Chowzter celebrates the Tastiest Fast Feasts in Asia for 2015

The largest network of passionate food bloggers in Asia came together over the weekend in Singapore to feast on authentic Singaporean food and to celebrate the tastiest feasts in the Chowzter Asia awards.

It was a weekend of yumminess, bonding over food and Chowzter fun. 

The Chowzter weekend started with a welcome dinner at Izy's to break the ice and get to know the fellow Chief Chowzters in Asia.

Bloggers stayed at the Carlton City Hotel. Located in the heart of the action in Singapore, the hotel is near the Chinatown Area where the hottest places are located, including Maxwell Road Hawker Centre, Club Street and Tippling Club.

Saturday started with a food trip of the best hawker treats in Singapore. Among the tour were the Chowzter kids of Yukari Sakamoto of Tokyo and Barbara and Vu of Saigon.

The first stop was at the world famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, awarded as the Tastiest Rice on Earth in the 2014 Chowzter global awards in London.

 Kaniska Chakraborty of Kolkata, Kalyan Karmakar of Mumbai and Shibaji Ghosh, Chowzter CFO, were among the group enjoying the best chicken rice in Singapore.

Next stop was the Sungei Road Laksa with its signature charcoal-oven-cooked laksa and infamous long lines during peak times.

The laksa noodles are cut into pieces so you can scoop it together with its creamy coconut gravy sauce with fresh cockles and sambal chili. Yum!

The final stop for the lunch food trip was a visit to the inspiring 23-year-old Douglas Ng, who decided to use his grandma's heirloom recipe and start up his own hawker stall -- The Fishball Story at Golden Mile Hawker Centre.

The fishballs -- made of pure yellow fin meat without artificial flour or other ingredients -- were dense and bouncy. 

After an afternoon siesta, Chief Chowzters continued their food trip with a trip to Pepita's Kitchen popup, awarded as the Tastiest Regional Specialty in Asia during the 2014 Global Chowzter Awards in London!

 Mark and Ying Wiens of Bangkok shot a video for Chowzter's Foodie Hub at Roland Restaurant, known for its chilli crab and tiger beer. 

Bloggers who enjoyed a six-course feast at Roland Restaurant included Dee Bites of Adelaide,  Kristy Kinzett of Perth, Anton Diaz of Manila, Juliana Loh of Macau, Jenny Gao of Shanghai and Daniel Gray and his wife of Seoul. 

Roland's grandmother is credited with inventing Chili Crab. It was a treat to savor one of the best Chili Crab in Singapore by dipping the fried mantou bread in the chili sauce.

Roland's is also known for its signature fried salted egg crab with taro fries, a definite favorite with some of the Chowzter folks.

On Sunday, Chowzters visited the famous Kway Guan Huat to learn how to make Joo Chiat popiah from scratch.

 It was easy to put the stuffing of turnip and carrots in seafood stock, egg, lettuce, crispy bits, chili and a special fruity black sauce on the popiah wrapper. But once you start rolling it, it breaks apart if you are not careful and overstuff it. 

The Chowzter Asia Awards was held in the hip Wild Rocket restaurant at Hangout Hotel in Singapore. Phil Donne hosted with his signature standup comedy. 

The event culminated in the announcement of the Tastiest Fast Feasts in Asia for 2015.

Across 13 categories from soup to sweets, dumplings to destination dining, Chowzter's network of the continent's most celebrated food experts and writers rewarded locally sourced and freshly prepared items that reflect the local culture, history and traditions of their cities and countries of origin. These unique discoveries are highly curated and undergo a rigorous local and international process.

The read about winners, please click here

The awards culminated with the Overall Tastiest Feast in Asia, awarded to Douglas Ng of Fishball Story.

The Chowzter Awards after-party, hosted in a late-night Korean joint with chicken and soju, was attended by Nic Crilly-Hargrave and Helen Alexander of Kuala Lumpur, Chowzter’s Natalia Janiec-Janicki, David Hagger of Melbourne, Dee Bites of Adelaide and Daniel Gray of Seoul. 

Congratulations to the Chowzter Asia Award winners!