SINGAPORE – The Singapore National Culinary Team flew the Republic’s flag high at the prestigious Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2022 in Luxembourg, which ran from Nov 26 to 30.
After two intense days of competition, Singapore’s seven-man team clinched two gold medals – one for the Chef’s Table category, and another for the newly-introduced Best National Showpiece award with their spectacular sugar and chocolate sculpture inspired by Gardens by the Bay.
In terms of overall score, Singapore came in fourth out of 15 teams, narrowly missing the third spot that went to Norway.
Switzerland – which also received the Best National Showpiece award because of a tie in points – took top spot, followed by Sweden in second place.
For the competition, held in conjunction with the gastronomy trade fair Expogast, all teams had to compete in two categories.
In the Restaurant of Nations category, the Singapore team prepared a three-course meal that best represents the country for 110 diners within five hours. Among the 110 diners, 10 judges dined incognito to give their scores.
One of the dishes included a herb roasted lamb loin, with braised lamb shoulder croquette, morel with nduja sausage stuffing and truffle and onion tartlet.
The other category was the Chef’s Table, where each team created a tasting menu including bread and butter, a vegan course, main course and dessert for 12 diners. Other factors like table setting and audience engagement were also taken into consideration.
This year, Singapore was the only representative from Asia.
Before the pandemic, the competition – which runs once every four years – featured more than 30 teams for each edition. This year, just 15 of the “best of” teams from around the world that have fared consistently well in the past were invited to participate.
The Singapore National Culinary Team is led by team manager Kong Kok Kiang, executive chef of Sentosa Golf Club, and team captain Koh Han Jie, executive chef of Ce Soir.
Its members are Aloysius Tay, a culinary lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic; Darren Chin, executive sous chef at Sats; Marvas Ng, executive chef of Path Restaurant; Ben Goh, executive pastry chef of Angliss; and Wee Pai Hau, pastry chef of InterContinental Singapore.
Prior to the competition, the team had been hard at work for the past one-and-a-half years, going through countless rounds of brainstorming and practice sessions with a panel of mentors.
They are supported by the Singapore Chefs’ Association, which raised $250,000 to cover competition expenses.
The team returns to Singapore on Saturday at 5.15pm on flight SQ325.
Chef Kong said: “We are incredibly proud of the team. They have shown focus, camaraderie and a fighting spirit that the Singapore National Culinary Team is known for.”
