Celebrity chef dies after collapsing in MBS
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FAMED Spanish chef Santi Santamaria died last night after collapsing in the kitchen of his restaurant at Marina Bay Sands. He was 53 and it is believed he had a heart attack.
The Michelin-starred chef is believed to have fainted around 8pm at Santi, his restaurant, and was taken immediately to the Singapore General Hospital.
The chef is believed to have died an hour or two later.
Just hours earlier, he had appeared well and spoke animatedly at a press conference held by the integrated resort to introduce its seven celebrity chefs.
He bantered with the other chefs: Tetsuya Wakuda, Guy Savoy, Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Wolfgang Puck and Justin Quek.
Chef Santamaria spoke of how going forward, it was important for the restaurant here to continue to promote good relations between Barcelona, near where his restaurant is, and Singapore.
-- ST
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Sometimes life is just so unpredictable.
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World's top chefs pay tribute to Spain's Santamaria
SINGAPORE: A gathering of the world's top chefs paid tribute to one of their own on Thursday as they mourned Spain's Michelin-starred Santi Santamaria who died in Singapore.
Santamaria, who was 53, collapsed on Tuesday while serving guests gathered to inaugurate the opening of Singapore's Marina Bay Sands resort and died following a reported heart attack while being taken to hospital.
Michelin-starred Daniel Boulud, Guy Savoy and Wolfgang Puck - along with acclaimed Asian chefs Justin Quek and Tetsuya Wakuda - gathered on stage to pay their respects to Santamaria, who like those five had in the past year opened a restaurant at the US$5.7 billion resort.
"Santi was crazy about cooking, his cooking, and he was crazy about the one thing we all love - great cuisine," said the Austrian-born Puck, famous for his two-Michelin-starred Spago Beverly Hills.
"I really think that Santi is looking down us and saying, you know, you guys should live your life the way I lived it - with passion for food, with passion for friends, passion for family, and with passion to live life they way you see is fit for yourself.
"With Santi you felt like he was your brother and your best friend."
Santamaria was generally acknowledged as the man who took Catalan cooking to the world and his Can Fabes restaurant in the Spanish city of Sant Celoni has been rated with three Michelin stars since 1994.
The chef was given two further Michelin stars for his restaurant in Madrid, Sant Celoni, one more star for his Barcelona establishment Evo, and another for Tierra, in Valdepalacios, just outside of Madrid.
A visibly shaken Boulud - who runs the three-Michelin-starred Daniel in New York - said too that the world of cooking had lost a "great friend, an inspiration."
"He taught the world about the importance of Spanish cuisine, Catalan cuisine, and his passion and love for Spanish cuisine was quite unique," said the Frenchman.
"He will be greatly missed. But I don't think he'd want to be remembered for anything less than what he did for Spanish cuisine and his country as well.
"Santi has left a huge legacy and we are all proud to have known him."
Santamaria was a fierce advocate of using only the freshest produce in his cooking and had been a sometime vocal critic of the advent of "molecular gastronomy."
"Santi loved to eat," said France's Savoy, a pioneer of the "Nouvelle Cuisine" movement at his three-Michelin-starred Guy Savoy in Paris.
"He has left us way too early. In its way, for him to leave us in his kitchen was a beautiful way for him to leave us."
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R.I.P
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Medical test showed Spanish chef Santamaria was healthy
SPANISH chef Santi Santamaria was holding court in the kitchen of his Marina Bay Sands (MBS) restaurant and speaking passionately about food to some 20 members of the media when he suddenly fainted.
Just before he had a heart attack and collapsed around 7.30pm on Wednesday, he turned to those standing near him and said he felt faint.
Mr Mikel Zeberio, 59, an established food writer in Spain who was present when the chef collapsed, told The Straits Times: 'It was very sudden. I gave him a kiss (of greeting) and three minutes later, he had collapsed and I was holding him in my arms.'
Mr George Tanasijevich, interim chief executive of MBS and managing director of global development with Las Vegas Sands Corp, the parent company of MBS, said in a press statement on Thursday that staff from the restaurant 'rendered assistance' while an ambulance was called.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived nine minutes later at 7.44pm. An SCDF spokesman said that when its paramedics arrived, the chef was not breathing and had no pulse.
Paramedics began cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the restaurant and continued en route to the Singapore General Hospital. The 53-year-old chef was pronounced dead at the hospital at around 9pm. He is survived by his wife Angels, 53, son Paul, 27, daughter Regina, 25, and a week-old grandson born to Paul.
-- ST
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This guy fainted in the midst of his passion - the kitchen. What better place for a passionate chef to pass on than that.