Singapore king: Emmanuel Stroobant

Multicultural Singapore is renowned as a crossroads of some of the world’s great cuisines. Local specialities include Indian-inspired fish-head curry, chilli crab served with Chinese buns or Malay beef slow-cooked in coconut milk. Thanks to Emmanuel Stroobant, inhabitants of the city state are also tucking in to croquettes aux crevettes and moules-frites washed down with a cool glass of draft Hoegaarden. Belgian-born Stroobant is a star in South- east Asia. He runs half a dozen eateries in Singapore, from his Belgian bistro – courageously named Brussels Sprouts – to the Saint Pierre, a Relais & Châteaux temple of fine dining.

Known as the Chef in Black from his regular TV show on the Asian Food Channel, Stroobant is a cool character who stands out in Singapore’s conservative financial centre with his platinum punk hairdo, penchant for big motorbikes and trademark black jeans and T-shirts. His cookbooks have picked up international prizes and he recently wowed Australian audiences while whipping up scampi and pine mushrooms in a port-enriched bisque on the Down Under version of MasterChef.
It’s all a long way from washing dishes in Liège. Stroobant began his culinary career at the bottom, but was soon learning the trade at the renowned Ardennes restaurant Hostellerie Saint-Roch. At the age of just 23, he was already running a kitchen in his hometown of Liège, but he had the travel bug and when an offer came to work in Australia, he grabbed it.

“It was bit of a culture shock, and not only because my English was a bit hectic back then,” he jokes. “I learned a lot about Asian ingredients; it was great exploring Asian food.” After three years working in Sydney, Perth and Canberra, and a stint running a 200-seat Mediterranean-themed mega-restaurant for a Malaysian millionaire, Stroobant found himself in Singapore in 1999. “I liked Singapore immediately: it’s really fast-paced, and I had the chance to get back into cooking again.”
Stroobant and his Malaysian wife, Edina Hong, poured their money into the Saint Pierre restaurant in the centre of town. Eleven years on, it’s still the heart of their gastronomic empire. “Saint Pierre is the flagship,” he explains in a phone interview.
“It’s very classic French dining, but it’s also very modern. The cuisine is very much what I learned back home, but I use prime quality Asian products, mostly from Japan.” The menu also has a touch of the molecular, with slow, low-temperature cooking and the occasional dash of liquid nitrogen. Stroobant’s signature dishes include pan-fried foie gras with caramelised green apples and port sauce; miso-braised black cod with spring vegetables and a truffle-infused Noilly Prat butter sauce; and Belgian chocolate cake layered with dark chocolate mousse and honeycomb ice-cream.

There’s also a SG$226 (€130) tasting menu with wine that moves smoothly through 10 courses including carpaccio of scallop with fresh Japanese sea urchin, poached Japanese turnip and vinaigrette made with shiso (a mint-like herb); rabbit saddle wrapped in carrot ribbons with chorizo and chicken mousse stuffing; and raspberry parfait with white chocolate snow, pistachio powder and freeze-dried raspberry.
Saint Pierre’s wine list runs to 34 pages and includes a 1959 Lafite Rothschild that’s a snip at SG$8,000 (€4,570). The bar is also a magnet for the cocktail set, thanks to its trendy molecular concoctions such as the Zentini, made with green tea liqueur, vodka, Noilly Prat and liquid nitrogen.

If that’s too fancy for your tastes, you can get a pintje of Stella or any of 120 other varieties of Belgian beer at Brussels Sprouts, Stroobant’s big and bustling Belgian bar and bistro. “It’s a fun place, really Belgian,” he says. Brussels Sprouts shifts more than 1.5 tonnes of mussels every month, served in 25 varieties – from traditional versions steamed in white wine, cream or beer, to more oriental varieties with coconut, lemongrass or soy sauce. The concept has proved so successful that Stroobant has just opened a second one.

Other outposts of the Stroobant domain include the Picotin, a French-style bistro built in the stables of an old racecourse; a takeaway pizza joint on the island’s east coast; the French Kitchen – a classic restaurant run in collaboration with Jean-Claude Dubois, former chef de cuisine at the legendary Raffles Hotel; and Rocks – a fashionable urban grill and bar overlooking Marina Bay. He also recently opened a yoga centre.
For the foreseeable future, though, Stroobant’s compatriots will have a long way to travel to sample his cooking. “We are so deeply rooted here now that it’s going to be hard to leave,” he says. “It’s not that I don’t want to come back to Belgium, but it’s difficult to run restaurants when you are so far away.”

www.emmanuelstroobant.com

This article first appeared in WAB magazine.