[Event] Restaurant Asia 2023 & International Coffee & Tea Asia 2023

 The Restaurant Asia 2023 (RA 2023) and International Coffee & Tea Asia 2023 (ICTA 2023) which comprises of the 10th edition of Café Asia and the 9th edition of Sweets & Bakes Asia 2023 is back at Marina Bay Sands Singapore Expo and Convention Centre from 25th May to 27th May. This is a yearly event that I will attend and this year I went on the opening day itself during my lunch time. This event allows companies who are interested in venturing into business opportunities and new markets in the areas of food ingredients, supply chain, operations, tech, manpower and innovation to network with one another as most of the booths set up are key business figures representing the F&B industry from Singapore and international. 

During the opening, Guest-of-Honour Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, launched the Jobs Transformation Map (JTM) for the Food Services sector. A key highlight in the morning was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the formation of the ASEAN Restaurant Associations Alliance to further bolster relationships and opportunities in ASEAN. 

More than 240 international and local exhibitors from 26 countries covering a gross exhibition area of 7,000 sqm were present. This year, the exhibits focuses on plant-based food and sustainable products. 

Held in conjunction of this exhibition is also the official launch of Ömilk from F&N. Specially crafted for baristas in mind, the Ömilk Oat Barista, a plant-based alternative is characterised by its richness and creaminess making it ideal for coffees and lattes. Ömilk also collaborated with four-time Singapore National Latte Art Champion, Jervis Tan to present this plant-based oat milk at the booth. With no added sugar, colourings or flavourings, the natural fragrance of Ömilk can be drunk on its own or added to enhance the coffee or tea. We gave it a try and found that it's much gentle on the palate and is very smooth. Ömilk is also cholesterol-free and is halal-certified making it a great dairy alternative. Currently, Ömilk can be found selling exclusively in selected FairPrice outlets and RedMart at the recommended selling price of S$6.25 per 1-litre pack. 

Next, we visited frozt popsicles booth and was given a complimentary popsicle to try. Out of the 6 flavours, I chose the Mixed Berries Frozt. Made in Singapore using real fruits, these popsicles are sure to be a hit and it's vegan friendly, dairy free, gluten free and halal certified. 

We also went to the Vietnam Pavilion to check out some of their offerings. We tried the Vietnam Sandalwood tea which is quite soothing. 

New to the show is the co-located JIU Asia 2023 Pavilion. It's Singapore's first spirits event to feature a host of independent and local brands, white-label selections and rare collections. Did not managed to check out this. 

Came across a booth from Brilsta which specialized in jelly pearl ball made of natural seaweed extract and konjac as the main raw materials. This is rich in dietary fiber, calcium and iron, etc.  

What amazed me most at the exhibition was how advance technology are at the current moment. At the Technology Kitchen Showcase by Ty Innovations, we witnessed the future of cooking by Asia's first fully automated cooking robot. Invest in this robot and it will solves the problem with manpower and training. All the steps from dispensing the noodle for boiling to washing the pot can be fully automated. The menu can be quite diverse too from cooking pasta to fried rice.

We also checked out their latest Combi Speed Oven that can cook up to 4 different dishes simultaneously in their respective time and mode. It has a touch screen menu at the outside and everything can be customized as per order. Like for beef steak, we can input the thickness of the steak so that the timing and temperature will be adjusted accordingly. It can cook a whole chicken within a few minutes. Not only that, it also has a self washing function. Very impressive. If I'm a restaurant or cafe owner, I would definitely get it. 

We continued to explore some other booths before we had to go back to work. Sustainability and innovation are the biggest takeaway from this year's exhibition. Looking forward to the show in 2024. 

XOXO

[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. 

Some of the nice photos taken at the Oat-ly booth photo wall. 

Till the next year for Restaurant Asia 2023. 

For those interested to visit this exhibition, do register online at

https://mvents.asia/ict2022/RegistrationPublic

XOXO

[Event] Restaurant Asia 2021 & Cafe Asia 2021

 After a hiatus of 2 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2nd edition of Restaurant Asia 2021 (RA 2021) and the 8th International Coffee & Tea Asia (ICTA 2021) comprising of the 8th Cafe Asia 2021 and the 7th Sweets & Bakes Asia 2021 finally returns with a 3 days exhibition cum tradeshow at Marina Bay Sands Singapore Expo and Convention Centre from 18th November to 20th November 2021. 

Though the exhibition was much smaller in scale compared to the previous years, my friends and I were still pretty excited to attend this event with our media passes. This physical exhibition also kickstart the return of other mega MICE events in Singapore since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The pandemic has posed a great challenge for many businesses and the F&B industry is not spare from this as well. 

About 113 exhibitors from 12 countries participated in the show this year. We were greeted by a bevy of roving smart robots from EZ Bot when we entered the exhibition hall. These robots are not unfamiliar to us as we've seen some of these robots in restaurants as well as shopping malls with different tasks assigned to them. The cleaning robot can be tasked to clean the malls and the waiter robot being tasked to deliver food from the kitchen to the customer table. 

The use of these robots not only eliminate the problem with manpower shortage but also greatly reduced workplace accidents. The roving smart robots present at the exhibition were tasked with responsibilities such as air purification, escorting visitors to the respective booth as well as acting as a safe distancing ambassador. 

Look how cute is this robot where the head of the robot is designed to look like a cat. This sure capture a lot of attention. Not only that it is also able to interact with human touches as it changes expressions when someone stroke its head. 

Indonesia as a country partner has its own pavilion showcasing its strength as an important supply chain for ingredients for the F&B, coffee and tea industries. 

The Malaysian state of Sarawak provides an important new source of food supplies has also set up a pavilion at the show by STATOS. We visited their booth, played a simple spin the wheel game and got ourselves some freebies after answering the questions correctly. We also learnt that Sarawak is most famous for their Black Pepper. We also received some samples from Kokokam series which is a line of botanical beverages founded in Sarawak and designed for everyday consumption. I got two packets of the Misai Kucing Cat's Whisker Tea which is known to detox, reduce excess heat, good for expelling urinary tract stones and strengthen immunity as well as two packets of the Kokokam Botanical Tea which is known to detox, reduce excess heat and is good for smokers.  

   At the Kikkoman Singapore booth, we received a cute tote bag containing their soy milk.

We also checked out the different flavours of noodles at the Pontian Malaysian booth. The most popular flavour is the purple sweet potato noodles which was fully redeemed when it's my turn so I requested for the next popular flavour which is the pumpkin one. 

We managed to catch the UCC Siphon Coffee Demonstrations on stage by Elaine Wong, Hong Kong Siphonist Champion 2015 & Hong Kong Coffee Championship Runner Up 2018 & 2019. After that, we even gotten a closer view of the whole siphon coffee brewing process back at the booth as Ms Elaine Wong did the demonstration one more time. The coffee brewed this way has three different layer and is more fragrance compared to the normal brewing. 

It was really nice to be back to attending events once again with my friends. Thanks for the kind invite. 

XOXO