Tuck into chicken rice... in a cookie

Taste proves a hit at consumer fair, along with cookies infused with satay and laksa flavours

Showpieces by competitors from Singapore (right) and Taiwan (second from right) created for the International Bake-A-Star championship. Local talents will battle it out in the Singapore Bake-A-Star championship today and tomorrow. The team behind Ms
The team behind Ms Judy Koh's cookies infused with local flavours include (from left) Mr Jason Ng, managing director of Baker's Oven Pattisieries, and Cake In Action pastry chefs Forest Lim and Joanne Huang. PHOTOS: LIN ZHAOWEI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
Showpieces by competitors from Singapore (right) and Taiwan (second from right) created for the International Bake-A-Star championship. Local talents will battle it out in the Singapore Bake-A-Star championship today and tomorrow. The team behind Ms
Showpieces by competitors from Singapore (right) and Taiwan (second from right) created for the International Bake-A-Star championship. Local talents will battle it out in the Singapore Bake-A-Star championship today and tomorrow. PHOTOS: LIN ZHAOWEI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

Foodies at a new trade and consumer fair that opened yesterday got to tuck into tea and cookies in the surprising flavours of satay, laksa and chicken rice.

They were the biggest hit at Chillax Asia 2018, so named as the organisers hope to bring bakers, entrepreneurs and foodies together for a good time.

The cookies - made just for the fair - are the brainchild of Ms Judy Koh, 55, managing director of culinary institute Creative Culinaire.

Ms Koh said she and her team wanted to create something that would capture the essence of Singapore.

About 300 boxes of the Singapore Iconic Cookies will be sold at the fair, which ends on Sunday, at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Admission is free.

About 120 booths offer treats ranging from traditional wonton noodles to new flavours of gelato.

Yesterday, visitors also watched six bakers from around Asia compete in a bake-off for bread and pastry.

Mr Andy Cho, a senior baker with home-grown Deluscious Patisserie, was Singapore's representative in the competition, which the fair organisers hoped would give Asian baking talents more exposure.

"Maybe I'll have the confidence to start my own patisserie after this," said Mr Cho, 40, who faced stiff competition from countries such as the Philippines and China.

The winner of the inaugural International Bake-A-Star contest was Mr Lu Han-chih from Taiwan.

The 41-year-old is an established pastry chef and the director of Taiwan-based Vienna Bakery.

Next, local talents will battle it out in the Singapore Bake-A-Star Championship, to be held today and tomorrow.

Winners will represent Singapore in upcoming international competitions, said the fair organisers.

Chillax Asia also offers homegrown entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry a platform to collaborate with one another and with multinational corporations such as IE Global, an ingredient and equipment distributor in the region.

Local enterprises Momolato, which concocts unique flavours of gelato, and Bakes n Bites, which offers new takes on traditional muffins and cakes, drew crowds at the fair yesterday.

The event, at Suntec Halls 401 to 403, is organised by the Singapore Bakery and Confectionery Trade Association, which was established in 1947, and The Planner Affairs.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 15, 2018, with the headline Tuck into chicken rice... in a cookie. Subscribe