more cash to spare, head over to Vision Distribution WG8 for the single portion caviar blini-vodka pairing ($40). Here, Ossetra Caviar is served. If the name rings a bell, that is because they supply them to top restaurants worldwide, including all the outlets under Joel Robuchon’s empire. These Bulgarian caviar are served on top of a petit blini with sour cream, and paired with a shot of Neft Vodka, which is a artisanal Vodka made from Austrian spring water.
Credit: City Nomads
The water from the Styrian/Lower Austrian Alps is so good it prompted the founders to start their production near the source, so the narrative goes. This is probably the only Vodka made in Austria. The fruity and mineral flavours stood out, and might bode well with those who might not be so receptive to the Russian liquor.
Apart from eating at the restaurant booths, foodies might also be delighted at the offerings of the Farmers’ Market, such as the incredibly rare Cobo Salmon from Alaska, seasonal produces such as Canadian cherries, Shizuoka Hamamatsu melons and my favourite cheeses by The Cheese Artisans!
Over the weekends check out the mostly free Masterclass cooking and wine appreciation events and mobile bars curated by the Octopus Group. When night falls, head over to the daily special Epicurean themed after party at Ce La Vi, which is gonna be the first ever Soirées for the three day gourmet food fair.
The above article is written by Guest Writer @ramenking2016. You can find him on instagram where he shares his love for food and travel.
