Prego, Singapore

4 September 2010

I had a wish, and it was to setup a studio for food photography. My wish was 90% fulfill. This was because I bought my strobe light that day. I have my light tent, strobe light and props for Japanese cuisine.  Now I left the last secret “ingredient”, and it is Japanese cuisine. I will buy some sushi one day and try to do some experiment with my strobe light to get the best effect on my image. Folks stay tune to my Flickr album, Sound of Colours.

My Flickr album was called Hikaru Photography previously. Every artist has a pen name. Hikaru is my pen name. The feminine term for Hikaru is Hikari. Hikari is a Japanese term and it is light in English. I called myself Hikaru because I hope to give light of hope to people surround me. I am not too sure I can give hope to others. But what I can do to them is to make them happy chaps and ladies when they see their works.

A blind girl plucks out her courage to explore this world by taking the subway without any destination in mind. She fantasized this world from what she heard. This is originated from Jimmy’s Subway – Sound of Colours. A lady likes my works and she takes the same subway as I do every morning. We never have a chance to meet because the subway is crowded. One day the subway is less crowded and we sit beside each other. She is enjoying my works through her Iphone. I notice her and I tell her I am the photographer and I introduce myself her. She introduces herself to me. We have a conversation and we discover that we are actually neighbours all along. Before we depart, we exchange mobile phone number and a new friendship begins. This is my own version of Sound of Colours. Hope this will happen one day and the lady will become Mrs. Chin. So my Flickr album currently is called Sound of Colours.

After I purchased my strobe, I bypassed Prego, an Italian restaurant in the Raffles City. If my memory served me right, Prego was one of the restaurant listed in Singapore’s Best Restaurants 2010. The guide gave 8 of 10 to its setting, food, wine and service. Prego was introduced to me by a certain Scottish food gourmet and photographer from Scotland. The pizza from Prego earned his respect. My wobbly legs stopped at the main entrance of the restaurant because I was too hungry to return home. At the same time I wanted to see myself whether this Italian restaurant did justice to Italian cuisine. So I decided to drag myself to Prego and dine in there.

I brought bulky equipment with me for dinner. I thought that the restaurant manager would chase me out for two reasons. First my attires were too casual for such as high-class restaurant. Second my strobe light and tripod are so bulky, and I probably gave others the impression that I was from the wet market, selling fishes, meats and vegetables. I was wrong. The restaurant manager offered his help to carry my purchase into the restaurant. Great Service. I entered the restaurant and I saw warm wood interior and the jovial furnishes. This would definitely provide a casual Italian dining experience for me. There was also a large selection of wines. I was so impressed. The young and well-manner restaurant manager leaded me to my table with a menu in his hand. I looked through menu and I decided to order a dinner set instead of pizza.  This was because I wanted to try the Italian cuisine, other than pizza. Later on a waiter was walking towards me with a newspaper and asked me whether I would like to read them while I waited for my dish. I smiled at him and I told him: “I have this” while I pointed my finger to my Iphone.

My appetizer came finally. It was Home Smoked Tuna Carpaciota served with kalamata olive, organic mint, cherry tomatoes and apples salad in raspberry vinaigrettes. I was not a favourite for cold food but this dish was definitely appetizing and refreshing. The taste of the olive was slightly overpowering. I guessed Italians love this dish that way. Someone joked with me about Italy flag which the three colours of the flags represented three main ingredients which Italian could not live without. Red represented tomatoes, white represented garlic and green represented olive. I guessed he maybe right. Maybe.

The second dish was pumpkin soup. The soup was creamy, tasty, and full of pumpkin flavour. It was a must for pumpkin lovers to taste. I was not a fan of pumpkins but I really enjoyed the soup very much.

The main dish was Pan Seared Farmed Gold Snapper with Organic Pumpkin Mousseline served with green asparagus and smoked tomato salsa. The snapper was fresh. I could taste the natural sweetness of the snapper. I glad that the chef did not manipulated the taste of the snapper. The snapper was awesome. I enjoyed eating the snapper with asparagus, pumpkin mousseline and tomato salsa. They were prefect combination, I admitted. Flavours were introduced by eating the snapper with the side dish and this added more excitement to the dish. I must also admitted the snapper was just slightly overcooked. And I thought I might know the answer. Folks, the chef wanted to remove the fishy smell of the snapper by flaming it. Thus some parts of the snapper would be cooked. Then the chef pan seared the snapper. Thus more degree of cooking process was introduced. Most parts of the snapper was cooked  perfectly but there was also minorities that were overcooked because of the flaming process. For my personal preference, I wished a tiny bit of salt could be added to enhance the sweetness and flavour of the snapper. Nevertheless the snapper was awesome!

The dessert was "Zuccotto" Vanilla Rice Pudding with ruby peach ice cream. The chefs of Prego made the ice cream. It was fresh. None of the item was too sweet. The vanilla rice pudding was delicious. I guessed it was the prefect way to end the meal.

After my dinner, I hate to say but I still have to carry my equipment back home. I was too filled up to walk!

Address: 80 Bras Basah Road 1F Fairmont Singapore

Operating Hours
Breakfast: Daily - 6:00 am - 11:00 am
Deli: Daily - 6:00 am to 10:30 pm
Lunch: Mon - Sat - 11:30 am to 2:30 pm
Pizzeria: Mon - Sat - 11:30 am to 12:30 am
Dinner: Daily - 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm

Brunch Buffet*
Every Sunday and selected public holidays - 12:00 noon to 2:30 pm

*Standard à la carte menu is also available after 2:00 pm.