Masterminded by @kenloon, @magicsquare.sg in 2018 was a radical venture. The year-long hothouse for the three young chefs he had chosen, proved a breath of fresh air for Singapore’s dining scene. While the trio - Abel Su, Desmond Shen and Marcus Leow, got properly schooled in what it takes to run a successful restaurant, many (me included) were all too happy to pay for the privilege of being their “guinea pigs” month after month. Fast forward to September 2021. After almost three years, Magic Square 2.0 has re-emerged, as a bigger and much slicker machine. Located barely a hundred metres from their original location, one look at this place and you know they mean business. And it is only the beginning, because plans are afoot to re-invest in building facilities to support food processes (fermentation, R&D etc.) all around the restaurant. Chefs Eugene (@abangkau), @jonathan_gan, @lawjiajun and Gail (@hungryatmidnight) were cherry-picked by Ken for this second edition. But the flagging-off honours belongs to alumni and mentoring Chef, Marcus Leow (@markerpenn), who is also @nakedfinn’s Head of R&D. His 9-course menu which runs from September (reserved for family and friends) to end of this October is priced at $168++ per pax (subsequent months’ will be $98++). Reservations will be purely via an online ticketing system that’s due to launch soon, so I suggest stalking @magicsquare.sg for updates. Thanks to Ken’s invitation, I booked 4 seats (they only do counter seating) and got to embark on a most exciting culinary adventure last Friday. It was almost emotional to see how much Chef Marcus has grown in every way. Talent honed with passion and dedication over time, can indeed be formidable. Here is his menu: 1. Snacks - All three dazzled. The Aori Ika (bigfin reef squid) on rice cracker with octopus stock was so creamy due to multiple tiny cuts. My fave was the choux puff made with laksa crust sandwiching confit Indian Halibut, shaved ginger flower and black pepper. The third bite, a sugar snap pea and savoury kaya tartlet, was familiar to those of us who’d visited the first #MagicSquareSg. ⬇️Continued in Comments⬇️

My mum used to make us drink Brands Essence of Chicken during exams and admittedly, it took me awhile to get used to the taste. But over the years, I’ve learnt that if I warm it up, it is more palatable - like intense chicken soup. I drank this daily during ALL my confinement as it helps with my recovery and improves quality of breast milk. Been in and out of moods of late; just so easily irritated and having trouble sleeping and focusing. Hoping this will do the trick to regain some vitality in my body. Interesting fact: I always thought the brand originates from Malaysia- but it was actually a recipe of the Royal Chef, Mr Henderson William Brand who created this essence of chicken beverage to booth His Majesty’s King George’s IV’s flagging health back in 1820s! @brands_my #ABottleForAGreatDay #BRANDSEssenceOfChicken #14DayJourneyWithBRANDS

Flagging off CMCO 2.0. I really salute students who have been doing online classes with me because it takes a great deal of commitment and self discipline. I'm easily distracted and have honestly been procrastinating an online course that I've paid for. Watch 1 video walk to fridge twice. Nothing inside also sometimes will just open with the hope that there's a forgotten bar of chocolate inside. There's a few more chapters to go for that course so I've decided to focus on it over these 2 weeks. The usual online classes will still be ongoing. Keep practising!