Singapore: 11,000 Square Foot Urban Farm atop Hotel Roof

Click on image for larger file. Many of the ingredients used in the hotel’s kitchen are grown on site in the hotel’s roof-top farm. Photo Credit: Accidental Travel Writer.

Cheong, 40, the hotel’s executive chef, says: “The farm yields different produce every week. Because I never know what I’m going to get, I come up with new dishes all the time.”

By Bryna Singh
The Straight Times
May 22, 2017

Excerpt:

The ti plant is native to the state of Hawaii in the United States and is growing at the farm because the hotel’s chairman, Dr Richard Helfer – who lived for six years in Hawaii and owns a property there – brought the seeds to Singapore.

He is the man behind the hotel’s urban farm and he prides himself as being its chief gardener.

The American hotelier, 67, says the farm is part of the hotel’s intent to create a “total lifestyle environment” for its guests.

The farm serves as “a natural beacon of learning and knowledge” to all, he adds.

For chef Cheong, it is a place of inspiration.

Just last week, he harvested an unripe papaya from the tree and used the fruit to make som tam (Thai green papaya salad) and pickles.

Since joining the hotel in December, his farm-to-table dishes have included a butterfly pea flower and honey cooler, a mulberry tart and a passionfruit cake.

Read the complete article here.