Know Or Not?

To our Muslim listeners celebrating The Festival of Sacrifice this Friday, July 31st, we say "Selamat Hari Raya Haji" as we chill with the coolest chef in town, Chef Bob. One of the top Malay chefs, F&B Entrepreneur and TV host of nearly 30 culinary shows, hear as he shares his background, the inspiration for a career in the kitchen and the story of his life-changing 95 kilo weight loss.  Chef Bob Facebook / Instagram Know or Not? WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We get nostalgic for the heartlands of Singapore and visit Toa Payoh to chat with Wan Chin of Creamier, a handcrafted ice cream, artisanal coffee and freshly made waffle shop that embraces neighbourhoods with happy memories.  Check out Creamier -  Facebook InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our search for a Singapore burger artist brought us to Chef Ryan of HamBaoBao, whose Ayam Buah Keluak burger was a megahit with foodies, with waiting times of up to 2 hours. We learn what goes into fusing Asian flavors in the classic American burger format, how important Hawker Culture is for Singaporeans and learn one of life's great lessons.  Facebook Instagram Know or Not? PodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cheesy jokes aside, this episode brings us to The Cheese Ark, the coolest boutique cheesemonger in town. Based at 49 Stirling Road, Ai Ming runs a shop stocked with hard-to-find cheeses from smallholding farms where every wheel is loving handcrafted, air-flown to Singapore and aged in her affinage room to perfection.  Plus, we ponder if the hard-charging 24-/7 life is really the best when instead, you could get back to nature and chill, away from social media The Cheese Ark Website The Cheese Ark Instagram The Cheese Ark Facebook The Cheese Ark - 49 Stirling Road #01-489 Singapore 141049 Shop +65 9175 0090 Email enquiries@thecheeseark.com  For opening hours, check Google or Facebook  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this month of Hari Raya, COVID19 means the pasar malams are shut. These festive night markets are bright and happy bazaars, and the Ramly Burger is legendary. A burger from across the border, it's iconic for its taste and easily available in Malaysia, but in Singapore, it's a treat at a pasar malam. Until Now! We talk with Shiv of Ministry of Burgers, who offer the best Ramly-style burgers in Singapore.  Facebook / Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know "East Meets West", but what about "West Meets East"? We venture down to the hipster central of Singapore to meet the finest French Bakery on the island to talk about the secrets of making amazing bread and pastries in the challenging humidity of Singapore, and how being part of the community is a cornerstone of how Tiong Bahru Bakery connects with its customers Website Facebook InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hang out with the King - the King of Fruits! The amazing durian, a fruit that has almost defied description by noted writers over the years, has a (subjectively) obscene smell combined with beautiful a custard-like flesh. We visit Ghim Moh market to hang with an innovator in the Durian scene, and hear how Ah Seng innovated multiple times in his 3 decades of selling Durians Check 'em out FaceBook Instagram WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our 3rd Season is the Singapore Foodie season, and looks at the artists and artisans who feed the national obsession with food! First up, a Cantonese KL-style Roast Meats restaurant launched in 2018 by local megastar DJs The Muttons, Bernie Tay of FatBoys fame and genius chef Kai.  Check 'em out: FaceBook Instagram This episode was recorded by Adam Yamin Singapore is going through the Covid-19 situation with the rest of the world, and the local F&B industry is severely affected. Singapore is at the forefront of effective management of the situation, and if you're feeling well, do consider eating out and supporting the wonderful eateries across our nation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The second season of the Know or Not Podcast ends with a two-episode look at the local writer's scene in Singapore. We follow 7 writers and 1 publisher as we discover what options lie ahead once a writer has published their first book. In this episode, we feature  Books Actually / Kenny Leck Gerrie Lim Jocelyn Suarez Charmaine Leung Wayne Ree Sebastian Sim Gwee Li Sui Sam TohSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The second season of the Know or Not Podcast ends with a two-episode look at the local writer's scene in Singapore. We follow 7 writers and 1 publisher as we learn how a book goes from being an idea in an author's head to becoming a book for sale on a shelf in a store. In this episode, we feature  Books Actually / Kenny Leck Gerrie Lim Jocelyn Suarez Charmaine Leung Wayne Ree Sebastian SimSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is a pangram, a sentence with all 26 letters of the alphabet. Font sellers love this sentence since it showcases all 26 letters in one go. This is a podcast, so how things look don’t matter as much as how things sound, and we became curious about the Singapore accent for English. We got some of the best voice talents to read that sentence out loud – one phrase, 20 voices.  In this episode, we use the monomyth template, commonly known as “A Hero’s Journey” Act 1 – I Get No Respect: Singapore English in the mid-90s was a local use-only accent for English Act 2 – The Mentor: we sit down with Assoc Prof Tan Ying Ying, who works on Linguistics and Multilingual Studies at Nanyang Technological University and talk about the wonderfully unique accent here in Singapore.  Act 3 – Nativeness: Lim Yu Beng helps us hear the subtle differences in the range of local Singaporean accents Act 4 – The Prodigal Son. Or Bastard Son: we go Singlish, with Naomi Yeo demonstrating the local hybrid of English with Malay, Indian and Chinese Dialects Act 5 – The Triumphant Return: Singapore undergoes a huge makeover, which turns Singapore English into a regional superstar. Robert Gaxiola, a superstar creative director who has worked on pan-Asian campaigns talks accents for Pan-Asian campaigns This is a fun one!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We explore the idea of dancers as body language artists, using their bodies for the 55% of interpersonal communication that is non-verbal. We hang out with Bernice Lee, a contemporary dance artist, Stephy, an instructor from SLAP Dance Studio and then get down with the awesome street dance power couple, SgRach MarcS and talk waacking, pop & lock and robotics and how to work with brands who want their message delivered through body language Bernice Lee - http://bernicelee.xyz SLAP Dance Studio - http://www.slap.sg/ SgRach MarcS - http://www.scrachmarcs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We visit the Raffles Hotel Singapore and learn about their two-years restoration and the refreshed recipe for the Singapore Sling, their iconic gin-based cocktail that still draws in the big crowds a century on from its creation by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915.  We talk with local microdistillery Compendium about their amazing gins, Rojak Gin and Chendol Gin, which capture the flavours of Singapore in a bottle. And we discuss artistry with one of Singapore’s most beloved entertainers, Hossan Leong  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rule of Three Exists in Everything: think of comedy, photography, showbusiness. It also applies in the world of coffee, which has experienced what is accepted as The Three Waves. In Singapore, the Three Rules come with a twist: Kopi.  We talk with 5 artisanal coffee cafes - Nylon Coffee Roasters, PPP Coffee, Two Degrees North Coffee Company, Mavrx Coffee Bar and Coffee Break at Amoy Street. We discuss the beans, the brew and the business of delivering coffee with a focus on traceability, farm, process, roasting and latte foam. Grab a cup of Joe and go on w journey with us to experience the world of caffeine, Singapore-style! BTW, I found a great little hack for recycling your leftover coffee grounds! Click on this link: https://diygarden.co.uk/composting-with-coffee-grounds/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Give our guests today a mic and an audience and they'll take the wonder of words and imbue them with the power of performance. The Spoken Word Poetry scene in Singapore is alive and well, with multiple events happening throughout each month across the island. I talk to 9 poets active in the scene about (a) How a layperson can know if what they're listening to is amazing or gibberish (b) The difference between Page Poetry and Spoken Word Poetry (c) Comparison of the Spoken Word Scene in Singapore and Malaysia (d) Performance (e) The impact of Social Media (f) Representation of Minorities (g) Addressing Issues (h) Income for Poets (i) The Scene Today and Tomorrow The poets we spoke with are Jennifer Anne Champion - https://jenniferannechampion.com/ Stefanie Dogfoot - https://www.facebook.com/stephaniedogfoot/ Kok Wei Liang - https://www.facebook.com/kwl3000 Marc Nair - http://www.marcnair.com  Shivram Gopinath - https://sg.linkedin.com/in/shivramgopinath  Melizarani T. Selva - https://www.instagram.com/melizarani/ Pooja Nansi - https://twitter.com/poojanansi Deborah Emmanuel - https://deborahemmanuel.com/  Chris Mooney-Singh - http://www.chrismooneysingh.com/ Check out Mantravine, Deborah Emmanuel’s band. https://www.mantravine.com/ Their album, Cosmic Shaman, drops Sept 7th!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We kick off our 2nd season with a literal deep dive in the world of aquascaping. The hot trend in home aquariums is to focus on plants and hardscape (rocks, driftwood, etc.) to create a serene submerged world. We talk with the leading experts in the field, including 2hour Aquarist, Dennis Wong, plant guru Indra of AquaLush, Laurence of East Ocean, the 3rd generation of the family who've supported the aquarium scene in Singapore for over 4 decades. We also visit with Elliott and Derek of Natura Aquatic and hear from one of their customers, who is part of the community of enthusiasts. We also travel to Hong Kong and talk with Dave Chow, winner of the IAPLC in 2007 and considered a living legend in planted tanks. Shownotes and Links at http://bit.ly/2Tfiw8W  Aqua Design Amano https://www.adana.co.jp/en/ Dennis Wong / 2hr Aquarist https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/ Natura Aquatics https://www.facebook.com/natura.aquatics/  Aqua Lush https://www.facebook.com/aqualush.sg/ East Ocean Aquatic http://www.eastoceansg.com/ Dave Chow / Aqua Art HK https://www.aquaart.com.hk/ Dave Chow Interview Courtesy of Kafnu https://www.kafnu.com/hong-kong/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The finale of our Crafted By series is the 5th part of our Singapore Music Scene review: the reality of earning a living through music. We look beyond pop hits and at other areas: composing for film, ringtones and slot machines sounds, voice-overs, DJing, running an audio studio - there are so many other ways to make coin. We hear deep thoughts from Singapore's first Grammy Nominee and talk to a singer-songwriter-producer whose day job is hosting a show on late night radio. Show Note & Links at http://bit.ly/2Z4zkB3 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 4th part of our 5-part look at Singapore's Music Scene explores the Media and how artists reach their fans: Television, Radio and now, Social Media.  We talk with Rob Middleton, who worked at both MTV and Channel [V], about how the 2 music channels approached the Pan-Asian market.  Nic Shields pulls back the curtain on local radio and support for local musicians  And we hear from artists who now engage with their audience via Social Media, as well as a former Singapore Idol Winner who now helps MNCs get the most from their social engagement.  SUDIO's new TOLV Headphones - discount code knowornot for 15% off. FREE delivery & summer tote bag before the end of July 2019. https://www.sudio.com/sg/earphonesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 3rd installment of our 5-part look at the Singapore Music Scene explores how playing "live" is now more important than ever: with physical music sales down, concert income is a huge revenue stream. We talk with the home of the Performing Arts, The Esplanade, and hear from Singapore's top live music promoter, Michael Roche of Lushington Entertainments, about the scene in the Lion City.  From upcoming singer-songwriter, Adia Tay, we hear "Home & Shelter" from her EP "Kintsugi" and preview our 4th part which looks at The Media.  Adia Tay https://www.adiataymusic.com/  Lushington Entertainments https://www.lushington.com/  Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay https://www.esplanade.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 2nd part of our 5-part look at Singapore's Music Scene, we explore the business side of things; we talk to legendary Snakeweed Studios engineer Leonard Soosay about how acts turn musical ideas into tracks, learn how modern labels work with artists through our conversation with Lennat Mak of Warner Music, and Willy Tan of Aging Youth, manager for red-hot music sensation Jasmine Sokko, shares on his philosophy on deciding who he works with and how he shapes their careers.  Plus, we have a special economic report from Danny Chrisnanto Koordi of Economical Rice Podcast about the inside numbers of the business.  Jasmine Sokko on Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/3risOBDAx6GGVaCcBuhswz Willy Tan http://www.agingyouth.com/  Leonard Soosay / Snakeweed Studios https://www.snakeweedstudios.com/ Warner Music Group https://www.wmg.com/ Economical Rice Podcast http://economicalricepodcast.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.