RIYADH — The Singapore Food Festival kicked off Sunday at Riyadh's Four Seasons hotel, providing residents in the capital the chance to sample the country's unique fusion of Chinese, Indian, and Malay cuisine. Four Seasons have flown in one of their senior chefs from Singapore, Loke Kok Wah, who will be preparing authentic Singaporean cuisine each evening at the hotel's Elements restaurant until Mar. 14. The festival's launch was attended by Ambassador of Singapore Lawrence Anderson as well as the assistant chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Lawrence Leong Yue Kheong. Anderson said food was a great way for the two countries to “forge a deeper understanding of our cultures.” “I think Singaporean food will certainly appeal to our Saudi friends,” he said. Anderson described three dishes from the festival's menu that he said were his personal favorites: Hainanese chicken rice, which he described as “our version of kabsa”; laksa, or rice noodles and shrimp in a coconut based gravy; and Singaporean chili crab, which is traditionally eaten with accompanying sweets buns to soak up the gravy. The food festival comes as the city-state hopes to continue to increase the number of tourists arriving from the Middle East, in particular the GCC and Saudi Arabia. Last year almost 26,000 Saudis visited Singapore, a 23 percent increase compared to 2013. According to data from the STB, Singapore currently has around 47,000 hotel rooms and expects to add another 5,000 by the end of 2015. Speaking at the launch, the STB's director for Middle East & Africa Mohammed Firhan Abdul Salam said Saudi tourists to Singapore on average spent $1500 over a five-day trip and usually stayed in five-star hotels. The STB has organized the current food festival in Riyadh along with the Singapore Embassy and partners Four Seasons Riyadh and Singapore and Singapore Airlines.
