#15 | Salted & Hung Goes Minimal Wastage, #ShopGreener at Takashimaya, Bak Kut Teh with Friends
The Potluck - A food newsletter on what's buzzing in the dining world in Singapore
Welcome to The Potluck newsletter, a round-up of what has been searing hot in the dining world in Singapore. Let’s tuck in. Subscribe here:
The Potluck Checks Out: Salted & Hung
Salted & Hung turns 5 this year and is marking the milestone by marching to a more refined and sustainable tune. Expanding beyond its previous focus on the meat-centric “nose-to-tail” dining since its early Hotel Vagabond days, chef Drew Nocente is taking the sustainability factor up a notch by expounding on the minimal wastage theme in the contemporary Australian restaurant.
At a recent dinner, chef Nocente shared that the nose-to-tail concept in Singapore was largely limited to innards and intestines in the minds of most diners here, and not as well-appreciated as in his native Australia. Salted & Hung’s menu now includes seafood like green lip abalone and turbot.
In order to tell the sustainability story more coherently, he has done away with the a la carte menu. In its place are 7 or 10-course tasting menus, where he hammers home the concept of minimal food wastage through a wider spectrum of ingredients, upcycling and transforming parts such as skin, bones, proteins and innards into garnishes, broths and condiments. However, firm favourites like the home-cured charcuterie (includes the lardo, pork shoulder, bresaola, and more) and the popular ANZAC biscuits still (thankfully) remain.
The new focus also ties in with chef Nocente’s farm heritage. His family ran an apple farm near Brisbane, where poultry and other farm animals were reared as food. The family has since sold the farm off but it is immortalized as a photo frame that grace near the restaurant’s entrance and in one of the desserts, a “tarte tatin” with caramelized apple (photo above).
Meal Highlights
IPA
One of the more interesting bread baskets that I have seen. The bread, which is baked in a terracotta flower pot, is made from sourdough trimmings that have been brewed for two weeks. It follows the same process of brewing an India Pale Ale. The result is a tall loaf of plush sourdough that is glazed with an addictive umami vegemite butter. Dig in (literally) with a spade and smear the bread with wakame butter and whipped lard concocted from pork fat trimmings after it has been rendered. I wolfed down every morsel knowing that I ought to have left more stomach space for the other dishes.
Aged Turbot
A row of aged turbot in the open-concept kitchen caught our eye as we approached the bar seats. No surprise that this eye-catching sight is part of the restaurant’s star dish this season.
The signature dish was presented in 3 parts. First, an ingredient platter was presented, which set the stage for the chef to explain the ingredients and his process. Resembling a museum artefact, the turbot bones rest on a bed of shiitake mushrooms. Second. An intoxicating teapot of aromatic smoked bone broth arrives - and is warmed up a la minute.
The robust and deep earthy flavours of the broth is a result of the turbot bones being dried for 2 weeks before being grounded and brewed with mushrooms into a dashi tea. Inspired by the sambal stingray dish, the chef served the parcel of firm and milky white turbot fish stuffed with slow-cooked mushrooms duxelles on a banana leaf and enrobed in a velvety and creamy sauce that is spiked with vin jaune.
Kagoshima A4 Wagyu
Perfectly binchotan-grilled strips of well-marbled wagyu are expected to sparkle, but the real star belongs to the carrots, which are sourced locally. The excess beef fat from the wagyu is used to confit the carrot before it is dehydrated, and the carrot puree is cooked till the caramelised sweetness is coaxed out.
Other inventive ways can be found in the Truffle course, which has dehydrated roasted artichoke skins and an artichoke skin salt served with confit egg - patted up with slices of black truffle, while the dashi is made with mushroom trimmings. For the Hokkaido Scallop course, the buttermilk from the making of butter (in the bread course) is turned into a beautiful gel that forms the base of the dish. The pickling liquid from the chilli paste is turned into a tangy granita.
Cheese & Crackers
Don’t know where to start when the cheese trolley wheels by? This dish solves the dilemma by condensing a typical cheese board on a cracker. Cleverly dotted on the wafer-thin lavash are dots of savoury truffled brie, sweet plum jam and nutty walnut praline. It is topped off with truffle shavings - while not a common sight in most cheese boards, but no one’s complaining here.
Salted & Hung, 12 Purvis Street, saltedandhung.com.sg
Like what you’re reading so far? Sign up so you don’t miss the next issue of The Potluck!
Eat Clean & Green at Takashimaya
The Japanese department store has launched one of its most comprehensive eco friendly-themed shopping campaigns. Spanning multiple departments, from beauty, parenting to household, the #ShopGreener campaign, which runs till 31 May, shines the spotlight on eco-friendly products and retail practices.
On the food front, head to the ECO Bazaar till this weekend (11 April) in the Food Hall. A cluster of around 10 shops has been curated to showcase sustainable and organic farming practices and all sorts of wholesome diets.
Interesting stalls include Isles of Eden, a Singapore-based sea cucumber purveyor which has a farm in the Maldives. The team practices sustainable farming, breeding non-endangered species of sea cucumbers in the Maldives, where the company runs a sprawling lagoon for breeding. It has also created jobs for the local farming community.
Kuhlbarra, a barramundi farm off the South of Singapore, with sustainable practices such as a fish feed that is made of 70% plant-based protein and a farm that counts solar energy as one of its energy sources.
You can now have your Kueh Lapis from Nuvojoy and eat it! Especially when it is made with low G.I. ingredients - without the sugar guilt. It's vegan-friendly too! Other interesting products include figs and dried apricots from Turkish brand Otto and kid-friendly black ginseng from South Korea that has made in a drinkable form with pear and mango extracts
Rainy Days Are For Bak Kut Teh & More
The slate of sudden afternoon downpours has gotten me in the mood for bak kut teh. Standing out from the usual pork ribs or short ribs combo is the Lamb-Kut Teh from Friends Bak Kut Teh, The dish features a hulking lamb shank that wouldn’t look out of place in The Flintstones movie. Besides making lamb shreds from forking it off the bone, the soup is a charmer with an undercurrent of belly-soothing warmth from a bouquet of 12 herbs used in its slow-brewed broth that includes angelica root (dang gui), wolfberry, and premium codonopsis root (dang shen). Great for wolfing down with a bowl of rice.
Not in the mood of bak kut teh, the menu also has a huge variety of zichar style dishes that has something for everybody, such as Thai-style Steamed Seabass that is slathered with chopped ginger and garlic and drenched in a beautifully tangy sauce and the heart-burningly good salted egg prawns that are battered with salted egg and served with more salted egg sauce.
Friends Bak Kut Teh is at #01-15, 100AM Mall.
Stay hungry for the next round of The Potluck by subscribing the newsletter below:
Follow me on Instagram (@kenneats). Got news? Get in touch at kennethgohsz@gmail.com. Tuck into previous editions of The Potluck here.