Sunday, October 19, 2014

Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014 at Suntec Expo on 22 November 2014

This year's Ultimate Hawker Fest is about to descend upon us again. For those who are not familiar, the Ultimate Hawker Fest was originally started in 2012 by ieatishootipost as a charity event to showcase some of our finest street food in Singapore.

At the same time, it was also an event to raise money for Touch Community's supported charitable organisations. I am delighted to announce that I am one of the 3 curators for this year's event, along with Miss Tam Chiak (www.misstamchiak.com), who is leading this year's event  and Sgfoodonfoot (www.sgfoodonfoot.com), my dependable food buddy.

Over the last two years, the event has also been a great opportunity to bring our various hawker heroes under one place to produce "ultimate" versions of their hawker dishes. This would include using some of the most premium and exceptional ingredients to bolster their dishes.

This year, there will be over 20 hawker stalls present at the event. We will see some returning favourites who will again be showcasing their "ultimate" versions of their hawker food. These will include Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice who will be using 80 day corn fed Anxin chicken, and Uncle Kun (Genshu) who will be presenting his special abalone filled glutinous event at this year's event.

As for myself, I will be personally handpicking 6 to 7 stalls to be present at this year's festival, and some of the new debutants will include Tony Tee's Crocodile King Soup and Uncle Lim's authentic Teochew bak kut teh from Rong Cheng.

This year, the "ultimate" element will be not just restricted to using special ingredients, but the ultimate aspect will come to include the essence and authenticity of our classic hawker/street food.

Furthermore, this year's event is also an opportunity to highlight some of our young generation hawkers and food makers who have valiantly taken on this challenging but proud heritage of producing our own local street cuisine.

Some of our younger hawkers will include Penang Kia, started by a young couple who used to be former flight attendants, as well as some of the older establishment's next generation of food makers.

With that in mind, this year's event will be separated into three distinct categories:

Ultimate Original Recipe - Which celebrates the pioneer generation hawkers through stalls helmed by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations of famous hawkers.

Ultimate Pursuit of Happiness - Which celebrates the enterprising spirit of budding chefs and hawkers by featuring individuals who left their jobs in other sectors to pursue their passion in the hawker industry.

Ultimate Ingredients - Which features hawkers who have added special ingredients to conventional hawker fares to create dishes that are truly a league of their own.

Silverchef, MsTamChiak and Sgfoodonfoot

All in all, it has been an exciting time to work with the hawkers who will be attending this year's event, and personally, it has been both a privilege and an immense joy to be participating in this year's event.
The event itself will be held in Suntec Convention Halls 401 and 402 on the saturday of 22 November, starting from 11am until 5pm.

As per the previous years, tickets will be pre sold as coupons which can be used to purchase the food items at the event. All the proceeds will be going towards charity, so that alone is a good enough reason for everyone to come down on that day to partake in the activities.

In addition, there is also anticipated to be some additional performances by local celebrities to liven up the mood. 

But the main thing is the wonderful food that will be on display on that day, and as Singaporeans are known to be very passionate about their hawker fare, I see every reason for every local foodie to turn up at this event.

As for myself, I am still in the midst of getting ready and assisting the hawkers for the big day, and together with Maureen and Derrick, I really hope to see everyone there for what I believe, will be one of the most significant food events of 2014!

To know more about the event and to purchase the coupons, please visit the official website: www.ultimatehawkerfest.sg

1 comment:

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