When Singaporean entrepreneur Christina Ong launched her first hotel in London in 1993 at The Halkin, it was with a passion for delivering exceptional cuisine inspired by the places she loved most from her travels in the fashion industry. Two years later, The Halkin’s restaurant by Stefano Cavallini received the first ever Michelin star for an Italian chef outside the country’s borders.
As Ong’s COMO Hotels and Resorts brand expanded — now with 18 properties worldwide, from Burgundy to Bhutan — so did her network of chefs, all of whom have contributed to the COMO approach to what good food stands for, from haute French cuisine to the humble Tuscan osteria. In the last ten years, those culinary influences have also included eight Singapore-based restaurant collaborations with leading chefs, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Massimo Bottura, Osaka- born tempura master Masaru Seki, and the champion of Michelin-starred Peranakan and Straits Cuisine, Malcolm Lee. As a result of these far-reaching relationships, Ong has slowly distilled her own ‘COMO’ approach, now articulated in a new cookbook, COMO Simple. With an introduction by Ong, it features her favourite recipes simplified for homecooks by COMO’s VP of Culinary Daniel Moran, and Culinary Director Amanda Gale, both of whom trained under Neil Perry at Rockpool in Sydney. Photography is by Lisa Linder.
The delicious confluence of influences, flavours, and family-friendly classics acknowledge places, traditions, and culinary masterminds. With selections also available on COMO Hotels and Resorts’ menus, the repertoire features salads, soups, meats and fish dishes, sharing platters and kids’ favourites. There are crowd-pleasers ranging from South Indian curries perfected at COMO’s Maldives’ resorts, to freshly made Tuscan pastas, a nasi goreng from Bali, the much-loved COMO burger, and a lobster biryani. Chef Malcolm Lee’s famous crab and pork ball soup is light, fresh, and brimming with delicate flavours. There are familiar renditions of Bangkok street food, but also lost dishes from Thailand’s royal palaces. It’s a mix which reflects a traveller’s curiosity in the world, its beautiful diversity, and the abundance of nature.
‘My passion for cooking runs as deep as the happy memories I have of my grandmother in the family kitchen in Singapore,’ says Christina Ong; ‘She taught me how fresh, hand-picked ingredients mean everything in the search for flavour. She also revealed how technique builds with commitment, experience, and inspiring relationships. She showed me how food brings you into a community of passionate people — an exchange of ideas, discoveries, tastes. And how the joy of cooking takes on another life when the dishes we make are shared with friends and family.”
‘It’s recipes that make you feel warm on the inside,’ says Daniel Moran who oversees food and dining across the Group: ‘I mean that in the metaphorical sense, not just the physical. Like when you’re in the company of the people you love, in a place you care about. COMO Simple is meant to conjure those memories, those feelings of ease, contentment, and relaxing get-togethers.’
To launch COMO Simple in Indonesia, COMO Group partnered with MODENA Culinaria – a culinary platform by MODENA Group, designed especially for gastronomy enthusiasts. Through MODENA Culinaria, food lovers are invited to explore a variety of exciting experiences, from cooking classes with experts to personalized dining experiences with some of the industry’s finest chefs. MODENA’s talented chefs were joined by COMO’s VP of Culinary, Daniel Moran and Michelin- Star Chef Giovanni Luca Di Pirro from La Torre at COMO Castello Del Nero to create a selection of standout dishes from the new cookbook. This collaboration not only enriches Indonesia’s culinary scene but also offers a new source of inspiration for culinary enthusiasts and professionals alike.
COMO Simple is available to purchase at COMO Uma Canggu, COMO Uma Ubud or COMO Shambhala Estate. For further information about COMO Hotels and Resorts visit www.comohotels.com