[Event] Restaurant Asia 2022 & International Coffee & Tea Asia 2022

With the borders opening up, so does the launch of mega physical MICE events. The 3rd edition of Restaurant Asia 2022 (RA 2022) and the 9th International Coffee & Tea Asia 2022 (ICTA 2022) which comprises of the 9th edition of Cafe Asia and the 8th edition of Sweets & Bakes Asia sees key business leaders and industry players from both local and international F&B scene turned up in full force during the official opening. Held at Marina Bay Sands Singapore Expo and Convention Centre, the three day event from 19 May to 21 May allows participants from the F&B scene to look for new opportunities and new markets especially in the areas of food ingredients, supply chain, operations, manpower, and innovation.

(Official Media Photo) Guest-of-Honour, Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry, during the official opening

Spanning across 5,000 sqm of gross exhibition area, a total of 115 brands and companies from more than 15 countries including Singapore are part of the exhibitors at this trade show. We got to meet some cool equipment vendors to understand what they have to offer.

Check out this Next-Gen Ripple Maker II by ripples and Print & Digital Media. This machine can literally turns any foam-based drinks into a customized drink through printed designs, images and messages that can be personalized in real-time.

Jessie and I did a live testing of the machine as we tried to print a selfie we took on the spot on the coffee and it works! In just a few seconds, our selfie was reflected on the machine for us to choose and within a few minutes, it's printed nicely on the cup of coffee for drinking. We were told that one of the Irish Bar at Millenia Walk used this machine to print on their beer.

The different ripples pods for different colour printing. The Carrot (Red) one can print the highest up to 1,000 prints and the Glow (Lime) one is the latest available ripples pods.

Next, we were introduced to the Compact Sushi Forming/Wrapping Machine from Suzumo. This 2-in-1 machine can helps to divide the rice and form it into the sushi rice ball shape before wrapping the sushi beautifully and keeping the sushi fresh. The machine also adopt the Easy-Open film which is a suitable wrapping sushi style for catering and take-out business. Just need to pull both sides of the film to enjoy the sushi (Patented).

Next, we came to my favourite section of the exhibition, the Hawker Street. With the support of the Frederation of Merchants Association Singapore (FMAS) and its Hawkers Division, this section showcase some of the different Hawkers.

We tried some yummy meat skewers from Volk, which was recently awarded the Promising New Hawker Award. Their skewers bowl comes in four different form, with sushi rice, brown rice, salad or soba. Best part is it's located at Taman Jurong Food Centre which is near to my house. Gonna try eating there one of these days.

A small crowd was forming around the next booth to try the local favourite, Carrot Cake from Tian Kee. They sells Carrot Cake, Hokkien Mee and Oyster Egg at their stall in Marine Parade Central. We took their name card and was told that this would entitle us a $1 off next time we eat at their physical stall. Tried a small portion of their white carrot cake that was cooked on the spot and it's delicious. comes with their homemade preserved radish which is more on the sweet side.

Next, I also tried some chicken toast made by a guest chef from Electrolux Professional who was using the kitchen in the morning from the Chicky Fun booth, what is so special for their chicken is that they used the Combi Over from TY Innovation's Technology Kitchen to fully bake their chicken. Chicky Fun has a few outlets around Singapore so can try them out next time.

Right next to the Hawker street is the Halal Street. Spotted my all time favourite muffins from AJ Delights and bought a box of 2 muffins even though I just did a group buy with them. Next year, we should be able to see more Halal offerings as a memorandum of Understanding was signed between CEMS and ER Marketing to form a Halal Pavillion in the Cafe Asia 2023 and RA 2023 Exhibitions.

At the official Korean Pavilion, we got to try some of their specialty products from the TREE TO BAR brand such as this chocolate. This white salami looking chocolate is actually Ecuador White Chocolate with Almond, Pistachio, Cranberry, Orange peel and Apricot and it taste really smooth and nice. Selling as a special price of just $10 instead of $15 at this exhibition.

Feeling thirsty, check out the DA-SH Sparkling water with 0% sugar and 0% calories that comes in 4 different flavours. If you are feeling adventurous, try the cucumber flavour. We each choose the peach flavour to bring home to try. There's also a photo wall for photo taking.

We also tried some Organic Energy Drinks from DARK DOG. The DARK DOG trademark was created in Austria in 1995 and launched in 2000. DARK DOG is one of the best energy drinks and is distributed in more than 30 countries worldwide. High in Antioxidant and Vitamin C, DARK DOG organic energy drink has gone above and beyond to meet the ever-increasing demands of health-conscious consumers. The drinks contains the highest quality organic certified ingredients in every can from around the world. Some of the organic ingredients includes organic cane sugar in the original flavour, Organic Green Coffee Beans Extract, Organic Guarana, Organic Green Tea.

The last booth we visited was OAT-LY where the friendly staff treated us a cup of Oatmilk Coffee and ice-cream. I tried the Caramel flavoured Coffee while Jessie had the Hazelnut one. We both love our oatmilk flavoured coffee. The Oatmilk ice cream is so tasty too. We were lucky to be the first few to try it out as it's not out in the market yet.