Singapore Food Culture - Behind the Scenes of China Southeast TV Show JK1256

Once in a while, I was given the opportunity to support overseas journalists and production teams to help produce programmes or articles about Singapore food culture. My main tasks include planning the work schedule, performing introductions and providing information regarding Singapore food. It's a heavy responsibility and privilege which I take very seriously.

The time allocated is usually very short - often just a few hours to produce a good overview of Singapore food. It's challenging as Singapore food spans across so many communities with so many cuisines from different places and times. And, then there are also true blue, invented here, Singapore dishes.

I recently supported China Southeast TV to produce their episode on Singapore food in their 扬帆走海丝 Maritime Silk Route TV series.



First stop was Lau Ah Tee bak kut teh which is right at the doorstep of Boon Keng MRT station. From the founder Lau Ah Tee, the team from China heard the story about the beginnings of Singapore Teochew style bak kut teh. The owner of Pek Sin Choon tea, Mr Kenry also shared with the team, the Singaporean way of enjoying Chinese black tea with bak kut teh.



For a taste of Singapore style Nyonya laksa, we swung over to Janggut Laksa in Queensway Shopping Centre.



The Chinese team at Tian Tian Lai in Toa Payoh for Singapore style fried Hokkien prawn mee - a dish not found outside of the sunny island.



I brought the team to V6 Ah Boy chicken rice in Yew Tee because I wanted to show them a typical coffee shop in the Singapore heartland. Of course, Ah Boy's chicken rice is also a fine representative of Singapore style chicken rice.



For Singapore style zhi char 煮炒 and signature dishes like chili crab, I brought the team to Keng Eng Kee or better known as KEK in Bukit Merah.

Here food love took an unexpected romantic twist :-D



The love angle on the segment on KEK restaurant was unplanned. During the process of the filming and interviews, the budding love story of KEK founders Mdm Hong and Mr Liu surfaced spontaneously. Kudos to the quick thinking Chinese team - they decided on the spot to take the romantic angle to tell the KEK story that's spicier than their chili crab ;-p



Take a look at the final product - I thought China Southeast TV did a great job and gave a good overview of Singapore food culture.


Date: 29 Apr 2015

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