City buzz

A SHOWCASE OF SICHUAN CUISINE

DINING

100 Sichuan Delights, 1 Gastronomic Feast

MENTION Sichuan cuisine and the trademark mala or tongue-numbing peppers come to mind. But there's more to it than that.

The 20-year-old Si Chuan Duo Hua Restaurant, known as the pioneer of Sichuan cuisine in Singapore, is presenting 100 authentic Sichuan dishes that showcase the cuisine in more depth.

The restaurant's Chengdu-born executive Sichuan chef Zeng Feng will go beyond the familiar mala, onion oil, garlic and chilli flavours. Instead, he will get diners to appreciate a whole spectrum of sauces and flavours from sweet to sweet sour, Sichuan pepper and spring onion. He will also showcase the quirkily named Strange-flavoured Sauce, which is sweet, numbing, spicy, sour, fresh and fragrant all at the same time.

On the menu are less common dishes such as Steamed Pork Belly with Glutinous Rice and Red Bean Paste in Sweet Sauce; Fresh Scallops with Sichuan Pepper and Minced Spring Onion Sauce; and Braised Pork Belly with Honey Sauce.

Evergreens are available too, from Chilled Chicken in Spicy Bean Paste to Sliced Fish in Spicy Chilli Sauce.

With 100 dishes to sample, two or more visits are needed.

By Tay Suan Chiang

KOREAN CINEMA

Train to Busan; The Wailing

BETTER known for their soppy melodramas, Korean cinema is now giving their Thai and Japanese counterparts a run for their money in the horror genre with two films - Train to Busan and The Wailing - both wowing audiences domestically and around the world.

The former, directed by Yeon Sang Ho (The King of Pigs, 2011) is billed as the country's first zombie flick. It is setting new records at home and has made US$63.9 million and counting since opening in South Korea a fortnight ago.

The plot revolves around a single father taking his daughter to visit her mother, and unwittingly boarding a train that is filled with passengers infected by a mysterious virus that is turning them into the living dead.

Train to Busan is currently tipped for a Hollywood remake.

Still playing in cinemas is The Wailing, a dark occult thriller about a mysterious Japanese stranger who is being blamed for a spate of deaths in a small Korean town.

Directed by Na Hong Jin (The Chaser, 2008), the film took home the best picture and audience awards at the recent Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and made a whopping US$49.5 million domestically.

By Dylan Tan

THEATRE

Rosnah

SITI Khalijah Zainal, this year's Best Actress winner at the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, stars in this one-woman show about young Rosnah who goes to the UK to further her studies and faces an existential crisis - whether to change herself to assimilate with the crowd, or hold fast to the traditional values imparted by her family.

Though the play was written 20 years ago, many of its central themes of mobility versus rootedness still resonate today as human migration issues become more urgent than ever before. Playwright Haresh Sharma and director Alvin Tan have also updated the monologue so that it speaks to topical issues such as Brexit and Islamophobia.

By Helmi Yusof

DINING

Gattopardo & Amici 4-Hands Brunch

CAN Sicilian and Hakka food complement each other or will they spark a cross-cultural conflict? Find out in a one-day only event where Lino Sauro of Gattopardo Ristorante di Mare links up with F&B consultant Lawrence Yeow in a four-hands brunch.

Mr Yeow, who cooks at private dinners and has helmed events at top restaurants, will pit his Hakka culinary skills against chef Sauro's Sicilian techniques to seek out common ground between East and West.

Come with an open mind to enjoy Hakka dishes such as Hakka Yam Abacus, Yong Tau Foo Platter and Clams with Shaoxing Wine & Garlic.

On the Sicilian side, the menu includes Crudo di Branzino su Gelatina di Rhu or marinated Seabass on Rhum Jelly Salad, originally a dessert, but adapted into an appetiser for this brunch.

There will also be the Tonno Alla Ghiotta, Sicilian-style tuna steak rolled with a mixture of breadcrumbs, raisins, pecorino cheese and herbs, and the Cuccia, a hearty sweet, soft-cooked wheat with ricotta cream, candied fruits and rhubarb.

By Tay Suan Chiang

EXPERIENTIAL THEATRE

The Spy, The Thug, His Wife and Her Lover

MOST people think of dinners as a relaxing, sit-down affair. Others might prefer getting up in-between courses, moving to another room, and solving puzzles while filling their tummies. If you belong to the latter, then nomadic theatre group Andsoforth has just the event for you - an experiential dining experience titled The Spy, The Thug, His Wife and Her Lover.

In each session, participants move around in groups of up to 15, going from room to room, interacting with different actors and being served their dinner along the way in each one. They will play the role of spies and face certain tasks in the various rooms such as breaking out of prison, extracting information, and escaping. Each session lasts a total of about an hour and 45 minutes, with up to eight sessions per day.

Dinner will be a four-course meal prepared by chef Chung Deming of mod-Sin bistro The Quarters, and can be expected to be simple, straightforward Western fare.

By Rachel Loi