JP Anglo, Bjorn Shen to hold virtual masterclass for Singapore Food Festival 2021

Filipino chef JP Anglo will be holding a masterclass with Singaporean chef Bjorn Shen for the Singapore Food Festival 2021 which will be going virtual this year.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruby Liu of Singapore Tourism Board said they found a new hybrid format to reach other countries for the 28th edition of the Singapore Food Festival by hosting virtual and live events.

The festival will be bringing Singapore's food heritage and inventive culinary spirit to international audiences through "virtual food tours, docu-features, partner recipe videos, and seeing the country’s most exemplary gastronomical talents in action," a press release said.

In the Philippines, Chef JP in collaboration with Chef Bjorn will be doing a masterclass called "The Boyster Omelette."

The two chefs, who met in culinary school, will be showing different renditions of the Singaporean hawker staple dish oyster omelette.

"The Boyster Omelette" masterclass will be happening on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. via Facebook live on VisitSingapore.

During the press launch of the Singapore Food Festival, Chef JP and Chef Bjorn talked about how Filipino and Singaporean cuisine are similar in some ways.

"The Philippines has a a little bit of Malay and so does Singapore, the Philippines has a little bit of Chinese so does Singapore, we don’t have Indian much," Chef JP Said. "You guys have the satay, we have the kare-kare."

Meanwhile, Chef Bjorn said Filipinos and Singaporeans have the same "sensibilities because we came from the same archipelago that stretches all the way from Philippines down to Indonesia."

"In many ways we’re all the same people, we all have the same agriculture, we all have the same type of plants, animals, and fish, so I think we cook the same way, we all use calamansi and soy sauce, fish sauce, and shrimp paste," he added.

In addition to the virtual masterclass, Singapore Food Festival will also be partnering with all-in-one on-demand lifestyle delivery app Pick.A.Roo where customers can order from 11 merchants serving Singaporean food, including Putien, Hawker Chan, Babu, Marriott Cafe, Shang at Home, James & Daughter, Banana Leaf, Your Local, Char Express, Nanyang , and Wee Nam Kee.

Participants can get a discount voucher worth PHP150 for a minimum purchase of PHP1,000 using the code PICKSFF.

Aside from the virtual food classes, this year's food festival will also be having food tours, free food activities, and food kits. Participants can check out the activities via their website.

The Singapore Food Festival 2021 will run from Aug. 27 to Sept. 12. – RC, GMA News