We all know that Singapore is undisputedly one of the safest and cleanest countries in the world—home to the best airport in the world as well as cheap yet amazing hawker food, our Little Red Dot is indeed a country that easily piques one’s interest.

Yes, many of us agree that the temperatures here can drop by 10 degrees or so, but there are so many reasons to love Singapore that we endure our all-year-long summer. Besides being famous for the banning of chewing gum and our seemingly animated colloquial slang, Singlish, there are plenty of reasons for us to be oh-so-proud Singaporeans.

Here are 13 Homegrown Brands That Will Make All Singaporeans Proud of Our Little Red Dot—we bet you didn’t know that half of these are homegrown brands! #majulahsingapura

AWFULLY CHOCOLATE

What started as a statement to tackle dessert vendors everywhere, home-grown Awfully Chocolate has successfully established itself as one of the best and most popular chocolatiers around the world. Famed for its variety of chocolate-laden desserts, we absolutely go mad for their All Chocolate cake, that sees a simple chocolate cake between layers of dark chocolate fudge.

BANYAN TREE HOLDINGS

Established in 1994, Banyan Tree Holdings is founded by Singaporean businessman Ho Kwon Ping. In 1995, Ho and his wife Claire Chiang chanced upon an empty plot of land on the western coast of Phuket which was soon after developed into Banyan Tree’s first resort.

Since then, Banyan Tree has grown to be Asia’s premier luxury hotel and resort brand with close to 40 properties internationally. It now has hotels as far apart as Mexico and Seychelles.

Photo Credit: Bee Cheng Hiang

BEE CHENG HIANG

Bakkwa—an all-time favourite snack amongst Singaporeans that is enjoyed particularly during the Chinese New Year period. For the uninformed, Bakkwa is essentially smoked and roasted pieces of pork with a consistency similar to jerky.

Founded in the 1930s by Singaporean businessman Mr Teo Swee Ee, Bee Cheng Hiang started out as a humble stall in Chinatown. Today, Bee Cheng Hiang sees over 260 retail outlets serving their famous bak kwa in 13 other countries across countries including Vietnam, South Korea and Cambodia.

BREADTALK

You’ve probably had a few of Breadtalk’s ever-popular Floss buns for breakfast if you grew up in Singapore. Founded in 2000, BreadTalk has expanded rapidly within the past 2 decades, establishing a distinctive presence in 18 locales across Asia, the Middle East, and most recently Europe.

Other brands that are under the Breadtalk Group include Din Tai Fung, Food Republic and Toast Box, which would probably sound very familiar to Singaporeans as well as those living in our neighbouring countries.

Photo Credit: Visit Singapore

BENJAMIN BARKER

An esteemed purveyor of smart-casual attires for men, Benjamin Barker is a home-grown fashion label founded by Mr Nelson Yap, who—you’d be surprised to hear—is a film graduate from the University of Melbourne as he had the intention to pursue a career in film-making.

The brand’s first store opened in Marina Square in 2009 and now sees retail stores in Melbourne, Seoul, Malaysia and a flagship store in Los Angeles.

Yap says that he intends to develop Benjamin Barker into a lifestyle brand by combining retail, F&B and hospitality—they even have a Benjamin Barker Café located in Cathay Cineleisure Orchard now!

Photo Credit: Miss Valerie Tan

BROWHAUS

One should never underestimate the importance of eyebrows in changing your image. Many of us, image-conscious or not, would be familiar with the brand Browhaus, which is a one-stop salon dedicated to perfect your lashes and brows.

Browhaus was established in 2004 under the wings of Spa Esprit Group, a homegrown brand founded by Singaporean businesswoman Cynthia Chua. The brand now has outlets all over the world, including stores in London and New York City. What more can we say? Browhaus is on fleek!

Photo Credit: Charles & Keith

CHARLES & KEITH

Set up by sibling duo Charles Wong and Keith Wong in 1996, Charles & Keith is a Singaporean fast-fashion footwear and accessories retailer which now has over 600 stores worldwide, including locations in Africa and Latin America.

It is amazing to see a 100% Singaporean brand grow from being a humble shoe shop in Amara Shopping Centre to venturing internationally and imprinting their global footprint across regions in Asia, the Middle East and Europe alongside Latin America and Africa!

OLD CHANG KEE

Lo and behold, the ultimate go-to for curry puffs and giant fishballs. Old Chang Kee started out as ‘Rex Curry Puff’, an assuming stall situated near the then Rex Cinema along Mackenzie Road.

Old Chang Kee has expanded expeditiously to opening franchises in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. Just weeks ago in June 2018, they officially launched the opening of an outlet in London where guests can get their hands on Singapore’s famous curry puffs.

OSIM

OSIM would probably be first to come into your mind when luxurious massage chairs are mentioned. With brand ambassadors including Korean superstar Lee Min Ho and Chinese actress and model Fan Bingbing, OSIM has managed to climb its way to becoming a top-tier global brand.

Originally starting out as an electrical and household appliance company in 1980, founder Ron Sim saw an opportunity to bloom in Singapore’s healthcare products industry and thus started OSIM to advocate for a healthy lifestyle.

Credit: Razer

RAZER

Razer is a global gaming hardware manufacturing company established in 2005 by Singaporean entrepreneur Min-Liang Tan and Robert Krakoff.

Step into any IT retail store such as Challenger and COURTS and it would be hard to miss the bright green triple-headed snake logo that dons the front of every Razer product. They offer a wide range of products in the likes of gaming equipment and wearables including smartwatches.

Photo Credit: Skin Inc.

SKIN INC.

The homegrown skincare brand is founded by Sabrina Tan, an IT-expert-turned-skincare-guru who took the leap of faith to step into the beauty industry after having worked in IT for 11 years.

Skin Inc. offers a range of skincare products that combine technology and beauty, providing customers with customisable skincare products. The brand has been a winner of over a hundred beauty awards and their products are now sold in over 20 countries in Asia and Europe.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

Awarded ‘The World’s Best Airlines’ by Skytrax World Airline Award in 2018 is Singapore Airlines, which has constantly been on the list for the world’s top 10 airlines for the past decade.

SIA has 26,000 group employees who are dedicated to making all traveller’s experience the most comfortable and pleasant experience with their impeccable service. Oh, how lucky we are!

TWG TEA

Short for The Wellbeing Group, TWG Tea is a brand that offers fine harvest teas since its founding in 2008. In a short span of 6 years, TWG Tea has vastly expanded to having outlets in countries such as Canada, Korea, Germany and Australia.

Its parent company is OSIM International, so you can be sure that it is not any atas tea brand from Europe!

The Singapore Food Festival (SFF) is making its annual return once again from 13 to 29 July 2018, with a sumptuous medley of over 20 gastronomic experiences featuring both traditional and contemporary Singaporean flavours.

In conjunction with the event’s 25th anniversary, there will be a series of culinary offerings that are charmingly whimsical, inventive and yet familiar, as the festival continues to stay true to its roots by shining the spotlight on authentic local flavours and culinary talents taking centre stage during this festival. Guiding this year’s lineup of activities are four multi-faceted pillars—Modernity, Culture, Art and Tradition–that exemplify the wide-ranging events making up the festival.

Themed ‘Savour Singapore In Every Bite’, the festival aims to present Singapore’s rich culture and history through diverse, creative gastronomic experiences such as hands-on workshops, cooking demos and theatrical experiences—with an array of sumptuous local food at the centre of it all.

Taking place at various locations across Singapore from 13 to 29 July 2018, you can be part of all that feasting and the exciting programme too — all in the name of honouring and celebrating Singapore’s generations of food heritage and talents.

BACK TO BASICS – SAVOUR YOUR HERITAGE KUEHS

Back To Basics is all about celebrating the origins of our ingredients and the value of locally-sourced and sustainable produce. With beautiful kuehs by Rainbow Lapis, the programme taps deep into the roots of tradition, allowing visitors to learn and experience for themselves how local farmers work to provide certain ingredients to some top-tier restaurants but more importantly how they keep their heritage alive.

The event brings together three local producers—Ah Hua Kelong, Citizen Farm and Cheng Sugar Candy Factory—with individual experiences crafted around these partners.

Ah Hua Kelong is a local fishery that grows and harvests their own shellfish from mussels, blood cockles, fish and even flower crabs. During the tour to their kelong, they will demonstrate everything from how they go about their day-to-day routine, feeding and monitoring their seafood, to harvesting actual shellfish.

Citizen Farm—Singapore’s first closed-loop urban farm—is all about harvesting farm-fresh vegetables, herbs and edible flowers locally, and the programme includes a tour through their extensive garden where visitors will get to forage, learn about and even taste edible flowers, leaves and herbs.

Cheng Sugar Candy Factory, Singapore’s oldest sugar manufacturer, will also be part of the festival, showing the public all the different types of sugar they create and the many uses and benefits certain varieties have.

Visitors will able to partake in walking tours as well as hands-on workshops, in an immersive experience that brings forth the depth of heritage and culture of our traditional delicacies present. Did you know that the vibrant hues of Singapore’s kuehs were traditionally traced back to plant sources like the blue pea flower? The programme also explores a modern take on kueh, with an innovative take on Udang Lemper with a mussel filling instead.

The series of programmes will culminate in a traditional kueh-making workshop with renowned heritage confectionery house Rainbow Lapis where participants will learn to make kueh using ingredients from each of the local producers be it tubers, roots, edible flowers, sugars and dried seafood.

Ah Hua Kelong
50 Pasir Ris Coast Industrial Park 6
Lor Halus Jetty (meeting point)
28 July, 2pm – 4pm
S$68 per pax

Citizen Farm 
60 Jalan Penjara
Singapore 149375
21 Jul 2018, 10am – 12.30pm
S$68 per pax

Cheng Sugar Candy Factory 
12 Senoko Loop
Singapore 758149
27 Jul 2018, 10am – 12pm
S$48 per pax

For more information, visit www.rainbowlapis.com/workshops.

CURRY DAY 2018

For the culturally-driven, explore the rich and authentic flavours of some of Singapore’s oldest traditions such as learning about the essence of curry and more.

Curry is truly a local favourite and is a prominent mainstay in Chinese, Malay, Indian, Peranakan and even Eurasian cuisine. As such, as part of this year’s festival, the iconic dish is going to be given its own event in full honour of it. On 27 and 28 July, expect a full-on, multi-sensory curry experience at Curry Day 2018, which will be serving up curry-related items from buns to puffs to everybody’s favourite chicken curry, as well as a slew of curry-related activities.

As far as curry-based delights are concerned, who better Old Chang Kee to lead this curry movement than, Old Chang Kee? Over at the event venue, they will be having educational booths that showcase the origins and types and health benefits of curry, retailing corners and even curry puff crimpling sessions where eager foodies and budding cooks can try their hand at making their own curry puffs like a pro.

Velocity @ Novena Square Indoor Atrium
238 Thomson Road
Singapore 307683
27 & 28 July 2018, 11am – 9pm
Free admission

For more information, visit Old Chang Kee.

A SAMSUI LOVE STORY: A FOOD & DANCE AFFAIR

A Samsui Love Story aims to take participants on a sensory journey coupling contemporary dance together with a special five-course modern Singaporean meal.

Curated and choreographer by Chef Nixon Low and Naomi Tan respectively, diners can expect a luxurious line-up of dishes, complemented by a riveting cross-cultural love story between a Satay Man and a Samsui Woman The elements of the dance and the menu were entwined, making for an immersive theatrical experience.

We were treated to one of Chef Nixon’s personal creations, a rendition of a Scotch egg that sees a crust made using otah encased around a ramen egg. The flecks of laksa leaf were prominent and it really gave the dish an interesting lift.

Caldwell House Alcove @ Chijmes
30 Victoria Street, #02-04/05
Singapore 187996
17 Jul to 20 Jul 2018, 7.30pm
Adult: S$105 (5-course menu) Excluding booking fee of S$4
Child: S$48 (3-course menu) Excluding booking fee of S$2

For more information, visit Project Plait.

PARK BENCH DELI COLLABORATIONS

East meets West as this popular sandwich outfit along Telok Ayer collaborates with hawkers from Roast Paradise and the family behind Rumah Makan Minang to showcase an innovative twist to well-loved traditional dishes—think Chinese roasted pork belly and char siew sandwiched in a French loaf slathered with creamy pork pâté and pickled vegetables, as well as slow-cooked beef rendang in a burger.

We tried our hand at crafting our very own banh mi using a mixture of roasted meats, a generous helping of pork pâté, garlic aioli, fish sauce, pickled carrot and radish, julienned cucumber and cilantro stalks.

The collaboration with Roast Paradise will take place on 15 July 2018 from 12pm until sell-out, and the collaboration with Rumah Makan Minang will be happening on 29 July 2018 from 12pm until sell-out.

The awesomeness does not stop there, fortunately. Completing the experience are a slew of cocktails invented by the mixology maestros from Native Bar—a local cocktail haunt known for their love for local flavours and locally grown citrus and herbs.

Park Bench Deli
179 Telok Ayer Street
Singapore 068627
Tel: +65 6815 4600
(Closed on Sundays)
Mon to Fri: 7.30am – 4pm, 5pm – 10pm
Sat: 9am – 3.30pm

Park Bench Deli x Roast Paradise – 15 July, 12pm until sold-out

Park Bench Deli x Rumah Makan Minang – 29 July, 12pm until sold-out

For more information, visit Park Bench Deli.

THERE’S MORE! 

The Singapore Food Festival presents a spread of events that trace the Singapore food story—from traditional food steep in culture to the innovative dining concepts and modern-Singaporean dishes so flagrant in our culinary landscape today. Some other events we’re looking forward to include:

STREAT

Kicking off the festival proper, STREAT is a two-day F&B outdoor event featuring local culinary talents. The programme features a pop-up restaurant, helmed by chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants. Culinary workshops, local entertainment acts and a retail pop-up will also complement the food-driven line-up.

Empress Lawn
10 Empress Place
Singapore 179555
13 Jul, 5pm – 10.30pm
14 Jul, 12pm – 10.30pm
Free Entry

For more information, visit https://goo.gl/68Fh7c 

TIME OUT SINGAPORE BALIK KAMPONG HERITAGE DINNER 

Return to your cultural roots and rich local heritage in this unique seven-course dinner where Chef Damian D’Silva of Folklore Restaurant—and guest chefs Han Liguang of Labyrinth, Haikal Johari of Alma and Pang Kok Keong of Antoinette—take you on a gastronomic journey that revisits beloved local cuisine and disappearing traditional fare.

Cocktails made with distinctively local ingredients by award-winning bar Native are also available in line with the theme of the Heritage Dinner. For those who are feeling wistful and nostalgic, this is one amazing dinner you do not want to miss!

Folklore
700 Beach Road
Singapore 199598
26 Jul to 27 Jul 2018
7pm – 10.30pm
S$150 per pax excluding booking fee

For more information, visit Time Out Singapore. 

BEER YOGA & CITYLIGHTS

If you love beer and you like exercising as well, why not put two and two together? Combining both beer and yoga, head on down to Clifford Square for Beer Yoga & Citylights to experience true serenity for your body, mind and soul—all while taking in the stunning sights of the Marina Bay skyline.

Clifford Square
1 Fullerton Square
Singapore 049178
13 Jul 2018, 7pm – 8pm & 8pm – 9pm
20 Jul 2018, 7pm – 8pm & 8pm – 9pm
27 Jul 2018, 7pm – 8pm & 8pm – 9pm
S$29 per pax

For more information, visit https://goo.gl/CK8m5y

CELEBRATING ALL-TIME FAVOURITE FOOD FILMS & LOCAL CUISINE

Kick back, put your leg up on a saddle and enjoy yourself classic food films such as Chocolat, Eat Drink Man Woman and Like Water for Chocolate at The Screening Room—all while tucking into a menu of local dishes.

The Screening Room
12 Ann Siang Road, #03-00
Singapore 069692
13 Jul to 29 Jul 2018
Mon to Thu: 7pm – 9.30pm
Fri & Sat: 8.30pm till late
Free Entry (Guests are required to spend S$15.00++ per pax on food and beverages to enjoy the screening.)

For more information, visit The Screening Room.

GREAT INDIAN FOOD AFFAIR

Explore the richness of Indian cuisine through savouring an array of Northern and Southern favourites. Outdoor food event Street Food Of India will showcase classic Indian street food at Sayali in Little India, while restaurants, Punjab Grill and Yantra will feature cooking demonstrations and workshops by celebrity chefs, Jawed Ahmed and Sarab Kapoor.

Sayali
18 Belilios Lane
Singapore 219962
28 to 29 Jul 2018
12pm – 3pm
6pm – 9pm
(Walk-ins only)

Yantra
163 Tanglin Road
#01-28/33. Tanglin Mall
Singapore 247933
15 Jul 2018
11.30am – 3pm
Free Entry

Punjab Grill
2 Bayfront Avenue, B1-01A
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Singapore 018972
21 Jul to 22 Jul
11.30am to 2.30pm
Free Entry

Banana Leaf Apolo (Race Course Road)
54 Race Course Road
Singapore 218564

Banana Leaf Apolo (Little India Arcade)
48 Serangoon Road
#01-32 Little India Arcade
Singapore 217959

Banana Leaf Apolo (Parkway Parade)
80 Marine Parade
#03-01 Parkway Parade
Singapore 449269
16 Jul to 20 Jul 2018
11am – 10pm
(Walk-ins only)

For more information, visit www.deideaz.com

HAWKER SPOTLIGHT 2018

Local institution Amoy Street Food Centre comes under the spotlight with its many heritage hawkers, local delights and some out-of-the-ordinary concepts as well. Grab a copy of the exclusive Hawker Spotlight booklet at the City Gas Gallery and Singapore Visitor Centres to enjoy special deals!

Amoy Street Food Centre
7 Maxwell Road
Singapore 069111
20 Jul to 28 Jul 2018
Free Entry

MCDONALD’S LOVE LOCAL CAMPAIGN

The highly-acclaimed Nasi Lemak Burger was launched during the Singapore Food Festival 2017 and was such a hit that it sold out within two weeks. Come this year, the global food giant will once again be launching a delicious new menu that takes its cue from more Singapore flavours—har cheong gai.

This new offering will be available at all McDonald’s restaurants starting from July.

For more information, visit McDonald’s SG. 

THE 50 CENTS FEST: COLONIAL SINGAPORE

Revel in the nostalgia of olden-day Singapore with local favourites such as Fish Moilee, Kopi Gu You and more while taking in authentic 1930s sights and sounds, featuring traditional opera and even an exciting dance performance among other 1930s-inspired immersive experiences.

Chinatown Food Street
Smith Street
Singapore 050335
28 Jul to 29 Jul 2018
11am – 11pm
Free Entry

For more information, visit Chinatown Food Street.

Ready for a gastronomic journey through Singapore’s rich and robust culinary landscape? Then be sure to attend one or many of the featured events at Singapore Food Festival 2018. The mobile guide is available for download here.

This post was brought to you by the Singapore Tourism Board.