Original subtitles

I'm a vlogger who travels the world [uplifting music]

in pursuit of delicious food

and I've always been

fascinated by Singapore.

Here, the obsession

with food is real.

I'm exploring the extremes

of this food paradise

that marries cultures

and cuisines like no other.

From searching for

soulful street food

to exploring the heights

of fine dining.

It's a love affair with food

and I'm ready to eat.

[music fades]

[upbeat music]

Orchard Road

Singapore's main shopping street.

Modern and swanky

but nestled among the sprawling malls

is an unassuming building.

For some of the best Japanese food in the country

Cuppage Plaza is a secret foodie haven.

The area is a popular late night hangout.

Japanese businessmen

come here to unwind after work.

A little Tokyo of sorts.

I'm here to explore this hidden gem

searching for what many deem as

the holy grail of yakitori.

[music stops]

[Kazu] This table was made

from a 400-year-old tree. [calm music]

It was an ancient sakura tree in the mountains.

I'm glad I can interact with

my customers across this table.

[music stops]

[fire burning] [epic drum music]

We're a restaurant

that specializes in charcoal grilling.

We use ingredients from Japan

and cook it over Japanese charcoal.

[fire burning]

[music fades]

[fire burning]

[Mark] Oh, wow.

[joyful music] Oh man, you can smell that char.

There's something truly special about cooking over fire.

I mean, I think it's probably

the most ancient form of cooking.

As soon as you smell something coming from the grill

our mouths water.

And so, I am at Kazu Sumiyaki

which is the oldest and one of the most popular

yakitori restaurants in Singapore.

I'm here to meet with Chef Kazu-san

who has been cooking

who has been making yakitori

for over 30 years.

[Kazu] This is broad bean

from Kagoshima, Japan.

It grows towards the sky

and is considered to be very auspicious in Japan.

Please enjoy your meal.

Thank you. [music stops]

Oh, these are super-sized beans.

[Mark chewing]

[joyful music]

It's a little bit vegetal

a little bit starchy.

Oh, and the sweetness that follows.

So while you can enjoy the bean on its own

you can also scoop up the juicy layer

on the inside of the pod and enjoy it.

It has a creamy texture.

It does have a slimy texture to it

like embedded with the smoke from that charcoal.

So simple, so pure.

And that's the beauty of it. [music stops]

What a way to get started.

What is next?

I'll serve you some chicken skin.

[food grilling] [joyful music]

This is Kazu's assorted chicken skin.

We offer four varieties.

The first one is atsukawa

which is from the back.

Please enjoy.

[Mark] I just love how Chef Kazu-san

has isolated each piece of skin

from the different parts of the chicken.

[music stops]

[Mark chewing]

[Mark laughing]

Oh.

[joyful music]

And that is just perfectly done.

Golden crunch. Delicious.

Thank you.

[Mark] And so then, moving on.

And this is bonjiri, the tail end. Enjoy.

Oh, wow.

It is so fatty. [food grilling]

I mean, chicken skin is not something

I would typically dream about eating

but, man... Chef Kazu-san has just taken it to another level.

[grilled food sizzling] [music stops]

Next up, we have... [upbeat music]

- This is momo. Thigh. - The thigh!

While the other pieces are a little more chunky

this looks a little bit more like skin.

[Kazu] We grilled it

until it's really crispy.

[Mark laughing]

Yes, you immediately just get that charcoaly-ness.

He squeezed on just a little bit of citrus

to kind of, like, break that richness.

And then the last one we have...

[Kazu] Kubi, the neck. Enjoy.

Not quite as crispy.

A little more leathery feeling in your mouth

and it has that sauce on it.

All four of them, from the same chicken

but from different parts of the chicken.

And then the way that charcoal

the smoke just brings out the flavor [fire burning]

is something that is

really a delicacy.

[music stops] [Kazu laughing]

Now, I'll serve you seafood.

[upbeat music]

[fire burning]

Actually, Kazu-san, I'm very curious to know

how did you become a chef?

Well...

I love cooking, that's why.

[fire burning]

I used to be an office worker

but I found myself doing the same things every day

and it made me restless.

I wanted more of a challenge.

[knife chopping]

My elder brother was the active sort.

I tagged along

and we built a log cabin in the woods

where our friends could hang out.

We needed someone to cook for us

and I started doing it.

And that's how I started my cooking journey.

I study cooking every day

and I feel happy

every time I become a little better at it.

I'm enjoying myself, even till today.

[music stops]

This is shima aji

striped jack from Nagasaki, Japan.

You can tell that bite right there

is calling my name.

[relaxing music]

[Mark laughing]

Oh, wow.

You can literally feel the omega threes

just oozing out between your teeth.

Oh, man.

And then chase that with some of the daikon radish as a garnish.

Just completely palate cleanses your tongue and your mouth.

I'm gonna go for that top of the head.

[Mark chewing and laughing]

All the juices remain intact

and the smokiness

the skin, the meat

all just melting together.

[Mark sucking]

Oh, the eyeball. Oh, that's jelly!

And then finally, the lips.

I don't want this fish head to ever end.

Wow.

- Delicious. - Thank you.

This is absolutely amazing. [music stops]

Where did you learn to cook like that?

Oh.

I learned by myself.

[light music]

I feel the happiest when I'm cooking.

That's not something I would have learned

in culinary schools.

The joy and excitement I find in cooking

keeps me going till now.

Especially the high I get

when I experiment

and succeed in figuring out how to make certain ideas work.

This is surf clam from Hokkaido. [music fades]

I'm gonna start with this massive clam.

Give it a little dip.

OK.

[joyful music]

[Mark laughing]

It's so sweet, so juicy.

Not chewy at all.

Wow, Kazu-san

have you ever thought about expanding your business?

Yes.

But...

I'm not a businessman.

I'm a chef.

Anyway, please try the kinki fish.

[Mark laughing] OK.

This is kinki fish from Abashiri, Hokkaido.

And just the method in which [fire burning]

Chef Kazu-san grilled this

keeping all of those oils and juices

within the fish again. [music stops]

Oh, that is so buttery.

It almost just slides out of your chopsticks.

[joyful music]

It's so rich, it's unbelievably oily

and just completely saturated

in the smoke of that fire.

Chef Kazu-san, what is the secret

to how your food is so delicious?

Firstly, I have a fishmonger in Tokyo

who picks out the good fish for me

and ship it over.

Next, we use charcoal

from Tosa province in Japan.

Charcoal-grilling brings out

the delicious flavors and aroma [fire burning]

of the ingredients used

but I have to pay close attention to the grill

as the fire can be quite strong.

The last, and probably biggest contributing factor is

my sincerity and my feelings towards food.

I want to serve my customers delicious food.

I hope to stay true to this intent

and hone my skills further

to better convey my passion to my customers.

[Mark] Cooking over fire

comes in many disciplines

but is only mastered by few. [music stops]

[fire burning] [intense music]

And Singapore is home to some of the best in the game.

Fire transforms everything it touches.

It can enhance

but can also destroy.

[Dave] Whoa, we lost one.

- Oh. - We're going again.

[music stops]

Barbecue and fine dining

don't usually go together [uplifting music]

but I'm here at an area called Dempsey Hill

to find out how one such restaurant

made it to the World's 50 Best.

I can't imagine what the food's gonna be like

but I'm ready to be surprised

by Michelin-starred chef

Dave Pynt.

[music stops]

Hi Mark, welcome to Burnt Ends.

It's really good to have you here

and show you our place and a bit about what we do.

Thank you. Oh man, this place is

absolutely beautiful. [chill-out lofi music]

And you can hear the fire crackling

in the background there.

Yeah, we've got the four-tonne dual cavity

wood burning ovens in the background.

Yeah, this is where the magic happens.

So, let's get started with

one of our favorite little snacks.

A little egg tart.

So, we've just got some beautifully

cold smoked quail eggs.

Boiled for a minute, 36.

Cold smoked, so they're still really soft.

A nice little push in

some beautiful caviar.

So here we go, we've got the egg tart

in a sweet tart shell.

Thank you very much.

I like how Dave inserted it

into a nest of caviar.

[Mark biting]

It's buttery...

it's flaky.

The quail is still soft on the inside

so it just kind of explodes

with this creaminess

plus the briny-ness of that caviar.

And on top of that, you can taste the faint aroma

of that smoke coming from the egg.

- Delicious. - Glad you enjoyed it.

So, what is it about fire cooking [music stops]

that attracts you so much?

I think it's a big part about [joyful music]

the magic of fire and touch, feel, you know...

you can't tell me exactly [fire burning]

how hot the fire is.

There's that love-hate relationship with it

where you love it because it's wild

but you hate it because you can't control it.

When you cook on fire

you've got the natural oils that come out of the wood

which would color and flavor the food differently.

Whether you're using post oak in America

or you're using ironbark

which we're using in the restaurant

you're gonna get all these really

distinct flavor profiles out of the smoke.

But the little things you can do

is be there, be present

have that knowledge and that understanding.

You're paying attention

and you have to be focused.

So are you ready for some steak? [music stops]

Can't wait. [upbeat music]

[beef grilling]

So this is a 78-day dry aged

Blackmore's OP rib coated in smoked beef fat.

Great char on the outside

from cooking over the fire

which is really hard to get.

[Mark] Oh, man.

[Dave] So this takes about an hour and a half

for us to cook it.

So the 50° that we're aiming for

and the outside comes right up in temperature

the inside will stay cold.

And so when you take it off

the inside comes down

and the outside goes up.

So you'd get this beautifully cooked piece of meat.

Patience and diligence.

So if you miss the window

you can either have a steak that just won't ever cook

or it cooks too fast.

[music stops]

The intensity of that aroma.

[Mark sniffing]

It's so incredibly beefy

with that smokiness. [upbeat music]

Oh, that juiciness.

Oh, man.

- It's pretty good beef, right? - Yeah.

It looks really red

but it doesn't have any kind of a bloody taste to it at all.

That fire that you taste

on the crust [fire burning]

but even the fire and the smoke

within the meat all the way to the center.

Oh, that's just butter.

That aging also intensifies the flavor?

100%. You get a huge amount of flavor

developed within the beef

that the protein structure breaks down a little bit.

[Mark] Yup. I'm running out of descriptive words

to describe this. It's just insanely delicious.

[music stops] I mean, when I think about

cooking with fire or barbecue

hanging out in the backyard or family gatherings

how did you take it to this level?

We started at home back in Australia

and every house we ever moved into [violin music]

my dad would rip out the gas barbecue

and put in a wood fired barbecue.

And then I traveled around a bit

and I found myself at a place called Asador Etxebarri.

Some of the things I learned over there

not just the attention to detail with produce

like really trying to find the best products

that suit cooking over fire in Singapore

and the other part is cooking with wood.

It's like understanding and watching

the way it works, whether it's on the grills

or with the ovens. [fire burning]

You've got the pot roasting, the cold smoking

which you saw with the quail eggs

and we've got the elevation grills where

multiple different grill areas where we can cook

different things at different heights.

And that mastery of height

is something that Victor at Etxebarri

has really sort of nailed

so we sort of implement here at Burnt Ends.

[calm music]

So, let's get stuck into the bone marrow bun.

So bone marrow cooked in the oven.

So you sort of make a mixture of the bone marrow

and everything else in together.

Then we've got sautéed shallots

fried garlic, a little bit of beef jus

red wine

and we've got some parsley in there

all stuffed in like a garlic bread.

And then, we put it in the oven for about 40 minutes

in the aluminum foil and pull it out

crisp up the top and you see how quickly

it sort of colors up.

So here we've got the bone marrow bun.

Just rip a bit off and get into it. [music stops]

You can just see the...

the oily juiciness of that marrow.

[Mark biting]

[chill-out music]

The bone marrow provides

this amazing, liquefied meatiness

and then just baked on that high fire

so that it just absorbs a little bit of that smokiness.

- That's bread on another level. - Yeah.

You'll want to lick your fingers after that.

An amazing set altogether.

[music fades]

So I hope you enjoyed your snack section.

We're gonna put you to work now. [Mark laughing]

I'm gonna show you how we do

our king crab stuffed suckling pig.

Oh, good. [upbeat music]

So... got you in the kitchen, got you in the apron.

We've got the belly bacon laid out.

First step, grab some sausage

- and spread it out. - All right.

You don't want it too thick

so you want a nice even layer.

So, it sort of... you get the...

the sausage meat will set. Beautiful.

So you said this was crab?

So we've got parsley and chives.

- Ah, OK. - Lemon zest, carrots

onion and celery.

And we've got a little bit of brown butter

lemon juice and some kombu.

And then if you'd pass the crab

it's a lot of work, this dish [Mark laughing]

but it's a bit of fun.

So, we're gonna roll over

and then you pull in

and that's our roulade.

So, we've got the suckling pig.

So, it's all been deboned.

We're going to take our roulade

we're gonna pop it back in the middle.

So, how are your sewing skills? [Mark laughing]

- Had stitches as a kid? - Yes, a few.

- So, you... - A few in the chin.

You know the schedule with it.

This is where your childhood really comes in handy.

The surgery.

- You wanna have a go? - All right.

So it looks like you're kind of spacing it out

about a centimeter between stitches.

Oh yeah, you've gotta really...

[Mark laughing] [Dave] Just kidding.

Finger in the pig.

So, I'm just gonna finish stitching up the pig.

[Mark] Tying it off at the end.

Transfer her over and we'll get her in.

So, Mark, can you open the door for us?

- Oh, yeah. - Just be careful.

- It's pretty heavy. - Oh, yeah.

OK.

So, all the way through, just under this cavity.

Smoking log in.

and we'll leave her in there for a while now.

[Dave] All right, let's have a look at it.

[Mark] OK.

Wow.

So, we're just gonna wrap up all the extremities

- the little hoofs, the tail. - [Mark] Okay.

So they're typically some of the best bits, right?

And if you don't protect them

they just burn.

So we're just gonna put her in and...

see if we get it nice and crispy.

- OK. - So, this is where, like

being here and knowing

and having that experience

and being able to see what the fire's doing.

As soon as it gets to that temperature

the slow cook renders down all the collagen

and then the crispiness starts to happen.

Oh... it's squirting.

[Mark laughing]

It's starting to become more beautiful by the second.

[Dave] All right, let's get her out.

[Mark] Wow.

Oh, wow.

That reveal.

[Dave] It's not bad. [Mark laughing]

Just got a little bit of the sauce

a little bit of lobster oil or marron oil.

I've never seen something so juicy and so crispy

at the same time.

Oh... oh, man.

The different textures in there.

Multiple dimensions of crab on the inside.

The pig juice

has just been held within, absorbed into the crab

and then, followed by the crispy skin at the end.

Nothing is covered up, like the crab

still shines

despite so many things going on.

That is the meat roll of your dreams.

Xiao long bao, eat your heart out! [music fades]

Yeah. Yup. [both laughing]

The ear is one of my favorite parts.

So let me carve it off and crisp it up for you.

- Can you hear it crackling? - Yeah!

Here you go. It's super nice and crisp.

Look at the crackle that's come through on that.

It's worth the extra little bit of effort

just pop it back in the oven. [joyful music]

[Mark chewing]

Crispy around the edges

and then a little bit chewy in the center

with that cartilagey-ness of the ear. [Marking chewing]

A perfect single bite.

Well, thank you, Dave

for this amazing meal and experience.

A learning experience, learning about fire.

I mean, watching you as you cooked.

I loved seeing your passion

your dedication

just that focus that you have

that connection that you have with the fire

and that translates directly

into the food that you serve.

It's been our pleasure, I hope you enjoyed it.

- And thanks for coming down. - Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

[music fades]

Cooking with fire isn't easy

[charcoal crackling] but it's so visceral.

[powerful epic music]

And every culture masters it

in their own way.

Here in Singapore

there's no better example than smoky grilled satay.

Dave is bringing me to one of his favorite satay stalls.

It's located in Geylang

widely known as Singapore's red-light district

but also a popular local foodie haunt.

[knife chopping]

- [Dave] So, here we go. - [Mark] Nice.

I've heard there's some good food around here.

There's so many great stalls around here

and today we're gonna go to

one of my favorite satay places

Kwong Satay. So... [music stops]

Hello... yes, sir? Eating satay?

Can we get the pork belly

the famous pork with the lard

chicken, mutton and some ketupat? [joyful music]

- OK. Yes, sir. - Perfect.

Kwong Satay traces its roots to the '60s

when it was peddled from a trishaw.

Its owner has since handed over the reins

to his former apprentice, Ah Kuen.

Till this day

the original recipe has never been changed.

That mouth-watering smokiness of satay on the grill.

Wow, Dave and I are hungry!

- Sir, this is your satay. -Thank you.

- Thank you. - Thank you very much.

Oh, man. That looks amazing.

- So good, eh? - Yeah.

And what's really interesting for me is that

I've had quite a bit of satay

throughout Indonesia

I've had Malay style satay

but I've never had the Hainanese style.

I see that we've got a variety of

- different pork skewers. - Yes.

Yes. So, I think we should start with the pork belly.

Look at it, it's just glistening.

Oh.

You do taste that sweetness from the marinade.

Kind of brings out the smokiness of the fire

because it caramelizes onto the meat

and then, actually, what I'm tasting is the nutmeg.

The nutmeg is coming in.

OK, now I'm gonna try one with the sauce.

- Mix it around, get the chili. - Yeah.

As good as it is on its own

you've gotta have the sauce.

That nuttiness, that chili oil

that refreshing pineapple

kind of sweet, slight acidity fruitiness.

That's a Hainanese touch as well, right?

Yeah, it definitely is.

It's the sweet and sour that really adds to it.

[music stops]

Let's get into the pork and lardo. [upbeat music]

I'm going for a full submerge

into the sauce.

This is more meaty.

There's a bit more body to it.

So, you can see how this is not

as thin as that pork belly, right?

- [Dave] No. - [Mark] But then again

with that same, amazing peanut sauce.

And you've got your candlenuts

- and stuff in there as well. - Yeah.

And cutting it through with the onion

the freshness of the cucumber

is always a good option.

A little bit of acid clears the mouth

gets you ready.

[Kuen] The satay's done.

I'm going to get into the ketupat

which is the cooked rice with the pandan leaves.

You can sort of see the texture on the outside

- and the color coming through. - Yeah...

You can see the grains of the rice

and yet at the same time, it's dense, starchy.

More doughy, compressed into this rice cake.

It's taken on a totally new, like, dimension of texture.

[Dave] What makes this really special is that

it's all hand weaved

and they put it into the basket to steam it up.

So it's very different. Most places you get it

it's all done in molds

and this one's done in the pandan.

So it's a little bit of extra work

but a huge amount of flavor.

Nowadays, it's a lot harder to find

so this is one of the few places that does it.

I'm glad he's still making it the traditional way.

Exactly.

Any favorites? Putting you on the spot here.

Man, tough choice. [Dave laughing]

But I really think that straight pork

- with the lardo. Yeah. - With the lardo?

It's a bit thicker cut

and then, so when you chew

you get more of the spices coming out, yeah.

- Hello. - Oh!

Enjoy your beer.

Thank you very much.

Please, join us! Yeah.

Yes, please have a seat.

Man, the satay is really good.

Yeah, how's the satay?

- Amazing... - Very good...

- Better with beer, right? - Yeah! It's better with beer!

[joyful music] So, Uncle, I'm a chef as well

and I saw you're cooking over the coals as well

and I know how hard it is and how skillful you have to be

to cook over live fire.

And so, what's your secret

to getting the perfect satay every time?

Our satay is done Hainanese style.

The outside is a bit charred

while the inside is still tender.

Kwong Satay has been around for decades

and we're skilled in controlling the fire.

We don't take our eyes off the fire.

It takes mere seconds for the meat to burn.

It takes patience and focus to grill satay.

And I noticed you have a very different grill

to what you see normally, like a square grill.

- Square. Yes... - You stack them all up.

You've got a very systematic routine.

We can grill more than 100 skewers at a time.

- Wow, that's a lot. - Wow.

We sell about 1,000 skewers a day.

That doubles on weekends and public holidays.

Sometimes we can even sell up to

- 5,000 skewers in a day. - Wow.

Well, what you're doing here

takes so much effort and so much time

and it's only you on the grill?

It's a skill.

- Fast hands... - Yeah.

[Kuen] It's not easy.

How's the sauce?

I really like it. Yeah.

I think it's a highlight for me.

Yeah, the pineapple sauce. [music fades]

This is unique to Hainanese-style satay.

[phone ringing]

Hello? OK.

What time are you picking up your order?

Raw or grilled? [light music]

For raw, you have to order a day in advance.

Pork and chicken are 50 cents each.

Mutton and otah are 60 cents each.

- [Mark] You started off here. - [Kuen] Yeah.

- As an apprentice. - [Kuen] Yeah.

- But now you're the boss. - Oh, yeah.

What was that journey like?

When my ex-boss went into supplying

he asked if I wanted to take over the stall.

I've been doing this for more than 20 years.

My hands are all burnt and scarred from it.

[charcoal crackling]

It has been an arduous journey

but there's a sense of fulfillment

especially seeing how popular Kwong Satay is in Singapore.

It's tiring, but we go on

because we want to keep

this taste of tradition and history alive.

We have customers from as far as Australia and Shanghai

who crave our satay

the moment they get off the plane.

[Mark] That story that you shared is so cool

because I can relate to that.

Like, getting off the plane in a destination.

You go straight for that food that you have memories of.

It brings back, like, happiness.

You can still remember that flavor

and so when you get that first taste of it

that's like you really arrived.

My biggest satisfaction comes from

seeing how much our customers enjoy our satay.

I'm not tired yet.

I can still carry on grilling satay

by the hot charcoal grill.

Hopefully, my son can bring our local satay overseas

and keep our Singaporean heritage alive

for many generations to come.

That would make me very happy.

- Amazing. - Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

[music stops]

[joyful music]

It's been an amazing journey

tasting all of that delicious food

and I'm now ending on a sweet note with...

putu piring.

They're so light and fluffy.

And what I like is, it's sweet

but it's also salty.

I found a stall here in Geylang

selling putu piring

which is traditional Malay steamed rice cakes

which are filled with palm sugar in the center

and served with coconut on the side.

And you can smell that pandan as well.

Oh, that's...

that is wonderful.

Thinking back about all the food I had

and this entire experience

it really reminds me of growing up.

And I spent quite a few years

growing up in rural areas

and some of my earliest food experiences

were finding things in the jungle

and we would then build a fire

and then, just directly roast them in the fire

and I can still remember burning my fingers.

And then, that reward at the end

when it was fully cooked

digging into it

smelling that aroma

of the fire. [fire burning]

The unpredictable factors

that go into cooking over fire or barbecuing.

And yet, something I noticed with all the chefs

is this demeanor of focus

and they have truly elevated it to another level.

Technology continues to develop

but cooking with fire [fire burning]

is something that will just never go out of style.

[music fades]

[upbeat music]

[music stops]