Savouring the very best spices of life in Singapore
The island city is a wonderful cornucopia for gourmands as these delightful dining establishments testify.
The island city is a wonderful cornucopia for gourmands as these delightful dining establishments testify.
01
Candlenut, Dempsey Hill: Chef Malcom Lee’s smart-casual fine-diner in the lush Dempsey Hill postcode is the first Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant in the world, and proof some superheroes wear chef’s whites, not capes. Peranakan is a distinctive cuisine of Malay and Chinese influences, and a style most commonly associated with comfort food in Singapore because of its hearty richness. Chef Lee puts a contemporary twist on classics such as chargrilled satay (he makes his with lamb shoulder and a sticky kecap manis glaze) and black chicken curry using a fermented seed that gives some Peranakan dishes a rich bitter flavour and deep oil-black hue. Try buah keluak black ice cream, made from the same black seed paste and served with salted caramel and chocolate crumble.
■ comodempsey.sg/restaurant/candlenut
02
Ah Tai Chicken Rice, Maxwell Food Centre: Eating out in Singapore covers the entire price spectrum, so your day could start with a $5 hawker breakfast and end with a formal degustation menu and cocktail at one of the inclusions on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. Singapore’s hawker culture is an experience so intrinsic to the nation’s identity that it has been nominated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Fortunately, hawker culture is not exactly intangible so dive in at Chinatown Food Complex, where the soy-glazed chicken rice from Hawker Chan is the cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world, or Maxwell Food Centre, where Ah Tai Chicken Rice dishes up its moreish rendition of this Hainanese classic on sky-blue plastic plates. Think: tender poached chicken served with rice cooked in the same broth, fresh coriander, garlic puree and chilli sauce. No wonder it’s Singapore’s unofficial “national dish”.
■ facebook.com/AhTaiChickenRice/
03
Burnt Ends, Chinatown: As the name suggests, fire is the crucial element at Burnt Ends, a stalwart on Singapore’s hip dining scene for globe-trotting chefs and hungry travellers in search of a memorable feed without the pretence. Don’t be fooled by the Michelin star, this is an intimate mod-Oz barbecue joint that knows how to dish up really great food and (Aussie) wine as well as a good time. From your front-row seat at the dine-in bar, watch clever Australian chef Dave Pynt tame the flames of his custom-made woodfired oven and grill to produce deceptively simple and overtly delicious dishes such as charred leeks with hazelnuts and brown butter, beef marmalade with house-made pickles, chargrilled pork jowl and West Australian marron with kombu beurre blanc.
04
Merci Marcel, Tiong Bahru: When it’s time for an aperitif of the so Frenchie-so chic variety, head to Merci Marcel. This stylish Paris-inspired café-cum-bistro on the ground floor of a restored shophouse in Tiong Bahru is the perfect spot for a platter of farmhouse cheeses imported from Europe served with warm slices of doughy baguette and a pale pink Provence rosé. The all-day menu spans every hunger pang from brunch (scrambled eggs with Parmesan) to dinner (snapper ceviche and truffle fries), so escape the humidity at any time of day with a table inside amid leafy palms, or exercise your inner flaneur on the terrace where woven cane chairs are street-facing, a la Paris, for a side of people-watching with your crab tartine.
05
2am:dessertbar, Holland Village: Get straight to the point at acclaimed pastry chef Janice Wong’s sexy late-night joint in the Holland Village dining precinct. Moody lighting and cosy banquettes set the scene at 2am:dessertbar for a hedonistic meal of molecular creations that could include Chocolate H2O, a crisp 65 per cent dark chocolate “lava rock” served with salted caramel “lava” and a tangy yuzu sorbet. The menu is an innovative line-up of signature and seasonal creations. Expect plenty of surprises in the form of foams, crumbs and liquid nitrogen, and each dessert comes with a drinks pairing, from artisanal sparkling sake (a revelation for this Champagne drinker) to Austrian riesling. There are savoury snacks, too, but the real draw here is to be wowed by some of the most beautiful desserts in Singapore.
Shannon Harley
06
Po, The Warehouse Hotel: This lobby-level diner at the hip new Warehouse Hotel beside Havelock Quay has been devised by “Mod-Sin” food expert Willin Low. The menu features comfort food served to share and described as “elevated hawker staples”, some with a DIY component, such as popiah, or handmade wheat skins filled with stewed meat and vegetables, that diners then garnish with the likes of chopped eggs, crushed peanuts, crispy shallots, coriander, bean sprouts and splashes of chilli sauce. Other standout dishes are wagyu beef rendang and soft-shell crab with fermented shrimp paste. It’s a convivial room with 52 seats and excellent serving staff.
07
Baker & Cook: Singapore has a heap of cafes but not all flat whites are created equal. Holland Village (Holland V to locals) is a shopping and dining precinct with plenty of chic options (see 05). Baker & Cook, founded by “baker boy” Dean Brettschneider, makes artisan bread and pastries and serves the best coffee I’ve had in Singapore. So for a break from laksa noodles and chicken rice, pull up a stool for a breakfast or brunch serve of signature Savoury French Toast — thick slices of Vollkorn bread layered with chilli and herb mascarpone, pureed avocado, crispy bacon, roasted cherry tomatoes, shallots, toasted seed and grains with rocket salad. Just like home, only spicier.
08
Cassia, Capella Singapore: This five-star resort on Sentosa Island has all the expected dining offerings but then there’s Cassia, a tiny gem serving reinterpreted home-style Cantonese dishes pepped up with the likes of shaved black truffles in the charcoal barbecued pork buns, and tucked into the property’s 19th-century colonial wing. With mellow bronzed interiors by top designer Andre Fu and an intimate setting, it’s perfect for a meal a deux. And while afternoon teas are de rigueur at Singapore’s big properties, Cassia’s take is quite different. Book an Oriental Afternoon Tea (3pm-5pm; weekends only) for a dim sum version of the usual spread.
09
Fat Fuku: Private supper clubs are a trend in Singapore and one of the best is run by popular food consultant and prolific author Annette Tan, who invites diners into her home to learn, and taste, the secrets of Peranakan food. The generous spread, created from treasured family recipes, covers at least seven dishes and could include the likes of pork belly buah keluak biryani, oxtail semur and cashew and macadamia nut tart with malted milk ice-cream. And that odd name Fat Fuku? She says it “embraces the Chinese saying that it is good fortune [fuku in Japanese] to be fat”. Bookings are taken for a minimum of six people, maximum nine; Tuesdays to Fridays; BYO wine or pay a supplement for a paired selection.
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Best Beds
10
Dine and dream at Six Senses Maxwell, sister property to Six Senses Duxton (T+I, June 8-9) and a hop from Maxwell Food Centre. Its Cook & Tras Social Library (named for the dual corner addresses) is a terrific space with a classy bookshop feel and Straits Chinese-influenced dishes, bar snacks, utterly delicious sorbets (lychee and red dragonfruit; peppery Sichuan strawberry) and teas such as white ginger and pear. There are shelves full of titles for guests to borrow, conversation nooks with lounge seating, cocktail bar and private or communal tables. The fit-out is by French designer Jacques Garcia, whose quirky style is at play throughout this newish 120-room hotel in a restored colonial-style 19th-century building, winner of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority Architectural Heritage Award. There are four accommodation categories, all with customised furniture, vintage rugs, original artwork and beautifully soft organic cotton sheets. Splurge on a Terrace guestroom with private balcony (pictured) or the blue-accented Maxwell Suite.
Susan Kurosawa