As the last bits of snow melt away, spring brings forth its vibrant blooms and clear skies. While it's sunny all-year-round in the Lion City, save for the occasional rainy day, food is here to allow diners to experience the ever-changing seasons experienced around the world.
Check out what's new in Singapore's MICHELIN restaurant scene this spring!
Check out what's new in Singapore's MICHELIN restaurant scene this spring!
Beh Gaik Lean from MICHELIN-Starred Auntie Gaik Lean's Old School Eatery in Penang (Photo: MICHELIN Guide)
Auntie Gaik Lean is in Singapore to Cook in a Peranakan Buffet Experience
From 17 March until 30 April 2023, Gaik Lean Beh, of MICHELIN-Starred Auntie Gaik Lean's Old School Eatery in Penang, will be in Singapore to showcase a Peranakan buffet experience in collaboration with the team at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, Singapore.
A fourth generation Nyonya, Beh is always proud about her heritage’s food, determined to do her best to deliver dishes that are rooted in Peranakan cuisine. At the Perankan-themed buffet, guests can expect dishes from Auntie Gaik Lean's Old School Eatery such as Curry Kapitan, Assam Prawn, Fish Curry Tumis, and Egg Belanda.
The Peranakan-themed buffet at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, Singapore, will be held from 17 March until 30 April 2023. Book a table here.
Esora's tasting menu is an ode to "Fresh Starts". (Photo: Esora)
MICHELIN-Starred Esora Celebrates "Fresh Starts" with New Spring Menu
For this year's spring menu at one-MICHELIN-Starred Esora, chef Takeshi Araki celebrates the joy of new beginnings, bringing forth his memories of Japanese spring-time to the table. Always exercising a deft hand in kisetsukan (an emotional connection with the seasons) in his culinary craft, Araki promises a "moving display of memories and feelings" in Esora's spring menu, allowing his guests to have a feel of what it would be like to dine in the outskirts of Japan.
Focusing on sansai, or mountain vegetables, to best showcase spring, Araki brings forth a line-up of dishes that pay homage to the season. In the signature Foie Gras Monaka, the foie gras torchon filling is graced with slices of Japanese cherries and strawberries and finished off with thyme jelly, white and red strawberries, myoga (ginger) and purple-pink hanaho flowers to feature spring's fresh foliage and colours.
The restaurant's popular Chicken Wings this season are stuffed with sansai okowa — a steamed glutinous rice cooked in dashi and a medley of of wild spring vegetables that include warabi from Yamagata (baby bracken ferns), takenoko (young bamboo shoots) from Kyoto, and Kumamoto shin gobo (fresh young burdock).
Another Esora signature, the donabe that changes with the seaons, features hokkigai (surf clams) from the Aomori coast. The rice is steamed with clam stock and mixed with young ginger, chives, and fried kureson (watercrest) pickled with soy sauce. The dish is topped with more hokkigai cooked on the binchotan grill, as well as uni.
For dessert, umeboshi (preserved plums) take the centerstage in the form of a candy shell resembling a plum. It is stuffed with ume (plum) powdered ice made with ume jam and mascarpone, served with a jam of yellow yuzu and Japanese blood orange.
Esora is located at 15 Mohamed Sultan Road, 238964, Singapore. Book a table for the spring experience here.
Butcher's Block features an Easter "Tour De Force" menu available from 07-09 April 2023. (Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore)
Butcher's Block at Raffles Hotel Singapore Celebrates Easter with a Special Menu
MICHELIN-listed Butcher's Block at Raffles Hotel Singapore, a MICHELIN Guide Hotel, welcomes Easter with a special rendition of their signature "Tour de Force" menu. With chef de cuisine Jordan Keao presenting wood-fired dishes from the kitchen, the Easter menu will feature a few seasonal specialties.
For starters, a Wagyu Tartare is paired with beef tendon chicharron and bone marrow flan topped with caviar, followed by a Brown Crab Tartlet accompanied by garlic chive tuile. Mains include Smoked Sashimi, prepared with seaweed, caviar, and tied together by an herb dashi. Live Normandy Blue Lobster is also simply grilled and paired with a dill sabayon.
To conclude the meal is an Amalfi Lemon Curd, perfumed with the zesty citrus and paired with a popular Hawaiian traditional dessert of Haupia tart, a nod to Keao's home of Hawaii.
The Easter Tour De Force menu at Butcher's Block is available for dinner on 07 April as well as lunch and dinner from 08 to 09 April 2023 at S$238++ per guest. The regular Tour De Force Menu at Butcher’s Block will not be available during this period. Book your seat at Butcher's Block here.
The Mazara del Vallo Red Prawn Tartare (Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore)
Osteria BBR by Alain Ducasse presents an Easter Sunday Champagne Brunch
Exclusively available on Easter Sunday only (09 April 2023), MICHELIN-listed Osteria BBR by Alain Ducasse, also located at Raffles Hotel Singapore, presents a special Easter Sunday Champagne Brunch. Known to having the most decadent Sunday Champagne brunch experience in the city, the Italian establishment will indulge its guests with free-flowing champagne, as well as some Easter-exclusive specialities alongside its staple brunch specials.
To start, a selection of appetisers includes Smoked Salmon Carpaccio complemented with crème fraîche and caviar; Green Asparagus paired with goat cheese and drizzled with balsamic dressing, as well as Seared Foie Gras, accompanied by nodes of celeriac, presented with a coffee and hazelnut sauce. The brunch also features a simple dish of Potato Espuma, elevated with soft egg and trout caviar; and Lamb Chop accentuated with the flavours of fava beans and a creamy eggplant purée.
The Easter Sunday Champagne Brunch is available at Osteria BBR by Alain Ducasse on 09 April 2023 at S$258++ per guest and is inclusive of complimentary free flow champagne for 120 minutes. Book your seat at Osteria BBR by Alain Ducasse here.
Savour a repertoire of heritage food at Rempapa’s Hari Raya celebration. (Photo: Rempapa)
Celebrate Hari Raya at Rempapa
New to the MICHELIN Guide Singapore, Rempapa honours the Hari Raya festivities from 21 to 23 April 2023. Praised by our inspectors for championing a novel cuisine that crosses boundaries among Chinese, Peranakan, Eurasian, Indian, and Malay cooking, Rempapa serves hearty dishes that sit comfortably next to century-old recipes, all prepared with shrewd judgment and the right amount of oomph.
Highlights of Rempapa's Hari Raya celebration menu include Sambal Goreng, literally translated as "Fried Chilli Paste", which is a staple Malay dish that consists of vegetables, tempeh, fried beancurd, and prawns cooked in a fragrant chilli paste. Serunding, from Javanese culture, usually refers to a side dish to accompany rice; Rempapa's version showcases tamarind mixed into caramelised grated coconut. Ayam Masak Merah makes use of GG French chicken cooked in tomato sauce and an aromatic mix of herbs, while the Beef Cheek Rendang is from a family recipe that belongs to the chef's grandfather — recommended to be paired with the ketupat (rice cake). Lastly, a beverage reminiscent of childhood makes its way to Rempapa's Hari Raya menu — Bandung Chin Chow, where rose cordial syrup is mixed with evaporated milk and topped with chin chow (grass jelly).
Rempapa is located at Park Place Residences at PLQ, #01-01/02/03, 2 Paya Lebar Road, 409053, Singapore. Book a table at Rempapa here.
Steamed Sakuradai (Photo: Willow)
Willow Celebrates Its First Year with a New Spring Menu
Willow, a newcomer to the MICHELIN Guide Singapore, marks its anniversary with a refreshed menu. Known for his contemporary pan-Asian menus, Singaporean chef Nicolas Tam crafts them daily depending on the season's best.
The spring menu is priced at S$158++ for lunch and S$228++ for dinner. The meal starts off with snacks such as the Artichokes and Smoked Hokkaido Scallop Tartlet, Akami (bluefin tuna) on a beetroot shell, and Green Asparagus with Bafun uni. The starters are followed by Willow's signature Pain au Lait bread, which is flavoured with a trio of kombu, fresh nori, and roasted nori; it is served alongside a katsuobushi sabayon.
For the mains, the seasonal special presents itself in the form of Steamed Sakuradai, whose inspiration draws from Japan's cherry blossom season. Serve steamed, the sakuradai (cherry bream) is accompanied by a preserved sakura flower sauce made with clam and dashi, and complemented by lily bulb purée and canola blossoms.
Willow also encourages guests to experience Tam's supplementary course of crispy unagi, paired with sansho pepper and freshly grated wasabi.
Willow is located at 39 HongKong Street, 059678, Singapore. Book a seat here.
