SINGAPORE (Dec 27): Best new dining establishments and some of our old favourites
V Dining
V-Zug’s global ambassador Ryan Clift was tasked to conceptualise and launch the first-ever fine dining restaurant for Swiss household appliance manufacturer, V-Zug. The 35-seater V Dining opened its doors in mid- January this year as an extension of Zugorama, V-Zug’s exhibition and advisory centre.
Min Jiang at Dempsey
After 12 years at One-North, Min Jiang relocated to a new and bigger location at Dempsey Hill. Since opening in 1982 at Goodwood Park Hotel, Min Jiang has held a reputation for serving some of the best Chinese cuisine in Singapore. The dishes here are the brainchild of master chef Goh Chee Kong, who has been with the restaurant for 17 years.
El Mero Mero
A rejuvenated El Mero Mero breaks local stereotypes of Mexican cuisine. The restaurant was founded by Alejandro Blanco in 2014. The Mexican who has since come to call Singapore home started the restaurant with no grand manifesto — he simply missed the food from home. While as diners we might be prone to going back to familiar favourites rather than having to think too much about what to order, here, it pays to be a bit more adventurous.
table65
Award-winning chef Richard van Oostenbrugge of restaurant 212 Amsterdam opened table65 — a nod towards the island state’s country code — at Resorts World Sentosa. Van Oostenbrugge’s vision is to pare back the traditional formalities of fine dining and place the focus on the core flavours of quality ingredients to entice international foodies.
Alkaff Mansion
The 1-Group teamed up with the prestigious Basque Culinary Centre to bring in their best talents. Heading the ground floor space — Txa (pronounced as “Cha”) Pintxo Bar — are Basque chefs Marta Elvira Segalé s and Silvana Pascual Romero. From them comes a tantalisingly colourful array of pintxos (pronounced “pincho”, referring to skewered snacks), all laid out in buffet style so that one can freely pick out what they fancy as they sip on a selection of wine-based cocktails.
La Dame De Pic
La Dame De Pic by French chef Ann-Sophie Pic at Raffles Singapore has an elegant dining room clad in soft shades of plum, pink and grey, and anchored by a brass chandelier composed of tiered lasercut spades. The heir to one of France’s century-old culinary dynasties, Pic holds seven Michelin stars to her name and
runs nine restaurants between Paris, London, Lausanne, Valance and, now, Singapore. She has installed chef de cuisine Kevin Gaten, a trusted employee of over eight years, as the gatekeeper of her restaurant’s impeccable standards.
Shang Palace
In the 48 years since it debuted in Singapore in 1971, Shang Palace — the flagship restaurant at the Shangri-La Singapore — has spawned a chain of 38 outlets across the globe. Three new menus by executive chef Mok Kit Keung, themed “Nostalgia”, “Signature” and “Innovation”, pay homage to time-honoured classics and demonstrate how a few clever edits can steer tradition to fit comfortably in the modern context.
Soufflé
Before the foams and espumas of molecular cuisine, there was soufflé. It is that which inspired Parisian restaurateur Olivier Bendel — owner of Déliciae Hospitality Management, which includes establishments such as Sabio by the Sea and L’Entrecôte — to start a restaurant dedicated to serving this dish. He is not just serving dessert soufflés either, but a full menu of savoury variations, which are very hard to come by outside of France.
