Getting Cozy with Ladyironchef

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by Eevon in Getting Cozy

Singapore Food blogger Brad is the owner of ladyironchef.com, a Singapore Food Blog that features dining guides with restaurant reviews and food photography. Started in March 2007, the man behind this sugar-coated blog has created a name so powerful, everyone visits ladyironchef whenever they’ve a craving for food!

We are excited to feature him in our first Getting Cozy session.

Getting Cozy is a series of post featuring the great, the popular, the unknown and the hidden gems out there. We hope you will get to know them better through our cozy sessions with them.

Do you live to eat or eat to live?
Honestly, I do not like this question. Many people will tell you that they live to eat and I think that the “I-live-to-eat” quote is a cliché. The only thing I know is, whatever I do, it has to involve photography, writing and food.

As a notable food blogger in Singapore, is life as easy as a pie?
There are some restaurants that will take note when I bring out my camera and take photos of the dinner. Some of them will come up and we will discuss and share our thoughts on the dining scene in Singapore. Once in a while, they will send a complimentary dessert our way, but other than that, I get the fair treatment as the other diners most of the time.

What is your secret recipe for successful food blogging?
There’s no secret to food blogging, always be true to yourself and write from the heart. Learn how your camera works, take good photographs of food and write in a descriptive manner so that others can taste the food through your words.

Many people think that writing a food blog is easy, but they have no idea about the hard work and effort put into the blog. During the past year, there are so many new food blogs; only time will tell if they will last. But I think people shouldn’t be doing it because they want to get popular. Blog with passion, enjoy what you are doing, and naturally people will want to come and read your blog.

Sweet? Sour? Bitter? Spicy? Which taste best suit your palate? Why?
Definitely sweet. I have a pretty adventurous palate, and love to try all sorts of food, but I must have some desserts to end the meal on a sweet note. Like they say, there’s always another stomach for desserts. And oh yes, I eat desserts first.

I’m sure you’ve got many invitations and requests to review restaurants, how do you select which to attend and which to turn down? Why?
In recent times, PR agencies and restaurants are starting to be aware of the influence of the new media – food blogs. It’s a very exciting time right for food right now. The evolution of the web 2.0 is making PR agencies and restaurants to embrace changes and look at things from a different angle.

Even though PR agencies and restaurants are starting to put in conscious efforts towards blogs, but I felt that many of them do not really understand how to approach and embrace new media. Most of them seems to be in it because everyone else is doing it, and I feel to some of them, having a food blog review on their restaurant is actually a very cheap form of advertisement for them; it’s thousands of dollars when they advertise in the traditional media, compared to just a free meal to get their coverage on blogs.

I do accept invitations for an invited food tasting session, but such tastings are non-obligatory; I reserve the right not to blog about it, and the restaurant has no say over whatever I wrote. The reviews written for food tasting sessions will only be the ones I enjoyed. Therefore, I will always accept invitations that are sincere and come with no strings-attached, as well restaurants that have a particular theme or cuisine that interest me.

What’s your take at bloggers trying to make extra pocket money from their blog? Do you think its ok to do it? Why so?
People enjoy reading blogs because they are independent and deem as trustworthy. But we have to remember that bloggers are also human beings who have family to look after, and bills to pay every month. If it means that bloggers are able to make extra pocket money (without compromising on their original blog direction) and have more time to blog, then I don’t see the big fuss about this.

What dish you cannot live without?
There will be too many dishes that I enjoy, like dim sum, brunch, and desserts. But if you ask me which local food will I miss the most if I go overseas – it will be Char Kuay Teow and Hokkien Mee.

Rate yourself as a foodie.
I don’t really like the term foodie, because too many people like to use this to describe themselves. Like what I’ve mentioned in the first question, I enjoy food in the company of my friends, I like to take photographs of them to capture the precious memories, and I like to write about food to let others taste the food through my words.

Continue the following sentences:

If I am a cooking utensil, I would be…
A baking spatula. All the delicious desserts have to be made with a spatula.

The best dish I can whip up is…
Fried eggs. I like all kinds of eggs, and while it may seem easy to fry an egg, it actually requires skill to do it well.

A key ingredient of a good food blog is…
Definitely the gorgeous food photographs. You need to make readers feel that they are eating vicariously through the photos. My greatest satisfaction lies in getting people hungry.

Mmm.. Getting cozy with Brad makes me hungry. You? For the delicious in you, hop over to Ladyironchef’s tantalizing blog right away! But don’t go with an empty stomach! His food photography and reviews will make you drool for more!

Tags: Food blogger, Ladyironchef, Photography

About Eevon

Chuck Bass's mistress. Spongebob's bestfriend. Mickey Mouse's ex-girlfriend. Eevon enjoys all things quaint and has an eye for imaginative happenings. She blogs at eevon.sg.