Steven Leong’s Blog

This should be my final post about FHA2008 in Singapore Expo and as usual, I leave the best to the last. Displays and showpieces; items that are meant to impress us visually. The competition for the best displays and showcases were basically seperated into 2 major categories : Individual Challenge Displays and Individual Challenge Artistic Displays and in turn these were seperated in 2 locations in Singapore Expo.

The Individual Challenge Displays range from pastry showpieces to wedding cakes, petite fours or pralines, desserts to a myriad of plated dishes; the Individual Challenge Artistic Displays run from the live cake dressing, pumpkin carving and ice carving.

This year, FHA2008 saw participation for the individual challenges from Sri Lanka, USA, Philippines, Korea , Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Particularly impressive pieces include the amazingly detailed work from Pan Jui Tsung from Crown Incorporated, Taiwan titled “Spider”. In which was described this piece of work as a whole, represents the art and craft of a spider with mystery and aestheticism.

Another piece that caught my eye was the piece from Ismail Morad from Langkawi Lagoon Resort, Malaysia. It was a near perfect rendition of sea and reef life in a very unusual earthly tone and texture, till today, I have no idea what he made his piece with, is it sugar? is it wood?

Of the chocolate work on display, I guess the most impressive was the work of Jaime De Vera from Makati Shangri-la, Philippines. Titled, “Cradle of Life”, it depicts Christ as a baby with the family resting in an oasis. I could almost feel the calmness and beauty of the scene as everything seemed to glue together, from the expressions on the faces of everyone to the camels’ faces and posture.

On the plated dishes front, Tay Lean Chen from SATS Catering, Singapore showed us how pure artistry can be combined with produce from the sea and land can be combined to give us a feast for our eyes and our stomaches. Tay’s “4 lobsters” (that’s not the offical name for it, just my name for the dish) is perhaps the most photographed plated dish during the show.

The entry from Sunny Cheong from Conrad Centennial, Singapore was just as impressive if not more so. His display was simple and elegant, prove that artistry can be conveyed without being brash or loud. The most impressive was his plate of four pieces of simple delight with handles made from nothing more than skin of a grouper.

All in all, I’d say that the displays during FHA2008 were very impressive but it is less so compared to previous years; I wonder if it has anything to do with the classification system. The number of teams that participated in the Gourmet Challenge increased as well, I think but it seems that the variety has lessened.

Well… there are always things one can improve for any show or exhibition but as a whole, I would say FHA2008 was very successful in what it set out to do. That is to be the largest tradeshow for all things related to Food and Hotels in the region.

Till next time…

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