Aug 22 2008
off the menu
There’s nothing like a good meal - whether it’s something someone has lovingly cooked for you or whether you enjoy pottering around the kitchen and fixing something exactly the way you want it. One of my favourite things to cook is softly scrambled eggs with just a bit of butter, maybe some goat cheese and herbs or a splash of full cream milk. I don’t cook many things better than my Italian mother-in-law, but this is one of them.
Speaking of Italian food - I just filmed another episode of this segment I’m producing and presenting called “Off the Menu”. For this segment I interviewed Chef Giacomo Gallina who has just set up a new restaurant called ‘Otto’ in the Red Dot Building in Singapore. Giacomo is pretty much the “godfather” of Italian chefs based in Singapore, having mentored some pretty big names behind the well established Italian restaurants here. He was a really nice, laidback kind of chef with sure, deft touch to his cooking.
We also had a chance to do a tasting!
I have to say, I’m also a sucker for a really good chocolate molten cake - as cliched as that may be. But Giacomo also makes a mean squid ink pasta and perfectly cooked asparagus with a rich and decadent cheese sauce.
Off the Menu is not just about food though - in fact it’s not really about the food per se but the stories and ideas behind the dishes and cooking styles. Over the past few months, I’ve had a chance to interview some culinary greats like Pierre Herme and Anne Sophie Pic (only woman in France to get 3 michelin stars) - and some homegrown self taught cooks like Willin Low. Plus I got to talk to a young but determined chef behind one of my favourite restaurants in Singapore - Sage. Jusman So is a man who really values honesty, especially in cooking and if you head down to his restaurant on Mohamed Sultan road you’ll see what I mean.
Do tune in to the segment - it’s on Tuesdays during Primetime Morning at 9.20am Singapore time. Otherwise, you can always head down to the website to catch the episode you missed. I hope you have as much fun watching it as I did filming it!
Joanne Leow is a producer-presenter with Channel NewsAsia. She is married with 2 young sons and spends her free time reading, writing, swimming, doing yoga and cooking up a storm.