Twelve eateries, comprising hawker stalls, cafes and
restaurants, have been recognised in the inaugural Singapore Food
Masters 2016, an islandwide food hunt.
The winners are categorised into four zones - North,
Central, East and West - with three in each category.
Each eatery also picked a representative dish for the
food hunt.
The winners include Hanwoori Korean Restaurant in
Serangoon Garden for its Budae Jeongol (army hotpot); Authentic Mun
Chee King Of Pig's Organ Soup in Jalan Besar for its offal soup;
Roast Paradise at Old Airport Road Food Centre for its Hakka-style
noodles with char siew; and De' Beer Garden Restaurant in Kranji
and Sunset Way for its Flaming Chicken, which comes flambed with
Chinese rice wine.
The results were announced on Oct 14 at an award
ceremony in Chinese restaurant Ah Hoi's Kitchen in Hotel Jen
Tanglin Singapore. About 120 guests, including food and beverage
professionals, readers and sponsors, attended the event.
The food hunt is sponsored by the Lam Soon Group - best
known for its Knife brand cooking oil - and liquefied petroleum gas
company Union Gas, in partnership with Singapore Press Holdings'
newspapers.
The 12 winners were chosen by a panel of six food and
beverage professionals, including chef Forest Leong of
one-Michelin-starred Forest restaurant in Resorts World Sentosa and
Ms Hedy Khoo, who writes the recipe column in The New Paper.
The judges ate incognito at the eateries over three
weeks. Judging criteria include the taste of the dish, service
standards, cleanliness of the eatery, value-for-money and whether
the the dish has healthier alternatives.
The judges picked the winners from a shortlist of 40
eateries - 10 from each of the four zones.
The 40 eateries were selected from an initial pool of
124 hawker stalls and restaurants selected by a public vote over
four weeks that ended in August.
More than 17,000 votes were received via SMS and the
Singapore Food Masters website.
One of the judges, Dr Teo Hark Piang, 40, executive
director of Union Energy Corporation, found it "tough" to select
the top three eateries from the list of 10 in the Central zone. It
took him four rounds of eating to pick the winners.
He was impressed with Lam's Abalone Noodles in Race
Course Road. He says: "The noodles are chewy and come in good
portions and I was impressed by the service. The staff went around
asking diners how the food was when I visited the place during
lunch."
Another judge, Ms Ng Yimin, 35, a correspondent with
Chinese- language daily Lianhe Zaobao, who picked the three winners
in the North zone, says she made a food discovery through the hunt
- Rong Cheng Bak Kut Teh in Sin Ming Lane.
She says: "I like the peppery stock, which is not
overpowering and has a slight sweetness."
Chef Leong, too, was surprised to discover new food
haunts when judging the eateries in the West zone, where she has
lived for 20 years.
One of them is San Laksa Steamboat in Telok Blangah.
The 47-year-old says: "This shop offers a unique style of
steamboat. The laksa stock is not too rich but very flavourful and
its flavours remain after cooking the ingredients in it."
She adds that competition among the finalists was keen,
with the eateries offering quality food with good presentation and
at affordable prices.
"It is great to have so many eateries in Singapore that
offer a wide variety of food at any time of the day," she says.
For more information on the winners of Singapore Food
Masters 2016, go towww.sgfoodmasters.com