cathaycineleisureorchard

18 Chefs Food-Tasting Session

Thursday, June 27, 2013

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READ ON IF YOU WANT TO JOIN A SIMPLE BUT AWESOME GIVEAWAY
I think I may sound like i'm always trapped in my room with only instant noodles(uncooked) to eat when I say I haven't tried 18 Chefs before, ever.
And yes, it IS indeed, TRUE.

Therefore, this food-tasting session came as luck as well as opportunity for me to try it for the very first time!
 In the midst of the food-tasting, you guys can probably imagine the others were all like "ohohoh", i'm all like "???"

But then i'm sure when it comes to the background story of the chef about why he decided to start 18 Chefs, we were all clueless.

Majority of the people usually just go "oh, a new restaurant" but never thought of why that restaurant is opened and what makes the owner thought of naming the restaurant a certain way.
I would have never thought how deep of a story lies behind the opening and starting of 18 Chefs.

Background Story:

- Why did Chef Benny Se Teo decided to start 18 Chefs?
He is actually a former drug addict and realized after he turned over a new leaf that it is SO hard to find a job when you have committed a crime in the past. He wanted to open this restaurant to help ex-convicts by providing them with a job to let them have their second chance; finding alternative and positive ways of integrating into society.

- How did he come up with the restaurant name, 18 Chefs?
As a question of what Chef Benny usually gets of why 18 and not 17 or other numerical values, he told us the number 18 actually came from the sum of a gang name. The reason is not to encourage those who's working there at 18 chefs to be a gangster but to challenge them to turn their life around.


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I almost cried. Not all stories about restaurants are just "Because I like to cook."
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Anyway, here's me before I headed out for the food-tasting

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The 18 Chefs branch I went to was located at 
Cathay Cineleisure Orchard Level 4
#04-02

They actually have pictures of food hung on their walls as part of decoration. Suits the theme of a restaurant very well, obviously.


Check out the cartoon graphics on the wall too! They add a different vibe for a restaurant making it a less formal place but more of a fun place :D

Drinks up!
They serve home-made lemon tea! Most of the time when I know a place serves home-made ice lemon tea or barley, I would order it.

Home-made Ice Lemon Tea(warm)

I think they can cut down on the sugar a little because the warm lemon tea was pretty sweet. However, the cold one tasted just fine. (:

The first dish the chef was going to share with us was the heart-attack fried rice but then he changed his mind when we all turned out to like garlics lol

Garlic Bread

I know right? I thought it was very creative and unique for them to serve their garlic bread this way. Garlic + Bread. Haha. Then you can have more than one option on how you want to eat it! Like some people can actually choose to eat the garlic but not the bread vice versa. Their garlic was delicious!

64-Degree Egg

Chef Benny let us try their 64 degree egg :D Wasn't very sure how different it is compared to the normal half-boiled eggs but after much research, I think I can call it egg-cooked-perfect. 

What's the exciting part? THE WAY I ATE IT.
USING A STRAW.

Here's a video of me doing it to tempt you to do the same!
*p/s: You may find yourself screaming at somewhere around the middle part of the video.

Heart-Attack Fried Rice

What is special about this fried rice is that they actually use the oil from the beef to cook it. Chef Benny actually have the rice cooked with black soy sauce because that was how his late mother cook her fried rice. :')
I thought the fried rice has a pretty fragrant scent when you taste it but it may be a hint bit salty. The beef was not overly-cooked with the sauce matching pretty well with the beef with a little spiciness. 

Seafood Aglio Olio

Hmm I personally feel they could add more olive oil to this dish because it seemed a little dry. I had a taste of their prawns and they were pretty good! 

Tom Yam Seafood Pasta

The sourness of this dish is just right. If you are one of those people who loveee spicy food, I think you may like this one! I just had one bite and it was spicy to the max! 

I think anyone would fall in love with their desserts to bits. Not even joking. 

Black Beauty

With home-made brownie and 2 scoops of ice-cream, this dessert allows different ways of savouring it! The brownie tasted pretty good, only it would be better if it was harder just by a little. 


Not very sure what this is called but how can you resist not eating this after looking at the picture?! The sauce is sour to go with the waffles. If you like sour desserts, this is for you! But if you don't, still worth a try because it looks simply irresistable ok.


Do I need to emphasize on how awesome the presentation of this dessert is? Very fresh way of presenting the dessert with a jar; full of ice cream, m&m and almond flakes. Not to forget, with chocolate! You have a sweet tooth??! This is highly recommended for YOU.
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In the midst of food-tasting Chef Benny actually provided us with the opportunity to take a look around his kitchen! 



 This is the sacred place where they make the 64 degree eggs!


Mm yum! 

 And this is where they make chicken chop etc.!


Hard chef at work 

Where all the spaghetti sparks happen, obviously! :D
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We also had a short photo-taking session with the very humorous Chef Benny:


Ha! Caught a side you'd probably never thought he had.

Chef Benny taught some bloggers how to pose like a typical stern chef LOL

Chef Benny and me with my awkward arms -.-
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Anyway, that is all the pictures I have for you. Head down to 18 Chefs to know more! 
Located at:

Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
&
Tiong Bahru Plaza 

Btw, if you are a student and want affordable meals, 18 Chefs provide has a solution for you. You can get a student set meal for only $6.40. Awesome or awesome? 

Support Chef Benny in helping ex-convicts have another chance to start over! 

GIVEAWAY
(pls join ok, very easy to win lol)
I am giving you a chance to have your share @ Eighteen Chefs!
Win $10 CASH Voucher to dine at Eighteen Chefs by:

1) Follow me on Twitter: @crayyzee

2) Tweet "I want to win $10 cash voucher from @crayyzee to dine at #18chefs! #crayyzee18chefsgiveaway"
(that is a hash sign in front of "18chefs" & "crayyzee18chefsgiveaway if you can't tell)

- The voucher can be redeemed at ALL Eighteen Chefs outlets
- No minimum spending amount required to use the voucher
- Valid till 18th December 2013

Giveaway closes on 3rd July 2013 Midnight. Winner will be picked and announced on 4th July 2013
Giveaway opened in Singapore only.
GOOD LUCK!!

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