Mark your calendars, food lovers: Michelin and their local supporting partner for the Michelin Guide Singapore, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, have officially circled 21 July 2016 as the official launch date for the inaugural Michelin guidebook to Singapore.
For the first time in the world, Singapore’s maiden Michelin stars will be handed out during a gala dinner-cum-awards ceremony held on the same evening at a grand ballroom in the Resorts World Sentosa. In yet another unprecedented move, members of the public will be able to buy tickets to the usually invite-only event to share the first tears of joy, surprise and pride with chefs from the city’s finest dining establishments.
Guests will get to savour an extraordinary dinner featuring a span of courses collaboratively prepared by Joël Robuchon and other celebrated local chefs, with a luxurious line-up of 12 wines specially selected by the Robert Parker Wine Advocate's team of wine reviewers from the Family of Twelve, a fraternity of wineries from New Zealand.
(L-R) Michelin Guide Singapore Programme Director, Michelle Ling; Michelin Director, Chan Hock Sen; Digital Editor for the Michelin Guide Singapore, Debbie Yong
But the convention-breaking doesn’t just stop there. International Director of the Michelin Guides, Michael Ellis will be taking some time out from his fully packed schedule to host an interactive trade seminar on 22 July for over 100 Singapore-based chefs and restaurateurs in the food and beverage industry.
Through the seminar - the first of its kind organised by Michelin - Mr Ellis will share insights on how Michelin recruits its inspectors and the qualities it looks for in potential candidates, as well as elaborate on the criteria that Michelin inspectors adhere to when reviewing a restaurant’s cuisine. Finally, he will address the perennial question of how inspectors assure the same quality levels of the stars in different countries and across different cuisine types. More booking details will be announced on our Events page by 15 June.
Michael Ellis, International Director of the Michelin Guides. Photo: Tim White
A year-long programme of events will also be rolled out by Michelin and Robert Parker Wine Advocate in conjunction with the Michelin Guide Singapore 2016 launch, such as the International Chef Dining series, which will see renowned chefs with multiple Michelin stars under their belt fly in to prepare exclusive dinners for Singapore diners, as well as the Local Chef Dining series, which will celebrate and spotlight Singapore’s newly crowned chefs and restaurants. A Michelin-Matter of Taste dinner - a special edition of Robert Parker Wine Advocate’s cornerstone Matter of Taste event held annually in Singapore for the last three years - will also take place in October.
And lastly, in keeping with Michelin Guide Singapore's aim to not just listen in on the food conversation in Singapore but also to help drive it, we’re launching a Guess the Stars contest, where 23 winners will get to take home a total S$200,000 worth of prizes, including a grand prize of dinner for two in a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in New York, Business Class return tickets there, as well as dinners in all the two- and three-starred restaurants listed in the upcoming Singapore guide, a year’s supply of premium sparkling water and a whole case of Dom Perignon.
Can’t wait? Send in your best guesses now, buy your ticket to our gala dinner, pre-order your guidebook today to be among the first in Singapore to have one in your hands, or sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on the latest happenings!
