Chef Matt Moran names the best places to eat in Singapore

Matt Moran isn’t here to mess around. The table in front of us is having its limits tested by the plates of hawker cuisine being piled on top, the satays and the noodles, the char-grilled prawns and the sambal stingray, the oyster omelettes and the crispy baby squid tossed in a sweet and sour sauce.

Chopsticks dart across the table. Large bottles of Tiger beer are passed around and tipped into cold glasses. Matt, the Sydney-based chef known for such fine-dining restaurants as Aria, Chiswick, Chophouse and Barangaroo House, not to mention TV gigs on the likes of MasterChef Australia and The Great Australian Bake Off, is right in his element, knocking back satays and char kway teow in between slugs of beer, while a camera flashes and he chats to me, sharing all of his secrets.

Few know Singapore’s eat streets as well as famed chef Matt Moran, who has had a long-time association with Singapore Airlines.Credit: Lauryn Ishak

This is Matt Moran’s Singapore. I’m here in Lion City to sample the new menu Matt has created for the premium cabins on Singapore Airlines, but I’m also here to learn about Singapore itself, through the eyes of a chef who now has a more than 20-year relationship with the food-obsessed city-state.

For 20 years Matt has served on Singapore Airlines’ International Culinary Panel, a group of seven of the world’s finest chefs, who design dishes and advise on cuisine for the celebrated airline. That’s 20 years of visiting Singapore not just to work, but to dine, to go out and have fun and explore everything from hawker centres to high-end diners to speakeasy-style bars.

“The food scene here, particularly in the last five years, has just gone ballistic,” Matt says as we share those plates of food in the sultry surrounds of the East Coast Lagoon Food Village, a hawker centre near Changi airport. “It used to be mostly about the hawker centres, but then it just exploded, and there are so many places in the last three or four years that I haven’t even been to yet, but just sound amazing.”

These are his favourites.

East Coast Lagoon Food Village

WE SAY East Coast Lagoon Food Village is well-known among Singapore locals, both for its cuisine as well as its coastal location, right by a popular recreational area with cycling and jogging paths – even a wakeboard park. The hawker centre is probably best-known for “carrot cake”, which is actually a dish of stir-fried daikon radish, though the barbecued chicken wings, braised duck with rice, and multiple satay stands are all worth calling in for.

MATT SAYS “When in Singapore it’s a must to visit a hawker centre. There are plenty around town, and all of them are good, but for some fresh seafood you can’t go past East Coast. It’s so nice at night to sit here by the water, with a bit of breeze, and it’s close to the airport too. For dishes to order, I go for anything barbecued, chicken rice, and any greens. And it’s great value.”

VISIT East Coast Lagoon Food Village is at 1220 ECP, Singapore. Allow $20 a person. No bookings, no website.

Bincho

WE SAY Though Singapore is well-known for its native cuisine, as well as those of Malaysia, China and India, the country is also home to plenty of restaurants serving high-quality Japanese food. One of the best of those is Bincho, a yakitori grill hidden in the back of a carpark in trendy Tiong Bahru. By day, this space is an 80-year-old noodle house, but by night it transforms into a high-end Japanese grill, specialising in chicken and seafood.

Grilled and marinated chicken thigh with sugiita at Bincho.

MATT SAYS “I’ve been going here for years. When all the Singapore Airlines [International Culinary Panel] chefs come out, this is somewhere we usually end up. It’s just good food – you know, chicken hearts and bums – but it’s also a must-see venue when you’re in Singapore, and a really interesting dining experience.”

VISIT Bincho is at 78 Moh Guan Terrace, #01-19, Singapore. Allow $150+ a person. Bookings essential. See bincho.com.sg

Waku ghin

WE SAY Australian chef Tetsuya Wakuda made his name in Sydney with his eponymous fine-dining restaurant, before making a highly successful foray into the Singapore scene with Waku Ghin. Set in the Marina Bay Sands complex, Waku Ghin serves 10-course degustation menus of exquisite Japanese-style cuisine, and its two Michelin stars speak to the quality of that experience.

MATT SAYS “I sat at the bar when Tets first opened Waku Ghin and had a phenomenal meal. And he’s one of the true gentlemen. Tetsuya’s in Australia probably doesn’t get the accolades that it used to, but people have to remember, Tetsuya put Australian food on the map. It was regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world. And a lot of great cooks have come out of there over the years. Tetsuya has also recently opened up Wakuda in Marina Bay Sands, the casual brother to Waku Ghin, which I’m keen to check out.”

VISIT Find Waku Ghin at 2 Bayfront Avenue, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Allow $250+ a person at the bar, $700+ at the Chef’s Table. Bookings essential. See marinabaysands.com

Long Beach Seafood

WE SAY Of all the iconic dishes served in Singapore, perhaps the best known is chilli crab, in which whole mud crabs (and sometimes snow crabs or Dungeness crabs) are tossed in a thick, tomato and chilli-based sauce. However, there’s a sister dish, black pepper crab, that might be just as good, or even better, and it was invented at Long Beach Seafood. This restaurant has been around since the 1940s, and still peddles a huge array of crab and other seafood dishes, served by the water on the East Coast.

Long Beach Seafood Singapore.

MATT SAYS ”This is my go-to with family. If we’ve got the kids with us, it’s really family-friendly. Pepper crab, chilli crab, crispy-skin chicken, and just go for it. Plus at Long Beach you can sit outside along the water with a view of Marina Bay Sands. Just nearby, Jumbo is another great spot for pepper crab and chilli crab – you’ve gotta get one of each.”

VISIT Long Beach Seafood has multiple outlets, though its original venue is along the East Coast Parkway, near the airport, at 1202 ECP, #01-04, Singapore. Allow $75+ a person. Bookings available online, though walk-ins are also accepted. See longbeachseafood.com.sg

Burnt Ends

WE SAY Australian chef Dave Pynt’s now-legendary wood-fired grill restaurant has been lauded (and copied) the world over, and offers next-level cuisine to those who appreciate meat, seafood and even vegetables with a hint of smoke. The menu changes daily, though the smoked quail egg and caviar is a current staple. Book well in advance for this one because Burnt Ends is popular, and deservedly so.

Bar at Burnt Ends.

MATT SAYS ”Dave Pynt has inspired so many other chefs to start cooking with fire. Jake Kellie, who’s got Arkhe down in Adelaide now ... I mean, people say it’s on trend, but that’s how humans started, that’s how we cooked! But I remember going to Burnt Ends when Dave first opened it – it was one of my first experiences of all food cooked over a fire. I am very excited to be going there again soon.”

VISIT Burnt Ends is at 7 Dempsey Road, #01-04, Singapore. Bookings open one month in advance. Allow $250+ a person. See burntends.com.sg

Atlas

WE SAY The Singapore nightlife scene doesn’t begin and end in its restaurants. Over the last decade or so the city-state has seen a proliferation of high-end bars serving excellent cocktails and snacks in swanky surrounds, and one of the best of them would have to be Atlas. This is worth a visit for the venue alone, in the spacious lobby of the art deco-style Parkview Square building. At night, with its dark leather tones and soft lighting, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

MATT SAYS ”It’s an unbelievable room, full of late-night wow factor for people who might not have been to Singapore before. The whole place just screams decadence, with its high ceilings, leather furniture and elegant decor, and the service is always top notch. It’s a must whilst you’re in town.”

VISIT Atlas is at Parkview Square, 600 North Bridge Road, Singapore. Allow $30+ a person. Reservations are available 90 days in advance, though some tables are held for walk-ins. Food is available until 12.30am. See atlasbar.sg

Cloudstreet

WE SAY The name of this restaurant speaks to chef Rishi Naleendra’s time in Australia – it’s taken from the seminal Tim Winton novel – though the cuisine on offer at Cloudstreet is a melange of Asian and Oceanic influences, led by Naleendra’s own heritage in Sri Lanka. Cloudstreet is an intimate restaurant that now has two Michelin stars, and diners here enjoy an eight-course degustation of unique, modern cuisine, priced at $440 a person.

Cloudstreet offers “a melange of Asian and Oceanic influences”.

MATT SAYS ”This is some of the best food I’ve eaten for a long time. Rishi Naleendra is an incredible cook. He actually worked in Australia, but it’s just phenomenal food, he’s a real talent. I dined at Cloudstreet last year, and it has to be one of the best meals I have eaten in Singapore. I was blown away.”

VISIT Cloudstreet is at 84 Amoy Street, Singapore. Allow $550+ a person. Bookings essential. See cloudstreet.com.sg

Employees Only

WE SAY The whole “speakeasy” thing might seem a little forced in Singapore, but Employees Only is a hospitality-industry-friendly cocktail bar that began its life in New York in 2004, so the bonafides are certainly there. The Singapore venue was the brand’s second outpost, set in a historic terrace with a fortune teller in the front room, and it almost immediately began to draw a crowd of chefs and other hospitality workers keen for a few cocktails to wind down after a long shift.

MATT SAYS “I can’t remember too many nights here, but I’ve been a few times! This is a great bar, small, people everywhere, it takes you half an hour to get to the toilet because you have to push past a lot of people. You see all the expat chefs here. It’s the perfect bar to go to after dinner for drinks.”

VISIT Employees Only is at 112 Amoy Street, Singapore. Allow $20+ a person. Reservations can be made for dinner, otherwise the bar is solely walk-ins only. See employeesonlysg.com

Crystal Jade Palace

WE SAY Singapore, of course, has a lot of excellent Chinese food. You can find that food in hawker centres, you can find it in Michelin-starred diners, and you can find it in places such as Crystal Jade, which is a happy medium between the two, providing high-quality cuisine in comfortable surrounds. The restaurant was founded 25 years ago and now has more than 100 outlets across the globe, including five in Singapore, serving a seafood-heavy menu of dishes from around China.

MATT SAYS “This is a place I would always tend to go if there’s a big group of us. So, if I’ve got a bunch of chefs here, or a whole lot of mates who want to catch up, it’s easy. You don’t even have to think about it. The original venue is a cosy one, with a traditional Chinese menu and great dim sum.”

VISIT Find Crystal Jade Palace at 391 Orchard Roadd, #04-19, Singapore. Allow $100+ a person. Bookings recommended but not essential. See crystaljade.com

Smoke And Mirrors

WE SAY Scrape your jaw off the floor and head to your table once you arrive at Smoke and Mirrors, a rooftop bar with one incredible view of the Singapore skyline, including the Marina Bay Sands complex. Fortunately, the cocktails here are as impressive as the vistas, with light snacks available to pair with them. As you would expect, these drinks don’t come cheap, but are well worth the extravagance.

Head to Smoke and Mirrors for incredible views.

MATT SAYS ”Don’t go here too late because sunset is amazing. Singapore has become known for its rooftop bars, and in a city of skyscrapers there are plenty to choose from. But my pick is Smoke and Mirrors, which is on the top floor of the National Art Gallery.”

VISIT Smoke and Mirrors is at 1 St Andrews Road, #06-01, Singapore. Allow $50+ a person. Bookings open 14 days in advance, and are recommended. See smokeandmirrors.com.sg

Air fare: An exclusive look at Matt Moran’s new Singapore Airlines menu

There are certain things you can do, and certain things you can’t do, when it comes to cooking in the air. You can use the best produce to turn out high-quality meals served on fine china. You can’t use open flames.

“I wish you could,” laughs Matt Moran when we meet at the SATS Inflight Catering Centre at Singapore Changi Airport, where the Australian chef has been developing menus for Singapore Airlines over the last 20 years.

“But certain things lend themselves better to being on a plane. Everything has to be a little saltier. They’ve got the [aircraft] simulator in SATS here, which they use to taste the food under normal cabin pressure.

“But the way the food has gone in the last 20 years, passengers just want to be able to identify good produce, and usually simple produce. You know, a simple piece of grass-fed beef, cooked really well. I just look for flavour profiles that work well together, keep it simple, good quality. And that’s my philosophy on food overall, just use good product and let it speak for itself.”

Those travelling in Singapore Airlines’ premium cabins may recognise a few of the dishes that are served from Matt’s inflight menus. Many of these creations began their existence on the menus of Aria and Chiswick, and have since been adapted to suit conditions in the air.

“Most of the dishes are adapted from something,” Matt says. “We just go through the database of recipes [from all his venues] and think about what will work.”

So, what’s on the new menu? I’m lucky enough to have Matt cook me one of the stand-out dishes: seared grass-fed beef with fondant potato and mushrooms.

“We call it mushroom ketchup,” Matt says. “It’s just mushrooms [pureed] with a little bit of vinegar and sugar to give it that acidity, to cut through. You need that balance. The potato fondant is cooked down with chicken stock and butter, and then caramelised.”

It’s ridiculously good. Also featuring on Matt’s menu, you’ll find the likes of citrus-cured trout with creme fraiche and trout roe; confit pork belly with sherry prunes, celeriac salad and pork mustard jus; wagyu short-rib with cardamom steamed rice, and gnocchi with mushrooms, truffle oil, kale and kombu butter.

As we finish our meal, some of the Singapore Airlines staff bring around packets of ingredients they have sourced from a new supplier, an urban farm in Newark, New Jersey, that is producing incredibly crisp greens and micro-herbs. Matt tries a little from each package, and you can see the gears clicking in his mind as he runs through the ways he could use such excellent produce.

Keep an eye out for it, next time you fly.

See singaporeairlines.com

The writer travelled was a guest of Singapore Airlines and the Singapore Tourism Board.