How 7 Chefs Create Their Instagram-Worthy Food Photos

VLV's steamed crab with bonito and egg white

On a smooth bed of steamed egg white, the saturated red of a crab shell stands out in stark contrast, while its roe is artfully fanned out for maximum impact. This dish of steamed crab, cooked simply to bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood, is plated with pictures in mind.

“Appealing plating and presentation of dishes are distinctive hallmarks of the dishes we serve at VLV,” says executive chef Martin Foo, adding that he constantly reimagines traditional and authentic flavours for the modern diner. “And the modern diner always tries to capture in images the food they eat!” Chef Foo uses social media to keep in touch with the other chefs and restaurateurs in the industry, as well as to get insights on his customers experiences and the dishes they enjoyed.

Birds of a Feather's fiery Find the Chicken in the Chillies

While this fiery fried chicken dish (la zi ji) is one of the most iconic in Szechuan cooking, Birds of a Feather co-founder He Ning wasn’t content to just ladle it on a plate, as most Szechuan diners here in Singapore do. “We conceptualise our food for the diner, that is when it is presented to the table, it must look so alluring because we eat with our eyes first, and then our stomachs,” she explains.

The result? A shallow dish filled to the brim with fiery red dried chillies, with the golden pieces of fried chicken peeking out. It’s devoid of embellishments, but the dish certainly wows. As an avid social media user herself, He expects that pretty dishes would prompt diners to whip out their camera phones. “When the dish is attractive to the diners, they will take photos for social media. Nowadays, people say that our cameras eat first,” she quips, adding that she sees social media posts as an instantaneous reflection of the diners’ feedback on the meal.

Ninja Cut's Marvellous Matcha

Set on a hotcake bed of vibrant green, peppered with textured toppings that include edible flowers and boasting a heart of oozing green lava, Ninja Cut’s much Instagrammed matcha hotcake certainly ticks the boxes for a pretty picture. The dish is an upsized tribute to the matcha lava cake that owner Darren Wee used to serve at his now defunct restaurant Babette. “We throw in Speculoos crumble for a slight crunch; homemade dango for a chewy texture, azuki beans for the perfect pairing, and a dollop of ricotta cheese to balance out the sweetness of the fondant.”

Despite the picture the dessert paints, Wee declares that taste comes first. “As much as we strive to make sure that each dish that comes out of our kitchen hatch looks pretty enough to photograph, we also make an extra effort to ensure that it’s not ‘just a pretty face’. We do give some thought of how the dish will look like on Instagram but that usually comes once we all agree that the taste of each dish is spot-on,” he explains, adding that a good photo on social media can give F&B establishments a lot of publicity. “Both my cafes are less than a year old and for people to come up to us pop-up events and tell us that they’ve heard about us, that is definitely something that attests to the power of social media.”

Jaan's confit of Norwegian halibut with baby squid

This monochromatic ensemble by chef de cuisine Kirk Westaway of JAAN is a visually arresting play on black and white, with black batons of squid-ink-coated salsify and a black squid ink tuile juxtaposed against the creamy white of sous vide Norwegian halibut. All the elements, when combined, emulates the briny complexity of the ocean. Chef Westaway does not conceptualise his food for Instagram, but he actively uses the platform to document and share his dishes. “It has now turned into a space where people from all over the world can take a step inside my kitchen,” he says, adding he appreciates the sense of community Instagram builds.

“The support from @ChefsTalk has been amazing. It not only gives us chefs a platform to drawn inspiration, but lets me connect with chefs from out of town. I like how geographical boundaries are broken down in this way to pave the way for mutual sharing and learning.”

Odette's famous 55 smoked organic eggs

Chef-owner Julien Royer has a passion for honest cooking that makes remarkable ingredients shine, and Instagram is his tool to celebrate the various individuals behind the scenes who help to deliver the Odette experience, from farmers to the kitchen staff. While he agrees that the final look of the dish is a huge consideration, for dining is a highly visual affair, he first and foremost sticks by his philosophy of serving dishes that spotlight incredible produce. One of the most Instagrammed dishes at Odette is without a doubt his signature rosemary smoked organic egg.

“It was created back in October 2011 and was inspired by the warm comforting flavours of the classic Singaporean breakfast of soft boiled eggs. The dish features organic egg which is slow-cooked at 63.7 degrees before being infused with the lovely aromas of smoked rosemary.” The simple dish wows partly with its table-side showmanship — it arrives in a cloud of dry ice, and is then served onto a bed of smoked potato puree, toasted Japanese buckwheat and iberico chorizo.

Yan's steamed thousand layer beancurd with diced honey glazed pork, conpoy, mushroom and gingko nuts

At Cantonese restaurant Yàn, master chef Chan Kung Lai puts a lot of thought into cooking dishes that create a sense of place. “I believe cooking is like art, so presentation plays a huge role in our conceptualisation process here at Yàn. Adopting a modern approach to plating also reflects our location at the National Gallery Singapore and provides a seamless experience for guests to enjoy our food before or after their museum visit,” he shares, elaborating that a beautifully and artfully plated dish allows guest to enjoy a visual feast before the actual feasting begins.

His signature Steamed Thousand Layer Beancurd embodies the essence of his philosophy — the delicate layers of thinly sliced beancurd, along with its pure taste, work like a blank canvas that showcases the other ingredients of diced honey-glazed pork, conpoy, mushroom and gingko nuts. On social media, Chan is always happy when diners share moments of their family celebrations at Yàn on Instagram. “It makes us happy to see we played a part in creating that memorable moment.”

Gattopardo's ricotta cheese with purple potato cream and pickled peach

Gattopardo’s chef-owner Lino Sauro loves Instagram and uses it actively to share snippets of his life — his children, inspiration and producers he has met — but he remains very much a traditionalist when it comes to cooking. “Flavour always comes first,” he says, adding that his food probably gets all the social media attention partly because of the new plates he brought in from Dubai.

“Sicily is a place that’s full of colours. We’ve ordered these customised plates in bold, striking colours that really make our dishes pop and allow us to push the benchmark in presentation.” Take for example the new but lovely dish fresh cow ricotta cheese with purple potato cream and pickled peach. While simple and almost rustic in presentation, the varying hues of purple, green and white of the ingredients stand out beautifully against its handcrafted dish of black and speckled red.