SINGAPORE - Food&HotelAsia 2018 is on now at the Singapore Expo and the biggest industry fair for the food and hospitality trade is a great showcase for new products from homegrown food and beverage companies.
Under the banner of Tasty Singapore, more than 100 Singapore food companies had set up shop to tempt the tastebuds of visitors with their new products.
Here are some which caught our eye on Wednesday (Apr 25) the second day of FHA. The trade show will end on Friday.
1. Black Pepper Crab with Wholegrain Noodles, Braised Mushroom with Wholegrain Bee Tai Mak, and chilli crab with Wholegrain Kway Teow
Homegrown company TSK has created a niche for itself with its shelf-stable line of noodles under the Kang Kang brand. Besides the usual yellow mee and mee tai mak, Kang Kang also offers wholegrain versions which are healthier. Thanks to a pasteurisation process, the fresh noodles can be kept on the shelf for more than two weeks even without preservatives.
Having added Express Meal Kits with laksa, curry and prawn mee flavours to its repertoire, TSK is now extending its range with these three new flavours. Plus, as they are combined with Kang Kang's wholegrain noodle range, they are healthier options than most instant noodles out there.
These are due to hit the market soon.
2. Ready-to-cook Chicken Satay, ready-to-eat Chick Kwa, and Chicken Broth
Kee Song is best known to Singaporeans as the supplier of sakura chicken. The company is now venturing into chicken products prepped for the home cook's convenience.
Its Chicken Broth is brewed with chicken bones and carrots, and can be used as soup base or hotpot broth. This product is already available online from their website but will be available in the shops soon.
The Chicken Satay is made with marinated lean chicken pieces and each pack contains 20 skewers as well as a pack of peanut sauce. The satay is tender and flavourful, and the peanut gravy thick with peanut bits.
The Chick Kwa is ready to eat and surprisingly tender for bak kwa. All the products are made with Kee Song's signature antibiotic-free, lactobacillus-fed chickens.
The satay and Chick Kwa, which were launched at FHA, are due to hit the shelves soon.
Also in the works are fresh chicken sausages, made in two flavours.
3. Singapore Prawn Soup Wholegrain LaMian and Soya Sauce Chicken Rice Ready Meal
Prima's spice packs have been a culinary lifeline for many a homesick Singaporean overseas, and its instant noodle packs have been equally successful. Its Laksa LaMian has consistently earned the No. 1 spot on the RamenRater's list of top 10 ramen in the world.
Prima's latest flavour is Prawn Soup Wholegrain LaMian, its signature qq noodles given a health boost with the use of superfine wholegrain flour swimming in a light prawny broth.
Its newest ready meal is Soya Sauce Chicken Rice which, Prima Taste general manager Eric Sim says with pride, won over 10 out of 10 taste testers.
4. Chocolate Fondue and Gourmet Pork bao
Kong Guan is a household name with Singaporeans, thanks to its convenient range of frozen bao and dim sum favourites.
It recently launched a Gourmet series which ups the ante on its well-known range. The first two offerings in the series were the Truffle Mushroom bao and Salted Egg Yolk bao.
At FHA, the brand launched two more flavours: Chocolate Fondue and Gourmet Pork bao. The Chocolate Fondue bao is a chocolate flavoured bao with a centre that oozes sweet, dark chocolate. The Gourmet Pork bao will amp up Kong Guan's traditional big bao with premium ingredients.
These two new bao flavours will be in the market soon.
5. Ready-to-cook seafood
Lobster tails with butter sauce, hot and spicy mullet fillets, and braised sea cucumber with abalone sauce that need just one to two minutes to warm up in the microwave. This range of ready-to-cook seafood represents The Seafood Company's venture into the convenience food market.
This Singapore company invested in new machines that "skin-packs" its offerings. This process is an improvement on vacuum packing, extending a fresh product's shelf-life from 3-4 days to a week.
The range of ready-to-cook seafood will be available in supermarkets in three months.
6. Crystal Durian lava mini-mooncake
Fei Fah Medical Manufacturing's Chui Lau Heung durian mooncakes have earned fans in Hong Kong and the United States. In July, it will be launching the latest variation of its popular Crystal Durian mooncake. The lava mini-mooncake will have a molten durian centre encased in durian and a translucent mooncake skin.
