MANILA -- It was in 2014 when Erwan Heussaff was tapped by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to promote the city-state to Filipinos.

In the web series titled "Curious Traveler," the content creator highlighted interesting activities in Singapore by taking on different challenges, from cooking laksa to running at Gardens by the Bay.

Fast forward to 2023, Heussaff is back with more content in partnership with STB as part of the latter's SingapoReimagine campaign. This time, he focuses on what he is most passionate about: food.

He released new content on his food and travel video channel FEATR this month: "Must Try" shows different dishes in a specific category, such as noodles and desserts; while "Where Chefs Eat" highlights recommendations by two Filipinos who have made their mark on Singapore's dining scene -- Filipino-Canadian chef Patrick Leano of the multi-awarded Burnt Ends, and Brian Bonifacio of the cocktail bar Employees Only.

They visited a total of 16 restaurants for the four-episode vlog series, which can now be viewed on FEATR's YouTube and Facebook pages.

"It was great because it allowed us to interact with lots of different professionals we wouldn't usually interact with in the food and beverage industry. So it kind of just opened my mind in terms of how it is to work there and how people enjoy their time off," Heussaff told ABS-CBN News in a virtual event organized by STB.

"I've always looked at things from more of a tourist's perspective, but here I got a local's perspective in terms of what they enjoy doing, which is really great to see," he added.

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With the many dining options available in Singapore, Heussaff said they had a hard time narrowing down their list of featured restaurants, but their main goal was to "showcase establishments that we knew Filipino travelers would love to taste and go to."

He also hopes that the new videos will show the world that there is so much Filipino talent in Singapore, particularly in the food and beverage industry.

"Many of them are in high positions and they're really driving these locations, they're really the tastemakers in these restaurants and bars that we featured, so they'd be the perfect guides to bring us around what they call home," he said.

"When you go online, there are thousands of [food and restaurant] recommendations... I hope that people visit Singapore with our list in hand."

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When asked what he thinks sets Singapore apart as a food destination, Heussaff replied: "It's not a huge country, but it's so densely packed with so many food options in such a few kilometers... Everything is there at the same place, basically, and it's very easy because of their infrastructure to navigate the city."

"And what I love is people put much importance on hawker food as they do high-end food... So you get the full spectrum of what is Singaporean food culture in a very short amount of time," he explained.

BIKING AND NOODLES

As he returned to Singapore during the new normal, Heussaff saw a new way of exploring the city.

"I didn't realize how bikeable of a city it was," he recalled. "So we rented a bike in the East Park and then kind of went around and ended up dropping the bike in MBS (Marina Bay Sands). We did it at sunset."

"It's a great way to take you from restaurant to restaurant, hopefully balancing the calories you're ingesting and putting out," he said in jest.

Heussaff also fell in love with two noodle dishes in Singapore -- Char Kway Teow and Mee Rebus -- citing the amount of effort and technique needed to make them.

"I love Char Kway Teow because it has such a delicate kind of way of cooking it," he said of the stir-fried noodle dish. "You're not supposed to break the noodles and it's very hard to do that in high heat, especially if your noodles have already been presoaked or pre-cooked."

"So there's an artistic side of it, but there's also this really aggressive wok style attached to it, so it's a very ironic dish in terms of how it's made," he continued. "The most important part is what is called 'wok hei,' which is a kiss of the wok, and I love how poetic that is because you want to have the wok to kind of kiss its smoky flavor to the dish. And the dish is just so comforting especially when served piping hot."

As for the noodle soup dish Mee Rebus, Heussaff said he found it "extremely unique for my taste buds."

"It was noodles with kind of like this coconut turmeric broth and lots of meat in it, egg, and a crazy spicy peanut sauce, with some chopped up raw chilis on top," he said. "It was such an intense experience that I absolutely loved."

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PH AS 'IMPORTANT' MARKET FOR SG

Ruby Liu, area director for the Philippines at STB, for her part noted that the country is "an important market" for Singapore when it comes to tourism.

Aside from Heussaff's food and travel content, they have also lined up more culinary experiences this year, such as bar takeovers in Poblacion, Makati in August.

"The Philippines was number 5 in Singapore's top markets [last year]," Liu said. "We hope that our events and activities will spark Filipinos' interest to visit Singapore in 2023."

Liu said Filipinos can look forward to a slew of new attractions in Singapore this year and in the near future. Among the newly opened ones were Museum of Ice Cream, which she described as "an Instagram-friendly place where you can take interesting photos and enjoy free-flow ice cream," and Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray's wax figure at Madame Tussauds.

Also set to be launched in the coming years in Singapore is Disney's first cruise line in Southeast Asia.