Re-discovering Violet Oon at Flame

I once ate at Violet Oon’s restaurant in Singapore and fell in love with her food. I wanted to meet the Singaporean culinary ambassador but  unfortunately she was not around.

So, it was a delightful surprise when I found out that she would have a one-day cooking class for Discovery Primea’s The Hub Series at Flame in Makati City.

Violet is regarded as the champion of Peranakan or Nyonya cuisine and is a renowned food journalist, chef, author and restaurateur. She is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Asian Masters and the World Gourmet Summit in 2018 for her work as a curator, chronicler and proponent of Singapore’s culinary heritage.

Violet’s visit to Flame marked the restaurant’s launch of The Hub Series, which is “a collection of culinary experience that enlightens, inspires and brings people together as they delve further into the culinary world.”

When Violet walked in at the cooking class, she introduced herself and said she was 69 years old. She said she’s already telling her age so people won’t have to guess but honestly, she looks younger than her age!

The cooking class featured three of Violet’s signature dishes. She demonstrated how to prepare her signature Calamansi lemongrass steamed fish using the freshest sea bass sourced from local supplier, Mida Food. She then taught us how to do the crowd favorite — pepper prawns.

Violet’s third lesson was cooking a Singaporean staple and one of her most famous dishes, the Singapore-style chili crab. She said that our local ketchup didn’t go very well with her crab recipe and that she was just used to the Singaporean ketchup taste.

It was a truly wonderful afternoon spent with one of Southeast Asia’s most celebrated culinarians. Her insights and thoughts on cooking really made us think about food and cooking methods a lot. We sampled Violet’s delicious cooking as we had free-flowing chardonnay from Handpicked Wines. Guests received a certificate of participation personally signed by Violet.

Violet Oon’s cooking class is the first of many exciting installments from The Hub Series by Flame led by Discovery Primea executive chef Luis Chikiamco.

The Hub Series at Flame will continue with engaging culinary skills classes, wine tasting events, seminars and more. 

(For more information on upcoming activities, visit

www.discoveryprimea.com or follow Discovery Primea on Facebook and Instagram.)

Photos by Pepper Teehankee on a Leica C Digital Camera

‘Luxurious elegance & outstanding performance’

Ferrari GTC4Lusso launched a major evolution of the sporting Gran Turismo concept.

The Philippine premiere of the new Ferrari, emceed by Paolo Abrera, was recently held at the Grand Ballroom of Okada Manila in Parañaque City. Nicole Asensio and her jazz band trio entertained the crowd. 

The grand reveal finally happened with the LED screen splitting open as the Ferrari GTC4Lusso emerged with flashing lights and the sound of the revving of its 12-cylinder engine. Seen alighting from the car were Autostrada Motore Inc. general manager Natalia Trompeta, marketing director Johnas Soriano, executive director Marc Soong and chairman and president Wellington Soong, who led the toast with Remy Martin XO cognac in hand to welcome  the latest addition to the Ferrari stable.

Elbert Cuenca and Jason Soong.

The GTC4Lusso’s name was derived from “Gran Turismo Coupe;” the number “four” alludes to the car’s four comfortable seats; and “Lusso” means luxury in Italian, representing a combination of luxurious elegance and outstanding performance.  

The GTC4Lusso’s naturally aspirated V12 engine is the most evolved version achieving zero to 100 kilometers in 3.4 seconds and can reach a top speed of 335km/h.

The Ferrari GTC4Lusso is distributed in the Philippines by Autostrada Motore Inc.

(For appointments, call 801-7777.)

Luscious skin care

The Body Shop’s new 100-percent vegan Body Yogurt Body Care Collection was launched recently at The Wholesome Table in Makati City.

These Body Yogurts are said to get absorbed by the skin in seconds and works well on damp skin. With their gel-cream texture that melts into the skin almost instantly, one can enjoy a day without the greasy feeling.

These nicely scented and non-sticky Body Yogurts also provide 48 hours of lightweight moisture.

The Body Shop’s Katrina Penalba.

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by the late Dame Anita Roddick in England. The beauty brand pioneered corporate activism and was built on the philosophy that business can be a force for good. The brand’s new Body Yogurt Collection is 100-percent vegan body care and is enriched with community trade organic almond milk from Mañán in Alicante, Spain.

Mañán provides stability for the cooperative of local, small-scale farmers who extract The Body Shop’s almond milk, utilizing low-intensity farming methods. They also use broken nuts that aren’t sold for food and turn unwanted almond husks into compost to help minimize waste.