A Different Kind of Food Show - Sphere Exhibits’ inaugural event debuts at Suntec this month

Singapore, 7 November 2008 – Sphere Exhibits´ inaugural show, The Food Safari and Home Electronics Fair, will open this week from 14 to 16 November at the Suntec Convention Halls 402, 403 and 404. The show is on from 11am to 10pm daily. Admission is free.

Spanning 8,000 square metres across three halls, the three-day event will allow visitors to indulge in Singapore´s favourite activities – Eating, Drinking and Shopping – all at once!

Unlike other food exhibitions, the event will not only feature food and beverages from around the world, but will also house a home electronics section where visitors can sniff out the latest models and irresistible deals from as low as $5.

From 8pm to 10pm on Friday and Saturday, bands such as New Asia and Esquina Latina, will also be on location to provide live music entertainment.

Sphere´s executive director, Mr Chua Wee Phong, said, “Visitors will be treated to not just a gastronomical experience, but also to an event where they can bargain hunt for quality home electronics. This is our maiden show and we wanted it to be different. And being different is what participants and visitors can expect from Sphere, for all our future events”.

Visitors need not worry about getting lost in the jungle though, because there will be visible signboards to help them hunt down the exciting stations as follows:

• The Cook Out – Tantalise your taste-buds with an international array of cuisines ranging from local, Asian to European treats.
  
  
• The Watering Holes – Sample a spread of beverages including beers, wine, aperitifs, cocktails and sake.
  
  
• Sweet Temptations – It’s ice-cream, chocolates, donuts galore!
  
  
• In the Home & Kitchen – Get the best bargains on kitchen & home consumer electrical appliances.

Over the three days, The Food Safari and Home Electronics Fair will also be presenting a delicious showcase by renowned culinary experts and popular food writers. Food consultant Violet Oon, Vice President of the Singapore Chefs Association Randy Chow, and The Sunday Times food writers such as Wong Ah Yoke, Tan Hsueh Yun, Teo Pau Lin and Thng Lay Teen, will guide visitors through an exciting gourmet journey that promises to be a feast for all senses.

Visitors can also pick up useful tips from experts hosting workshops ranging from wine pairing, gourmet food preparation at home, cheese tasting, investing in fine wine and more.

Other highlights include:

The Safari King Culinary Challenge
The Safari King Culinary Challenge will showcase the talent of a new generation of Singapore´s promising young chefs. Come witness and support the twelve finalists, none older than 30 years old, as they pit their wits and brains against one another to win the first-ever Safari King crown.

Challengers will be tasked to create the most innovative and unique new Singapore dish with a distinctive local flavour, appealing texture, matched with culinary techniques from around the world.

True to the adaptable safari spirit, the competition will feature mystery ingredients and only the most creative and mentally-flexible challenger will survive.

The Safari King Culinary Challenge is organised in association with the Singapore Chefs´ Association, Violet Oon Consultants and sponsored by Tasty Singapore, an industry initiative by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore which encompasses Singapore´s leading food and beverage product brands.

"The Safari King Culinary Challenge is an entertaining yet effective avenue to showcase the food industry’s diverse range of offerings, along with underlying attributes such as product innovativeness, high standards of quality and safety - values synomous with the Tasty Singapore branding. Through the Tasty Singapore brand, IE Singapore hopes to promote the food industry among international consumers and trade buyers," said Mr Tan Soon Kim, Deputy Director Corporate Group (Lifestyle and Business Services) from IE Singapore.

Cake-a-Decor Contest
Participating pastry chefs and artists will let their creative hands do the talking. The cake that best expresses the essence of the event wins $1,000 cash and a gold medal!

The Hunter´s List

• Ham that melts in your mouth
  A must-try is the jamon Iberico ham at the Solymer Asia booth (A33c – A33f). Prepared with the hind leg of the free-range black-hoofed Iberian pigs that grazed on acorn, the dry cured burgundy-coloured meat with well marbled fat is cured for over 30 months. With a mildly-sweet, distinctive nutty flavour, the Iberico ham will simply melt in one´s mouth and have them coming back for more!
  
  
• Unconventional Pizza-by-the-meter
  In Italy, large groups of friends usually get together to share a Pizza al Metro, which is long and rectangular, filled with different toppings across several sections. Visitors can have a taste of the pizza-by-the-meter which will be introduced to Singapore for the first time at the Lotus Restaurant booth at A33b.
  
  
• Healthy Korean Fare
  Korean food is not just about kimchi. Find out more about Korean food culture from Mr and Mrs Park Jae Yong, the founders of Ju Shin Jung, which operates three Korean restaurants in Singapore. Apart from their popular ginseng chicken soup (Ju Shin Samaegtang), their specially-made Korean Ginseng Wine or the “Ogamju”, which consists of five different spirits in a single package, are also a “must-try”. Ju Shin Jung is at Booth A34a – A34b.
  
  
• Donuts for Christmas
  Check out the Christmas donut offerings from J Co & Donuts (Booth C50). And when you are there, be sure to try out their gourmet expresso beverages and their J. Cool yoghurt and signature J. Lato, which is a low-fat Italian soft serve ice-cream.
  
  
• Soy so Good
  Everyone knows soy beans are full of goodness and they are the best source of vegetable protein. For the health-conscious ones, do check out Yeo´s new range of O-Life! soy milk drinks (Booth W6), which are free from trans-fat and preservatives. Lactose-free and made with organic non-GMO soy beans, they are great non-dairy alternatives for the lactose-intolerant, for their daily calcium and protein intake.
  
  
• Fused Together
  What do you get when you fuse Indian, Chinese and Tibetan cuisines together?
  Check out a new taste, the Tangra Chinese cuisine at Fifth Season (Booth A28b). Popular treats include the momo (a kind of dumpling) and the thukpa (a hearty noodle soup).
  

Other exhibitors include Pu Tien (Chinese cuisine), Sopexa (French food), Hot Shots (burgers), Toyo Trading (Japanese cuisine), Orange Lantern Vietnamese Restaurant (Vietnamese cuisine), Sin Hwa Dee Foodstuff Industries, Village Wok, Wee Nam Kee, Palitalia Wines, True Heritage Brew and more.

Readers can look forward to the special supplement found in The Straits Times on 14 November for exclusive deals.

Please visit www.thefoodsafari.com.sg for more information.

• Download Appendix A (67 KB)

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Co. Regn. No: 198402868E

For media enquiries, please contact:

Ms Elaine Chia
Marketing Director
Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd
DID: (65) 6319 1696
Fax: (65) 6741 1683
Email: echia@sph.com.sg

Ms Selina Esther Lim
Assistant Manager
Corporate Communications
Singapore Press Holdings Limited
DID: 6319 1872
Fax: 6319 8150
Email: limyl@sph.com.sg

About Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd

Incorporated in April 2008 and wholly owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Sphere Exhibits, which stands for "SPH Events, Roadshows and Exhibitions", aims to be the leading lifestyle event company behind exciting and innovative fairs, shows, events and exhibitions for mid to high-end consumers.

Backed by a committed and experienced team of professionals and SPH’s comprehensive range of advertising platforms, these events with unique concepts will not only draw local audiences but also regional participants. Sphere Exhibits is committed to building memorable and quality events which will be founded on research, planning, an established network of resources, and a wild but solid imagination.

About Singapore Press Holdings Ltd

Newspapers and Magazines
Main board-listed Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) is the leading media company in Singapore, delivering news and information through print, Internet and broadcasting platforms. In Singapore, it publishes 17 newspaper titles in four languages. Every day, 2.9 million individuals or 79 percent of people above 15 years old, read one of SPH’s news publications. SPH also publishes and produces more than 100 magazine titles in Singapore and the region, covering a broad range of interests from lifestyle to information technology.

Internet and Mobile
Beyond print, the Internet editions of SPH newspapers enjoy over 150 million pageviews with 9 million unique visitors every month. Apart from SPH AsiaOne portal, SPH’s online and new media initiatives include a revolutionary mobile advertising and information service, ZapCode; online marketplace for products, services and employment, ST701; local search and directory engine, rednano.sg; STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print), a portal that connects, engages and interacts with readers on the Web and via mobile phone messaging; omy, a bilingual news and interactive portal and The Straits Times RazorTV, a free access interactive webcast service offering live chat shows and video on demand clips.

Broadcasting
SPH has a 20 percent stake in MediaCorp TV Holdings Pte Ltd, which operates free-to-air channels 5, 8, U and TV Mobile, and a 40 percent stake in MediaCorp Press Pte Ltd, which publishes the free newspaper, Today. In the radio business, SPH has a 80 percent stake in SPH UnionWorks Pte Ltd, which operates entertainment stations Radio 100.3 FM in Mandarin and Radio 91.3 FM in English.

Outdoor Advertising
In addition, SPH has ventured into outdoor advertising through its wholly-owned subsidiary, SPH MediaBoxOffice Pte Ltd, Singapore´s largest outdoor motion display advertising network media company, and a 35 percent stake in TOM Outdoor Media Group, a leading outdoor advertising company in China.

Properties
SPH owns and manages Paragon, the prime retail and office complex in the heart of Orchard Road, Singapore’s main shopping belt. SPH’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Times Development Pte Ltd, is also developing a 43-storey upmarket residential condominium, Sky@eleven, at Thomson Road.