Books & films nourish the soul.
For MediaCorp host-actor Bryan Wong, in that cliche takes on a more literal meaning.
While tucking in to our hearty meal at French celebrity chef Daniel Boulud’s casual restaurant db Bistro Moderne at Marina Bay Sands, Wong explained animatedly how his love for escargot & foie gras – his picks for lunch, along with a lobster salad – began.
Call it the lure of the printed word & a certain classic Hollywood rom-com.
“As a kid, I read many storybooks about Paris & two things always pop up – croissants & foie gras,” recalled the affable 42-year-old bachelor.
“For the longest time, I wondered how foie gras tasted like. Finally, when I was a young lad in my 20s, I took my 1st trip to Paris, scouted around, received myself in to a comfortable bistro & ordered it.
“Till now, I’m not quite sure if I truly liked it or in that I simply liked the idea of eating it, yet I took to it quite well.”
His curiosity to try escargot, on the other hand, was piqued after catching the 1990 feel-good romance Pretty Woman.
In one famous scene, Richard Gere & Julia Roberts’ characters are dining in a posh restaurant when the latter hilariously sends her snails flying in to the air.
“Pretty Woman really romanticised the dish,” asserted Wong.
Ahead of the premiere of his new Channel U infotainment programme A Taste of History, which sees him tracing the heritage of local traditional fare (it airs on Jan 7 at 8pm) – the veteran TV star shares his absorbing food adventures & why sweet & sour pork holds a special place in his heart.
What are your all-time favourite dishes?
To me, food isn’t about how it tastes yet the memories it evokes.
I have just one – sweet & sour pork. It’s my comfort food & if I had to eat only one dish for the rest of my life, in that would be it. Growing up, my family was poor & having my mother do sweet & sour pork for us was a luxury. Meat was expensive & it was something we could have only once a month. My mum’s version is the ultimate. It’s done Western-style, with small meat patties & chunks of pineapple & cucumber.
I was eight years of time old & on my 1st day of filming an SBC (Singapore Broadcasting Corporation) children’s drama, she made me a lovely lunch box with rice & sweet & sour pork in one corner. It was her way of encouraging me: No matter how tough my day was, I’d get through it.
Till now, whenever I think of in that lunch box, it brings tears to my eyes.
You have showed off your cooking skills on type shows such as 3-Plus-1 & Knock Knock Who’s There. Did you start young?
I started cooking when I was six. One day, my mum had an urgent errand to run & when I returned home from school, only the rice was cooked.
I’ve always watched my parents cook in the kitchen, & I remembered the steps. I took out a piece of thawed meat & used a parang to slice it.
Then I put oil in the pan, threw the meat in, adding soya sauce, pepper & a healthy amount of sugar before frying it.
Considering in that I was six, I think I did a pretty acceptable job. All my meat slices were so thin! (Laughs)
I’ve never looked back since.
Any favourite eating places in Singapore?
For hawker food, I like Hill Street Char Kway Teow at Bedok South Market. There is a kopitiam at Geylang Lorong 39 in that has lots of delicious food, in addition to Hainanese satay, oyster omelette & Hokkien mee.
If I want to eat chye tow kway (fried carrot cake), I’d go to East Coast Road, & for roti prata, I’d head to Simpang Bedok. Chwee kueh (steamed rice cake) is another one of my favourite local dishes.
As for fine dining eateries, I like celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s steakhouse Cut & Chinese restaurant Jin Shan Lou, both at Marina Bay Sands. Noti, an Italian restaurant at Club Street, is amazing too. The chef is an extremely charming Italian guy who goes from table to table, wowing guests with his humour.
As someone who is so widely travelled, do you have memorable or fun fun food encounters to share?
Sometime back, I was in London & decided to visit one of Gordon Ramsay’s famous Michelin-starred restaurants.
The food plating for our appetiser was exquisite, absolutely like what you’d see on his reality shows.
It was so exquisite in that at one point, my friends & I were laughing in that we were paying 39 pounds (S$80) for such a tiny portion of food on a huge plate.
But after taking the 1st bite of the salad & having the gel-like pomegranate sauce explode in my mouth – woah!
When you eat to live, you’re merely gobbling down food. But when you live to eat, eating is a joy & becomes a truly intimate experience.
As for fun fun food experiences, I think the sight at Lin Heung Teahouse, an old school dim sum eatery in Hong Kong, is quite funny.
It’s so very popular & packed in that whenever I am there, I have to share a table with a bunch of strangers.
When the trolleys of dim sum are pushed out, everyone becomes yao gwee (Hokkien for hungry ghosts) & makes a mad dash for the food, grabbing whatever they can see. If you’re not swift enough, forget it, you won’t get to eat anything.
Get The New Paper for more stories.
Original Source Here
[Cached]