My summer ended in triumphant fashion. But it only began toward the end of July, when the rest of Macau was dealing with being in lockdown. Being the Scorpio and borderline Sagittarius that I am, I had to venture out of the 32.9 km2 that I’ve been hiding in these past three years. I flew out to Singapore and Vietnam within a week of making that decision, and my dear friend Adelina called it, quite correctly, my Exodus.
Some friends applauded me on my impromptu escape, while some questioned my rationale of leaving our “comfort zone,” which is the invisible wall that protects Macau from the pandemic. But they did not understand that I was walking into a real comfort zone for my sanity; my thirst for adventure. Once I set foot in Changi Airport, I felt such an indescribable familiarity of seeing the faces of strangers from across the world; no longer just the locals and foreigners who reside in my “little village” of One Oasis.
Exploring interesting restaurants is always something I do while traveling, and I was definitely delighted with Lolla, an Asia’s 50 Best (51-100) restaurant that offers Mediterranean bites fused with Filipino influence – an interesting dining concept by award-winning Filipina chef Johanne Siy.
Lolla
The only reason that I found myself here though, was through a recommendation by my friend Chef Han Setiawan, who is now the chef de cuisine of Preludio. And of course, I saved my dinner session for a tasting at this contemporary, fine-dining hidden gem at Fraser Tower that flaunts a Columbian-inspired approach.
Preludio
I was so glad to see Chef Han in his sleek, white chef’s jacket, with his beaming smile just a month after bidding farewell to him in Macau, as he walked me through the restaurant’s concept. The ravishing flavors from the Author’s Cuisine tasting menu that Han and his owner-chef Fernando Arevalo curated together was exotic, yet addictive; much like what was found at Aji by Chef Edwin Navarro and his mentor Chef Mitsuharu Tsumura. Preludio’s signature bread is to die-for; the burst of flavours from a maple syrup glaze infused with bacon fat and fermented mushroom when your teeth sinks into the soft, warm bun, is just something out of this world. I loved these so much that I bought four loaves to bring onboard my flight home with me. The menu was a balance of meat and fish, and my favorite was the Viaje Al Caribe – inspired by Chef Fernando’s childhood in seeing the Caribbean ocean in La Guajira for the first time. His excitement is interpreted as a succulent, coconut glazed lobster tail, engulfed in a velvety sauce made with sweet onion and coconut. Delicate flavours accentuated by the staple fruit of the Caribbean, and its emblematic palm trees, represented by the Hearts of Palm.
But it was our after-service chat over glasses of red that I enjoyed most. I learned that Chef Fernando had decided to step out of his comfort zone of the mainstream fine-dining scene, to open his own restaurant, which allows him to introduce flavours from his Colombian-European roots to the culinary landscape in Singapore. And there’s something he said that really stuck with me: “People often don’t understand how luck relates to success; when you have what it takes, you also need to be lucky to become successful.”
As for Chef Han, he moved his whole family from a stable environment to explore a new spectrum quite different from his accustomed French-trained culinary background to join a Latin-American chef. His thoughts on the move?
“It is quite a challenge, but if you think of it in a positive way, I can express my passion in cooking while taking an adventure into a new culinary journey, in the booming city of Singapore.”
Still, who’s the lucky one here? Me! Because I successfully darted off to enjoy the last bit of my summer, and I have made so many toasts to myself for doing that!
Live – Laugh – Love
Juliana Kung
Local Member of Chaine des Rotisseurs Disciples Escoffier International Wine Society
Instagram: delishhhcomfort
