Chefs whip up gourmet fare for $100++

Renowned international chefs pair up with local restaurants to whip up meals that cost from $100++

Six-course meals by illustrious chefs for $100 a person. This might sound too good to be true, but $100Gourmet is happening next month.

Citibank is debuting its 12-month- long dining series, which features international chefs who will collaborate with two host restaurants in Singapore each month.

The chefs will present six-course menus that cost just $100++ for Citibank credit cardmembers. Other diners pay $180++ a person. Beverages are charged separately.

Tickets are available for online purchase at www.100gourmet.sg from tomorrow on a first-come, first-served basis.

So get the best of both worlds at European restaurant Corner House at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, as Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt pairs up with the restaurant's chef Jason Tan. Their menu runs from April 23 to 26.

Chef Ekstedt, 36, will be presenting two of his signature dishes - lobster fried in butter with lobster mousseline served with pickled red onions, almonds and fresh watercress; and lightly smoked cod with broccoli.

At his Restaurant Ekstedt in Stockholm, he showcases techniques of the Scandinavian kitchen and "how we used to cook in the Nordic countries before electricity". For example, he has a "stone-age microwave", which is a glass box suspended high above an open fire with smoke piped into it.

Cooking will be slightly different in Singapore though.

He says: "In Singapore, I expect that I'll have to work with their kitchen and their equipment. I look forward to smoking with a wok."

Chef Tan, 32, will create three dishes, one of which will be a durian dessert.

He says: "In our new dishes, expect a happy marriage of Nordic and French techniques combined with my Asian sensibilities and roots with Niklas' interest in Asian ingredients."

Another collaboration next month features French chef Laurent Peugeot. He will showcase his French and Japanese influences at Saint Pierre at Quayside Isle from April 22 to 25, and at Fat Cow at Camden Medical Centre from April 26 to 28.

Dishes at Saint Pierre include scallops and bamboo clams from chef Peugeot and botan ebi with sea urchin and momotaro tomatoes from Saint Pierre's Emmanuel Stroobant.

Their collaborative dish will be eggs cooked at a low temperature and topped with foie gras emulsion.

Other visiting chefs in the coming months include Anthony Demetre of one-Michelin-starred Arbutus and Wild Honey in London, and Rolf Filegauf of two-Michelin-starred restaurnts Ristorante Ecco and Ecco on Snow in Switzerland.

Other participating restaurants include Ola Cocina del Mar at Marina Bay Financial Centre, Tippling Club and Stellar at 1-Altitude.

On the inaugural event, a Citibank spokesman says: "We believe that $100Gourmet will serve as an excellent platform to showcase the creativity of local and foreign chefs and bring added vitality to the local culinary scene."

euniceq@sph.com.sg

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