Gleaming motorcades, massive road closures and jogging bodyguards—the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was in full swing on Tuesday in Singapore.
History was made as the two leaders shook hands firmly for about 10 seconds in front of a row of American and North Korean flags—a scene that was unimaginable a few months ago when the two leaders traded barbs and insults.
Over the past few days, the republic has seen an unprecedented swirl of activity, starting on Sunday afternoon, when Kim Jong-un arrived from an Air China Boeing 747 flight at Changi Airport before being whisked off in his black car a part of a 35-vehicle motorcade to The St. Regis Singapore. One of the three aircrafts that had flown from Pyongyang was a Russian-made cargo plane believed to have ferried Kim’s private food supplies together with weapons and vehicles. A media frenzy also erupted when President Trump arrived on Air Force One at Paya Lebar Airport at 8:21p.m. on Sunday night, after which his convoy headed to the Shangri-La Hotel in the presidential state car that is known as “The Beast.”
Since the two leaders descended, meetings and luncheons occurred in full force. On the table of the closely-watched meeting, the pair negotiated the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and diplomatic ties at the summit at Capella Hotel on Sentosa island Tuesday. After one-on-one talks, Trump and Kim emerged from The Library lounge to a private room in the five-star hotel's Cantonese fine-dining restaurant, Cassia, that is known for its Peking duck and double-boiled soups.
With both Trump and Kim known to have particular tastes in food, we zoomed in on the dishes that were served to the delegates and media covering the summit.
US-North Korea Bilateral Meeting
Trump and Kim, together with their delegates, tucked into a working luncheon at Capella Singapore at 11.54am after a frenzied morning of meetings. The menu comprises and mix of Western and Korean dishes, some with Singapore touches.The meal opened with three starters: prawn cocktail with avocado salad, green mango kerabu (herb salad) with honey lime-drizzled octopus and Oiseon, a rarely seen Korean cucumbers stuffed with beef, egg and carrot). It is an ancient royalty dish that dates back to the Joseon Dynasty that reigned from 1392 to 1897.
For mains, there are beef shortrib confit with baked creamed potato dauphinois, steamed broccolini and red wine sauce. We suspect that this dish was customised for Trump as the red wine sauce was served on the side — Trump famously abstains from drinking alcohol.
Another main was the Yangzhou fried rice with sweet and sour crispy pork that can be typically found in many tze char-style Chinese eateries across Singapore. The dish is elevated with the addition of X.O. sauce, which is named after extra-old cognac but it contains scallops, dried shrimps, garlic and chilli. Perhaps the dish is an allusion to China, which was absent from the summit but plays a crucial role in the US-North Korea ties nonetheless.
On the Korean front, there is daegu Jorim, a traditional Korean dish of soya sauce-braised cod fish with radish and vegetables. Jorim is a cooking method in Korean cooking that calls for ingredients to be boiled in a soy-based broth until most of the liquid is absorbed.
They closed the meal with a safe choice of dessert – dark chocolate tartlet ganache with vanilla ice cream and cherry coulis from American brand Häagen-Dazs and Tarte Tropézienne (a cream-filled tart).
The delegates concluded their working luncheon at 12.37pm.
Participants and the menu for today’s working lunch: pic.twitter.com/yT6hP3QEdZ
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) 12 June 2018
US-Singapore Bilateral Meeting
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hosted lunch for President Trump and his delegates at The Istana, the official residence of the President, on Tuesday. The duo held one-on-one meetings that covered “regional and global developments” before adjourning to lunch in the dining hall.According to sources, the four-course lunch was catered by stalwart steakhouse Gordon Grill at Goodwood Park Hotel.
Starters included chilled capellini pasta with crabmeat topped with seaweed dried shrimps, caviar, miso cress and white truffle oil. They also sipped on lobster bisque with celery, carrots and cognac foam.
For mains, they tucked into a slow-roasted US black angus beef tenderloin with garlic potato mash, mushroom fricassee and caramelised shallot jus. For desserts, they had the classic note cherry jubilee with clotted ice cream.
The meal ended on a sweet note with the leaders celebrating Trump’s upcoming birthday when staff carted out a huge wok-sized sponge cake adorned with strawberries. He turns 72 on Thursday.
International Media Center
More than 3,000 journalists from all over the world converged at the buzzy international media center at the F1 Pit Building to file their reports on the summit. Even while meeting crazy deadlines, they didn't go hungry as they tucked into a menu of 45 dishes spanning 15 cuisines. At the hot food stations, local dishes included laksa and chicken rice. Other cuisines available included Middle-Eastern, Brazilian, Italian, Indian and French.The food was catered by airport ground handling and in-flight caterer, Sats, which is expected to prepare 7.2 tons of food.
Besides catered food, some businesses also set up pop-up booths at the center. Home-grown ice cream chain Udders scooped up 23 flavors of ice cream including the exclusive kimchi flavor. Other businesses included The Soup Spoon, South Korean-based bakery, Paris Baguette, and Ya Kun Kaya Toast, which serves coffee and tea in limited edition Trump-Kim summit takeaway cups.
Post-summit beer treat for journalists
With the conclusion of the whirlwind summit on June 12, journalists working at the international media centre were given a boozy treat. Singapore brewery Brewerkz concocted a special beer, the Singapore Summit Pilsner that made its debut at the media centre.
The lager, which took two months to concoct, was created with a single hop brew style. The result is a more crisp beer due to a stronger infusion of carbon dioxide. The beer is more bitter yet refreshing — in a bid to help the journalists adjust to the humid weather in Singapore. Needless to say, journalists were seen clinking glasses of beers after they have filed their reports.
