of syrups and more

Following hot on the heels of my purchase of the iSi Gourmet Whip yesterday, I am now on another search for the Monin syrups that Eric used during his demontrations.  He had mentioned that these syrups are used by TCC (The Coffee Connection) and Starbucks to flavour their drinks.

Thanks to my resourcefulness (and the google search engine), I found out that Monin syrups are available for retail sale at Choupinette, a French bakery/ deli at 607 Bukit Timah Road. 

As I don’t know if they carry the full range of flavours, as listed on this site http://www.moninstore.com/, I can only hope that I will be able to get some interesting ones.

my new kitchen gadget

Eversince I had watched Heston Blumenthal whip up one amazing dish after another on his show, ‘Heston’s Feasts’, I had become even more interested in the plethora of kitchen gadgets he has and one of these was the siphon. 

So that’s when my detective work begins.  Since I had no clue where I could get my hands on one in Singapore, I decided to turn to good old trusty google search to do the work for me.  My eyes immediately picked out the best food blog from Singapore, www.chubbyhubby.net, from the search results. 

After reading his blog entry, I became more consumed with the desire to own one.  And not just any siphon would do but specifically, i need an iSi Gourmet Whip (www.espumas.at/en).  After all if it’s good enough for Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià, the godfather of molecular gastronomy, then i won’t settle for anything less.  Unfortunately the item is not available on the shelves of any department store.

Last week, I emailed the local distributor for the product (www.butler-mason.com), who directed me to a cookbook specialist store somewhere in Chinatown, www.25degreec.com.  I called them and of course, they had sold out of the siphons and also suspended their retail store due to a pending move.  Oh dear!  I contacted the distributor again with my predicament, and right there and then they decided to sell a siphon to me.  My heart just sang with joy – yes, I got that excited!

They were very prompt with their replies through email and I scheduled an appointment with Eric, the marketing executive from Butler-Mason.  Today, he demonstrated some amazing things that could be done with the Gourmet Whip to me and my colleagues.  We tasted the most delightful cucumber lassi, and he also served us some tuna mousse (made from the humble can of Ayam brand tuna) on crackers – simply divine!  With my approval, he used the Gourmet Whip i had purchased to make some creme brulee flavoured whipped cream – so delightfully sinful!  He also demonstrated making a lime-flavoured sparking water concoction that tasted so fresh and bubbly.

I am now a proud owner of an iSi Gourmet Whip and cannot wait to use this product in my home kitchen.