Farm to Table and Market to Table Experiences at One Farrer Hotel & Spa

It has been 6 years plus since I last stepped into a wet market to do marketing but thanks to Farm to Table and Market to Table, two “Origins of Food’ discovery programmes by One Farrer Hotel & Spa, I got to discover where our food comes from and how they get from Farm to or Market to Table.

Farm to Table concept is about understanding food at its most fundamental, and being able to enjoy vegetables or fruits directly from a tree, vine or plant. This leads to the development of Origins of Food, a technology-enabled food studio and specialty retail facility that offers interactive cooking demonstrations and classes conducted by the hotel’s chefs, visiting culinary professionals, as well as home cooks.

It was an eye opener for me as I got to see how herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits are grown and how they can be incorporate into exciting and mouth watering dishes.

I visited The Farm at One Farrer on 29 March 2018 and was truly amazing by what I saw.

There are currently more than 65 varieties of edible plants, herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables that are being grown within the 11,000 sq ft. Farm and Orchard.

The Farm supplies home grown vegetables and fruits to Origins of Food, as well as other of the hotel’s F&B outlets whenever possible.

In addition to the above Farm to Table programme, One Farrer Hotel & Spa  also formulated the Market to Table experience.  As part of the experience, One Farrer Hotel & Spa brought me to the neighbouring Tekka Market, which is located one stop on the MRT, from Origins of Food.

I was very lucky as Chef Elson was part of the entourage to bring me and the rest of the invited guests to tour the market.  He went through with us all the different type of ingredients, from wet to dry and explained which one to choose for what type of dishes and how to source the freshest food items, as well as gaining new insight into how to incorporate Local Fresh and Seasonal into the food we cook.  It was like a educational tour for someone like me who doesn’t know much about choosing the right type of ingredients… lol.

Afterwhich, we adjourned back to the Origins of Food – Food Studio where the aprons are put on and everyone learns the techniques of creating yummy dishes.

For this media invite, the Chef came up with 3 different dishes and 1 dessert and they were all my favorites!

First up was Chef Elson’s Chicken Curry with Potatoes.  The paste was made from scratch with some of the ingredients from The Farm.  I must say, I love dipping the prata provided into the curry sauce and soaked all the goodness up and stuffed it into my mouth before the prata lost the crunch.  Super delicious!

Next was the Singapore Chilli Crab.  Again, most of the paste comprised of herbs and spices from The Farm and blended together to create it.  I must admit that I am a crab lover so any dishes with crabs, I will definitely go for it.  And Chef Elson did a fantastic job in preparing this dish.

 

The next dish was kinda ‘unbelievable’ but Chef Elson did a great job in executing it.  The dish was called One Farrer Signature Durian Fried Rice with Seafood and Belachan Chilli.  I was wondering… can we fry durian with rice and belachan chilli together?  Well, you gotta try this though.  The taste was amazing!  The fragrance of the durian lightly coated the rice, while the bleachers chilli balanced it up with a tinge of spiciness.  Thumbs up for this!

Lastly, this dessert is one of my all time favourite… Chilled Mango Sago with Mango Pearl and Vanilla Ice Cream.  Love the fact that the ice cream is made from scratch hence no additives.  This is the perfect dessert to finish off a fulfilling meal!

Want to experience what I went through as well?

The Market to Table experience offers a selection of different cuisines – Local, Thai, Peranakan and Indian. At $90++ per pax, all you need to do is to call Origins of Food at 6705 7825 or email fnbevents@onefarrer.com for availability and bookings.

Strongly encourage everyone to go for this.  It could be a team bonding experience for companies or a couple get together activity or friends or family gathering event.