H O S T E D
On Sunday, 8th March, three female chefs banded together to present a 6-hands menu in celebration of International Women’s Day. Held at @tonocevicheria, the dishes that Tono’s Head Chef Tamara (@tamarachavez_chef), @restaurantnouri’s Sous Chef & Head of R&D Culinary Ashlee (@ashleemalligan), and Chef-owner Petrina Loh (@pe3na) of @morselsinsingapore came up with, were every bit as spunky and vibrant as they are.

To whet appetites, it was their takes on Ceviche, a Latin American marinated raw seafood specialty first. Each imbued it with her own culinary style (this was to be repeated for their respective Tacos and Main Courses that followed). So while Chef Petrina served a distinctly Southeast Asian Ceviche with a slightly “lemak” Thai Tom Kha-dressed Hokkaido scallops, Chef Ashlee’s octopus and prawns in tamarillo broth boasted a clean and bright flavour profile, and Chef Tamara’s tortilla-scattered creation hit the highest level of intensity as she had tossed prawns, octopus, clams, crabmeat and avocado in the zingy citrus of “Tiger’s Milk”.

For the Tacos, different proteins were showcased, making things more interesting. Chefs Petrina and Ashlee decided to use Asian ingredients but their delicious results were a world apart. The former’s aromatic and rich Angus beef rump rendang with raita and pickled green mango was decidedly Southeast Asian, but the latter’s ventured further afield, into the South Americas actually as her Taco had lamb shoulder in an earthy buah keluak “mole” and finished with pickled jalapeños. Roasted chicken marinated in “Achiote” sauce, black beans and pickles were what Chef Tamara chose to fill hers with. Frankly, all three Tacos were stellar - yes, even the lamb, a meat I don’t usually order myself. I would have been very happy to continue inhaling more of them but there were the Main Courses to consider.

These too turned out to be really enticing and well executed. There was a grilled snapper by Chef Ashlee (its texture was absolutely perfect) accompanied by amazingly done purple sweet potato and polenta fritters, salsa verde and mint. Chef @johnjohn0822 from Morsels represented Chef Petrina to explain her dish, a very juicy take on “Har Jeong Gai” (the popular fried shrimp paste chicken you find at every “zi char” stall). I love how she had marinated it with Cinchalok (fermented tiny shrimp), imbuing it with funky savouriness. The final course of Arroz Con Cangrejo by Chef Tamara triggered an “OMG” moment because the spicy crab meat-laced yellow rice exploded with larger-than-life flavours.