The island-state’s food scene has become one of the most progressive and thrilling in the world. Daven Wu dives in.
Singapore has always had a healthy appetite. Fed by a diaspora of migrants – first from India, China, Malaya and the Indonesian archipelago during the British colonial era, and in recent years from Europe and the Americas – the island-state’s culinary landscape is an unrivalled canvas of flavours.
What I find especially exciting right now is the arrival of a new generation of chefs. These innovators are fusing the cultural cookbooks of Asia with the experience and Western techniques gained from stints in high-achieving kitchens abroad to create complex, elevated versions of familiar Singapore dishes.
Jiak Kim House
Recently, I had dinner at Jiak Kim House, an early 20th-century warehouse converted into an elegant dining room. What stood out was head chef Seow Tzi Qin’s magic trick of transforming bak kut teh, a classic peppery pork bone soup, into a heady mushroom consommé perfumed with green peppercorn foam. And foie gras sweetened with a gula jawa ginger caramel and paired with a chutney of rambutan and grapefruit. Exceptional.
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