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June 2013

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Restaurant Andre in Singapore is so hot right now, you have to reserve a table several weeks in advance. After all, they only serve 30 people each night.

Thanks to my video for The Wall Street Journal, you can get an exclusive look inside the popular fine dining establishment, ranked no. 38 on S. Pellegrino’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2013. Chef Andre Chiang demonstrates one of his unique dishes based on Salt, one of eight elements in his “Octaphilosphy.” His food seriously looks like art!

I don’t cook at home at all. …. I don’t even boil water.

This is just one of the fascinating things I learned about Andre Chiang, chef/owner of the award-winning Restaurant Andre in Singapore.

He also opens up about the dish that changed his life, what’s in his refrigerator at home and what kitchen gadget he finds sexy.

Read my full article in The Wall Street Journal this weekend and online here: http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/06/27/in-my-kitchen-andre-chiang

Photo courtesy of Restaurant Andre
Chef Andre Chiang with the Restaurant Andre brigade (Photo courtesy of Restaurant Andre)

Face it. Food served in the street scares you. Where are the ingredients from? How long has it been sitting out? How clean is everything?

Ask street food advocates like TV host Anthony Bourdain and Singapore food ambassador and Makansutra founder KF Seetoh and they’ll say these fears are causing you to miss out on some of the best cuisine of the world.

While hawker culture is celebrated in countries like Mexico, Vietnam and Singapore, Americans are still trying to stomach the whole street food phenomenon. Foodies in cities like LA, NY, Portland and DC are warming up, finding street food appealing if it comes in the form of unique dishes like kimchi BBQ tacos or savory waffles served from a truck.

In this video, Bourdain tells the inaugural World Street Food Congress in Singapore how to save street food culture.

Street food, once thought of as poverty food, has reached cult status, thanks to a value-minded public coping with a global economic downtown and an empowered chef class that has made celebrities out of food enthusiasts like Anthony Bourdain.

Singapore, for one, has positioned itself as the poster child for affordable gastro-tourism, successfully promoting its street food and hawker center culture and drawing millions of tourism dollars each year.

Case in point, local street food ambassador KF Seetoh is hosting the inaugural World Street Food Congress in Singapore now through June 9, featuring a street food carnival, 2-day summit with speakers like Bourdain and China’s Johnny Chan, and master chef classes from renowned chefs like NY’s Anthony Ricco of Spice Market and LA’s Bryant Ng of The Spice Table.

While chefs in culinary capitals like France struggle with high food costs, hawkers in Asian countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia with vibrant street food cultures have begun capitalizing on this increased awareness and demand for cheap hawker fare, building brands around family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.

On the flip side of that is what Bourdain calls the “hipster hawker,” young entrepreneurial chefs serving affordable gourmet dishes from a food cart or truck, a way of breaking into the food business with flexibility and minimal costs.

But experts say street food culture is dying. As more governments try to regulate the industry and move the vendors indoors into hawker centers or food courts, the challenge is preserving a culture that has made its name on the streets.

Manhattan may not be the capital of BBQ, but thanks to the annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, New Yorkers can gorge on the best BBQ from across the country without leaving the city. The festival takes over Madison Square Park on June 8 and 9. Sadly, I’m traveling and will miss it.

I produced a couple videos at the event a few years back and had a blast. Watch them to see what you can expect. The lines can be long, but if you love good BBQ, it’s worth it!