King Crab
Live Abalone
Red Scorpion Fish
Gigantic Moon Fish and lobsters
Tuna
Salmon, Cod and other treasures from the sea
Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world retailing at $62 for 100g
Truffles
Fine seafood selection

Jamon Iberico
Surprise, surprise. Real good bread from Delifrance.
Dean Brettschneider
Selection of breads made by Dean
More breads from Dean
The friendly people from Tuksei Tezcan Flour, Fatih and associate.
The flour given to me to be tested soon.
Maasi Orimo San from Japan Salt Corporation



FHA 2010-part 1

Food Hotel Asia 2010 was finally here. Although I was expecting tickets, they arrived at the very last minute. This kept me on tenterhooks as I had promised to pass some to my group of dear baking friends. I was glad that I was able to fulfill my promise. The appreciation from this group of friends was reward enough.

I had a chance to see many bakers in action. I discussed the merits of different fermentation strategies with a German baker, Joseph Grenier and he told me that a recent trend was to have a prolonged final proof. He showed me the final proofing trays complete with lining and cover that facilitate stacking. From his explanation, there was no doubt that there was an advantage where logistics was concerned and the bake at the point of sale would guarantee that the customer gets the freshest bread.

A beautiful array of bread caught my attention and when I went to find who the skillful baker was, it turned out to be none other that Dean Brettschneider, the author of The Global Baker. Other celebrity chefs I met was the talented and funny Ryan Hong of Bespoke Dining. I was pleasantly surprised by the breads at Delifrance. The breads there were vastly different from those found in the retail outlets. It's a real pity that the breads at FHA are not available at the Delifrance outlets.

FHA was a great chance for me to talk to some Turkish millers. One miller I spoke to was Yuksei Tezcan Flour Co. The friendly Sales and Marketing Executive, Fatih Karabay gave me a kilo of flour to test when I told him about my bread baking passion. There had been some discussion on Turkish bread flour in the forums and I was very happy to get hold of some to do some testing on.

I am always on the lookout for top quality ingredients for my bread and since salt is such an important component of bread, I was happy to chance upon the Japan Salt Corporation. I had a fun time talking to Masaaki Orimo San, the General Manager of Saitama Branch. I had initially thought that it was all Japanese salt. I realised that the company carried special salt from all over the world, ranging from my regular Himalayan pink salt to Truffle flavored Guerande salt. I also recognized a bottle of Utah salt given to me by a friend.