5 Minutes With... Chef Sam Leong

Chef Sam Leong shares his thoughts on the upcoming Margaret River Gourmet Escape festival and gives us the low-down on his culinary collaboration with Australian Chef Nigel Harvey.

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Chef Sam Leong

The Margaret River Gourmet Escape is set to impress gourmands when it takes place from 21 to 23 November this year. The three-day culinary festival will bring together the finest produce from Western Australia and the Margaret River region, over 30 Australian and international food and wine experts, and of course a star-studded line-up of chefs. Chef Sam Leong of Forest will fly the flag for Singapore with his plates of modern Chinese cuisine at an exclusive ‘East Meets West’ dinner jointly presented with Australian Chef Nigel Harvey. The menu will be paired with wines from Voyager Estate. Chef Sam Leong shares his thoughts about the dinner ahead of the event.

I’m excited about executing the ‘East Meets West’ dinner with Chef Nigel Harvey and am curious to see how our unique culinary styles, complete with Voyager Estate wines, will be received by diners.

The menu is still being finalised but I will be presentingan appetiser of wasabi prawns. I will leave the creation of dessert to Chef Harvey. I personally feel Chinese desserts are a bit dull – think mango pudding and Chinese pancakes! I’m sure Nigel will roll out more creative and beautiful desserts that incorporate his knowledge of local produce.

Our dishes will feature Wagyu beef, lamb, and prawns from Western Australia.

The quality of these produce is very high and we are planning on working with these for our main course.

I carry my set of Chinese knives wherever I go for cooking events. The first invitation I received to participate as a guest chef was in St. Moritz in Switzerland. The organisers arranged a beautiful historical hotel for me called Survetta House. The hotel was not equipped at all for Chinese cooking. For example, the Chinese knives are very different from western knives. I ended up changing a lot of the key ingredients to adapt to the kitchen.

To see the full program of events, visit www.gourmetescape.com.au

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