News
|GALA CHARITY DINNER FOR HUA TING MASTER CHEF’S FIRST COOKBOOK
The highly anticipated cookbook, commissioned by Hong Leong Group’s Executive Chairman, Mr Kwek Leng Beng, will be out for sale in stores soon. This is the first time Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) Hotels have produced a cookbook for one of its restaurants in over 90 hotel properties worldwide.
Featuring some of Hua Ting Restaurant’s Master Chef Chan Kwok’s best recipes, the glossy
coffee-table book “Chan Kwok – A Culinary Genius” was commissioned by Mr Kwek after Orchard Hotel’s
Hua Ting won double awards at the 2005 World Gourmet Summit (WGS).
A Gala Dinner has been planned on 23 January 2006 as the occasion to officially launch the
book. Donation tables of S$5000, S$3000 and S$2000 each have been snapped up by generous donors and
well-wishes. The Hong Leong Foundation will also be matching dollar-for-dollar the nett proceeds
from the table sales. The Group hopes to raise more than S$100,000 for the Straits Times School
Pocket Money Fund (STPMF) from this event.
“I am very pleased to see this book project come to fruition so splendidly. Chef Chan and his
team at Hua Ting have worked hard through the years and deserve a well-earned pat on the back. This
book, being a first for our hotel group, I thought it presented a special and excellent opportunity
to continue this relationship with STPMF. The proceeds will help to make a difference in the lives
of the needy school children,” said Mr Kwek.
Mr Kwek wanted to dedicate the book project to charity, and chose to raise funds for the
STPMF, a charity that the five Singapore M&C hotels have adopted last June with a special “A
Thought for $2” project.
The featured menu for the Gala Dinner on 23 January is specially designed by Chef Chan, and
will showcase some of his favourite recipes featured in the book. The evening promises to be one of
revelry, and a fitting opportunity to celebrate the coming Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dog,
with friends and associates.
The programme will feature two talented young Singaporeans - Abigail Sin, a 14-year-old child
prodigy pianist who has won international accolades and awards, as well as Nathan Hartono, also 14
years old, and an up-and-coming teenage Jazz singer who sounds uncannily like a young Michael
Buble. Both are firm supporters of the STPMF, and had performed in aid of the fund at the recent
Child Aid concert in December 2005.
“This cookbook represents the wonderful team effort and spirit that drives Hua Ting
Restaurant. Many of the recipes I chose for this book have not been seen in print before. I hope
the readers will be tempted to try them out for themselves. I am very grateful to Chairman Kwek for
this opportunity to reap the fruits of our labour, and at the same time share with those who are in
need,” said a beaming Chef Chan.
Hua Ting Restaurant was voted “Asian Ethnic Restaurant of the Year” for consistently
providing a standard of excellence and extraordinary dining experiences featuring high quality
ethnic cuisine and exquisite dining experiences to its discerning guests. Chef Chan Kwok’s “Asian
Ethnic Chef of the Year” award recognizes a winning chef who has demonstrated a high level of
talent and creativity in the preparation of ethnic cuisine.
The five Singapore (M&C) Hotels adopted the Straits Times School Pocket Money fund for a
year in the “A Thought for $2” aims to raise money for school children by pooling the support of
hotel guests from the five hotels. Guests are encouraged to donate a modest sum of $2 to their
final check-out bill. All five hotels – Orchard Hotel, M Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel,
Copthorne King’s Hotel and Copthorne Orchid Hotel are taking part in this project. The
London-listed M&C Hotels, a member of Hong Leong Group, is Singapore’s largest international
hotel group with over 24,000 rooms in over 90 hotels in 16 countries world-wide.
