The Café Aurora x Peach Blossoms SG Collab Brought Together Asia's Vivid Flavors

(SPOT.ph) Crossing cultures can breed mighty eye-opening results—a point we see in action from time to time, especially in the realm of food. Case in point: the recent 10-course collaboration between Chef Quenee Vilar of Manila’s Café Aurora and Chef Edward Chong of Singapore’s Peach Blossoms, which married the elegance of Cantonese tradition, the fiery soul of Singaporean and Malaysian cuisines (themselves melting pots of varying cultures in their own right), and Japanese elements into one cohesive and memorable dinner.

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Here’s what went down at the Café Aurora x Peach Blossoms collaboration:

Singapore, as you’d know, is mecca of great food, being home to humble hawker centers, higher-end spots, and everything else in between. Among them is Peach Blossoms—a dining spot located in Marina Bay that's has been held in reverence for their Cantonese fare since opening in 1987.

Peach Blossoms’ interpretation of the cuisine today goes more contemporary, thanks in no small part to Chef Edward Chong, who’s led their kitchen since 2017. A Malaysian native said to be inspired by his chef uncle, and whose culinary career in Singapore began as early as the time he was 19, Chong has worked with the likes of esteemed Singaporean chefs Sam Leong (of one-Michelin starred Forest) and Yong Bing Ngen (of multiawarded Majestic Restaurant). He’s even bagged awards himself—as Rising Chef of the Year Award at the Asian Masters, and as Asian Cuisine Chef of the Year Award at the World Gourmet Awards, both in 2019. 

From Café Aurora is our own Chef Quenee Vilar, who’s demonstrated her knack for employing Asian (especially East and Southeast-Asian) flavors in her cooking at establishments like Your Local and Hey Handsome (apart from Café Aurora today!), joined by Chef Nicco Santos. Vilar took up culinary arts at the College of Saint Benilde before heading to the U.S. for an internship, and had experience working for a top hotel in Manila prior to getting the stint at Your Local that would help propel her to being one of Manila’s best-sought out chefs today.

Vilar paid ode to Singaporean classics over the course of the dinner, while bringing in elements from Japan and other parts of the continent. With the Café Aurora team, she welcomed guests with creamy, zesty sips of Amazake, Jasmine, Yuzu made in-house, plus powerful nibbles of a Lamb Tartare, Sesame Taco, Caviar and Oyster Mousse, Dashi Pie Tee, Ketjap Gel. Meanwhile, Chong brought some of his signatures from Peach Blossom to the pop-up—of them the Snow Crab Meat, Prawn, Cigar Roll. This is essentially a spring roll gone suave as it's made to resemble a cigar (complete with the box!)—and a bite into its crisp, perfectly fried exterior reveals a filling of its namesake gone luxe with foie gras and a hint of truffle.

Café Aurora then soothed the taste buds with the Pork Bone Tea, White Peppercorn, Potato, which concentrates the flavors and soul of Singapore and Malaysia’s bak kut teh into a sippable soup of 48-hour pork broth; hiding inside is a velvety egg yolk that gushes out as you sink your spoon in, further enriching the mix. But we’re off to sprightly heights again as they bring out the Shirodai, Betel Leaf Tempura, Shiro Miso, where cured shiro dai (white fish) meets its crisp and zingy match with the tempura-fried betel leaf underneath and topping of chiffonaded shiso leaves.

Chong shares with SPOT.ph that he’s had the opportunity to try superb local produce during his stay in Manila (he gives a shoutout to our crab, more on that shortly, and sweet potatoes). So while he keeps faithful to his original iterations of his dishes for the most part, he also switches to Filipino ingredients where better suited—e.g., his use of local cod (versus the original marble goby) in the Black Cod, Pineapple Sauce, Kaffir Lime. The chef also pays ode to his roots here, pairing the fried fish with a savory-sweet-spicy sauce of pineapple—a fruit abundant in his hometown in Malaysia. 

Seafood was happily abundant throughout the dinner, with Café Aurora keeping the momentum going with the succeeding plate of Scallop, Shiso, Dashi Cream. Here, the mollusk was cooked to a perfect browned exterior and juicy interior, its sweetness rounding off the earthiness of the eggplant puree underneath and citrusy sansho leaves on top. Vilar and team also give a special shoutout to the world of Japanese-style breads with their Shokupan, served warm and paired with curry-infused butter and coconut jam.

Peach Blossoms goes for gold with the next course of Lobster Tail, Sauce Assam, Otak-Otak; subtle as most lobster dishes go, this, by contrast, went vivid with its rightfully punchy Assam sauce. Amazingly, the lobster—in its sweet, juicy glory—did not get lost in the mix, and it was especially fun using the otak-otak nugget on the side to mop up the sauce down to the last drop. Café Aurora mirrors this feisty number with their Beef Short Rib, Achar, Shiitake Mushroom. A dish that takes from multiple cuisines, it stars tender slices of the meat given a peppery zing with watercress, dose of umami from aged shiitake mushrooms, and brightness from achar pickled for two weeks—which made for a dynamic push-and-pull of opposing but complementary profiles.

A jelly of Lemon, Elderflower, Sampaguita—cleverly molded right into a lemon shell—cleansed our palates before Peach Blossoms brought out another gem: Local Crab Claw, Mung Bean Noodles, and Crab Roe with the shellfish served in the claw for picking up with the fingers and sucking the meat out of, and served with a crab roe sauce and crab roe bottarga to intensify its seafood-y soul. It’s plenty rich, for which reason Café Aurora’s next course of Chicken Rice, Steeped Chicken, Chicken Collagen is just the thing to bring us back to equilibrium. With poached poultry that’s mellow in flavor yet tender as a baby’s bottom—plus a rich collagen broth that glides on the tongue like silk, scented with dashi, spinach, and chicken—this was a warm hug a bowl. A sweet beverage of Curry Leaf, Yogurt, and Melon, followed by our official meal-ender of Pandan Custard, Kaya, Almond and take-home treat of Pineapple Cake spiked with Makrut lime and tian op, wrapped up the 10-course affair beautifully.

Vast as the range of influences were in the menu, the two chefs and their restaurant groups tied everything together in so intentional and harmonious a way that nothing felt out of place. This is just one of the can’t-be-missed events the Singapore Tourism Board has planned in the coming months, joined by the Asian Culinary Exchange, so as to showcase the many food-related facets that Lion City has to offer. Give their social-media pages a follow for updates.

For more information, check out the Facebook Pages of Café Aurora, Peach Blossoms, and the Singapore Tourism Board.

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