When chef Andre Chiang sits down to a hotpot meal, the very first thing he does is to taste the soup.
That’s why, when it came to opening his own hotpot restaurant, he wanted the broths to be the stars of the show, where you could enjoy flavourful soup from the very first sip.
“Growing up in Taiwan, we love soup – all kinds of soup. That’s why I think it's so important to have a good soup at the beginning,” he told us.
“Normally, when you go for hotpot, you don't really taste the soup at the beginning – it’s bland at first. You always have to wait until the end, when you put a lot of stuff in. So, I thought that if we can have a soup, like a double-boiled soup, that you can already enjoy at the beginning, and then at the end, you enjoy the ingredients that you put in – that would be wonderful.”
Andre Chiang at Bon Broth, now open at Raffles City. Diners sit at tables curved around what look like giant filters, through which water is added to pots of stock below. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
Cue Bon Broth, his newly opened restaurant at Raffles City, which offers an elevated hotpot dining experience.
In place of communal dining, diners sit down to individual hotpots and a generous spread of fresh ingredients. There are two set menus priced at S$110 and S$138; both feature meats, seafood and vegetables, with the latter including more premium ingredients such as rock lobster and South African abalone.
The Premium Set (S$138) includes cod, Hokkaido fan scallop, rock lobster, South African abalone, tiger prawns, clams, Japanese Kagoshima A4 Wagyu Sirloin, Duroc pork and more. (Photo: CNA/May Seah)
What is the Michelin-rated-chef difference that sets Bon Broth apart? In all of the broths, you’ll find expert layering of flavours such that each component shines through; as well as the perfect balance of acidity, umami and sweetness for a clean yet strongly flavourful soup.
To help you choose a soup base, you can pay a visit to the “broth bar”, where a “broth sommelier” will ask your preferences and offer you your choice of two samples.
In the middle of the restaurant is a bar where broth tastings are conducted. (Photo: Bon Broth)
There are eight specialty broths on the menu, all of which represent Chiang’s journey as a French-trained chef who’s worked all over Asia, he shared.
For example, the “Laksa” broth takes inspiration from both Singapore laksa and Hong Kong-style curry: Imagine the flavour of laksa but without the heavy coconut base. Meanwhile, the collagen-rich “Hokkaido” broth blends fish head with miso, sake and Hokkaido milk; while the “Suki” broth boasts French Echire butter and black diamond truffle. And the “Satay” broth takes inspiration from Taiwanese shacha sauce, combining butter, shallots, garlic and chilli.
But the signature broth is the Sichuan Green Pepper, featuring the mildly tingling heat of Taiwanese pickled chilli and Sichuan green pepper.
Sichuan Green Peppers & Pickled Chili Broth (Photo: Bon Broth)
This is the broth that started it all. Chiang had been making this as a double-boiled soup at home since he was in his teens, he said, with picked chilli, black chicken and green pepper. When VIP guests at his now-closed Sichuan Moon restaurant in Macau used to request something special, he’d serve them hotpot with this soup base – and that’s how the idea of starting a hotpot restaurant came about.
The broth bases were born and are produced at Chiang’s “broth lab” in Taipei where his team does culinary research and development. Additionally, one of his friends offered a high-tech method of preserving the freshness of spices and their flavours though vacuum sealing, which allows for consistency and quality control. This is especially important as Bon Broth is also gearing up to open in Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York City.
The name “Bon Broth” isn’t just a play on “bone broth” but also a nod to his expertise in marrying French and Chinese cuisines.
Andre Chiang previously headed up Restaurant Andre in Singapore, Raw in Taipei and Sichuan Moon in Macau, all of which earned two Michelin stars each. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
“How we make the stock is actually a French style – pot by pot cooking,” he shared. Each broth begins with a mirepoix that’s then infused with a signature spice paste. Sake might be added, or it might be deglazed with rice wine. It’s then combined with a mother stock that is made fresh daily using only pure fish, beef, pork or chicken bones boiled for 12 to 16 hours, which “I don't think anyone is doing,” Chiang said.
With broths this flavourful, no sauces, dips or condiments are needed, Chiang asserted. Controversial? Maybe. But, he insisted, a good soup should do all the heavy lifting, and besides, sauces are unhealthy. “You need a good soup base, and you don't need sauce.”
As for the ingredients, freshness and sourcing them well are all that’s important, he said.
Based in Taiwan, Chiang will visit Singapore, his second home, now and then, and come to Bon Broth to "sit and eat hotpot", he quipped. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
Down the road, “maybe I will create some seasonal broths, only for particular days of the year, and we'll do something different according to different continents,” he mused.
But first, Chiang has a busy year ahead of him as "we have four new concepts opening in different cities, including Bon Broth; and then the Culinary Academy (in Taipei).” The Academy takes the place of his restaurant Raw which closed in December last year as Chiang announced his retirement from restaurant frontlines.
Importantly, if Andre Chiang were a soup base, which one would he be?
“I would say, maybe the curry laksa,” he grinned. “There’s a big mix of spices in there. That’s me — a mixture of influences from France, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and that journey. They all add a different spice to it.”
Bon Broth is at 03-01 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road.
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That’s why, when it came to opening his own hotpot restaurant, he wanted the broths to be the stars of the show, where you could enjoy flavourful soup from the very first sip.
“Growing up in Taiwan, we love soup – all kinds of soup. That’s why I think it's so important to have a good soup at the beginning,” he told us.
“Normally, when you go for hotpot, you don't really taste the soup at the beginning – it’s bland at first. You always have to wait until the end, when you put a lot of stuff in. So, I thought that if we can have a soup, like a double-boiled soup, that you can already enjoy at the beginning, and then at the end, you enjoy the ingredients that you put in – that would be wonderful.”
Andre Chiang at Bon Broth, now open at Raffles City. Diners sit at tables curved around what look like giant filters, through which water is added to pots of stock below. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
Cue Bon Broth, his newly opened restaurant at Raffles City, which offers an elevated hotpot dining experience.
In place of communal dining, diners sit down to individual hotpots and a generous spread of fresh ingredients. There are two set menus priced at S$110 and S$138; both feature meats, seafood and vegetables, with the latter including more premium ingredients such as rock lobster and South African abalone.
The Premium Set (S$138) includes cod, Hokkaido fan scallop, rock lobster, South African abalone, tiger prawns, clams, Japanese Kagoshima A4 Wagyu Sirloin, Duroc pork and more. (Photo: CNA/May Seah)
What is the Michelin-rated-chef difference that sets Bon Broth apart? In all of the broths, you’ll find expert layering of flavours such that each component shines through; as well as the perfect balance of acidity, umami and sweetness for a clean yet strongly flavourful soup.
To help you choose a soup base, you can pay a visit to the “broth bar”, where a “broth sommelier” will ask your preferences and offer you your choice of two samples.
In the middle of the restaurant is a bar where broth tastings are conducted. (Photo: Bon Broth)
There are eight specialty broths on the menu, all of which represent Chiang’s journey as a French-trained chef who’s worked all over Asia, he shared.
For example, the “Laksa” broth takes inspiration from both Singapore laksa and Hong Kong-style curry: Imagine the flavour of laksa but without the heavy coconut base. Meanwhile, the collagen-rich “Hokkaido” broth blends fish head with miso, sake and Hokkaido milk; while the “Suki” broth boasts French Echire butter and black diamond truffle. And the “Satay” broth takes inspiration from Taiwanese shacha sauce, combining butter, shallots, garlic and chilli.
But the signature broth is the Sichuan Green Pepper, featuring the mildly tingling heat of Taiwanese pickled chilli and Sichuan green pepper.
Sichuan Green Peppers & Pickled Chili Broth (Photo: Bon Broth)
This is the broth that started it all. Chiang had been making this as a double-boiled soup at home since he was in his teens, he said, with picked chilli, black chicken and green pepper. When VIP guests at his now-closed Sichuan Moon restaurant in Macau used to request something special, he’d serve them hotpot with this soup base – and that’s how the idea of starting a hotpot restaurant came about.
The broth bases were born and are produced at Chiang’s “broth lab” in Taipei where his team does culinary research and development. Additionally, one of his friends offered a high-tech method of preserving the freshness of spices and their flavours though vacuum sealing, which allows for consistency and quality control. This is especially important as Bon Broth is also gearing up to open in Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York City.
The name “Bon Broth” isn’t just a play on “bone broth” but also a nod to his expertise in marrying French and Chinese cuisines.
Andre Chiang previously headed up Restaurant Andre in Singapore, Raw in Taipei and Sichuan Moon in Macau, all of which earned two Michelin stars each. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
“How we make the stock is actually a French style – pot by pot cooking,” he shared. Each broth begins with a mirepoix that’s then infused with a signature spice paste. Sake might be added, or it might be deglazed with rice wine. It’s then combined with a mother stock that is made fresh daily using only pure fish, beef, pork or chicken bones boiled for 12 to 16 hours, which “I don't think anyone is doing,” Chiang said.
With broths this flavourful, no sauces, dips or condiments are needed, Chiang asserted. Controversial? Maybe. But, he insisted, a good soup should do all the heavy lifting, and besides, sauces are unhealthy. “You need a good soup base, and you don't need sauce.”
As for the ingredients, freshness and sourcing them well are all that’s important, he said.
Based in Taiwan, Chiang will visit Singapore, his second home, now and then, and come to Bon Broth to "sit and eat hotpot", he quipped. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)
Down the road, “maybe I will create some seasonal broths, only for particular days of the year, and we'll do something different according to different continents,” he mused.
But first, Chiang has a busy year ahead of him as "we have four new concepts opening in different cities, including Bon Broth; and then the Culinary Academy (in Taipei).” The Academy takes the place of his restaurant Raw which closed in December last year as Chiang announced his retirement from restaurant frontlines.
Importantly, if Andre Chiang were a soup base, which one would he be?
“I would say, maybe the curry laksa,” he grinned. “There’s a big mix of spices in there. That’s me — a mixture of influences from France, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and that journey. They all add a different spice to it.”
Bon Broth is at 03-01 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road.
Continue reading...