The new modern Southeast Asian restaurant at Tanjong Pagar helmed by chef-owner Hafizzul Hashim features incredibly inventive dishes. The snacks are uniquely woven with memories and flavours of chef’s childhood growing up in Malaysia.

Guests will be served a jellied singgang fish broth topped with murasaki uni from Hokkaido, pops of okra seeds, hanaho (shiso) flowers, and perked up with laksa leaf oil. The light acidity from the singgang broth jelly is balanced by the savouriness of the uni. According to the chef, this amuse bouche is inspired by the smell and taste of the sea surrounding Pangkor Island. 

Another miniature creation is an intricate kuih loyang or rosette cookie (the chef enjoyed eating this snack when he was a child) embellished with white miso marinated petai puree with blended sous vide kampong egg yolk. The snack is crowned with caviar and nasturtium leaf. The third snack is charcoal grilled aged firefly squid with sambal tumis (fried sambal) and coconut espuma encased in a pie tee cup. This is topped with aged bottarga roe shavings and dehydrated cockle salt. 

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This fine dining modern Italian restaurant with a view is presenting Art 4.0. Chef Daniel Sperindio injects creative twist to Italian signatures such as Prosciutto e Melone. He pairs a delicate spiral grissino (breadstick) made with crystallised ciabatta dough along with Sicilian cured swordfish ham and a sliver of sweet musk melon from Hokkaido. 

Another amuse bouche is reminiscent of vitello tonnato – a specialty in the Piedmont region. Here, veal-based tonnato dressing is layered at the bottom of a tartlet, and then topped with lightly marinated chutoro tuna tossed with Japanese strawberries and a touch of rafano (horseradish). You’ll also get take a bite of aged stracchino fonduta (light cheese that pops in the mouth) dotted with spring truffle slices and edible flowers.

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The ‘Pickles and Snacks’ course (8 items) that Chef Zor Tan serves at Born is largely inspired by his mum’s cooking.  For instance, the ‘Taro Puff / Salted Egg Custard / “Bottarga”’ was inspired by his mum’s taro gula melaka puffs which she used to make when he was young. Zor adapted the recipe to make it savoury, and less oily and fatty. Steamed and mashed taro is first mixed with pork lard. The taro paste is shaped into a ball with a salted egg yolk custard centre, then deep-fried. Finally, salted egg yolk ”bottarga” is grated over the taro puff that’s dotted with white balsamic gel.

The ‘Chicken Skin Mille Feuille / Eggplant / Caviar’ is inspired by Zor’s mum’s fried eggplant with pork belly. Up to 45 pieces of chicken skin are seasoned with garam masala, stretched, layered, compressed, then baked till the fat seeps out. The layered chicken skin is sliced and baked again till crispy. Seasoned eggplant puree is layered between the crispy chicken skin and topped with caviar and pickled shallots.

Growing up in a fishing village, Zor loved eating cockles with chilli. ‘Abalone / Burnt Chilli Pesto / Garlic Crisps’ is an ‘elevated’ interpretation of this Malaysian dish. Fresh abalone from Jeju or Australia (depending on the season) is braised with konbu, dashi and chicken stock till tender. The sliced abalone is then served with garlic crisps and ‘Shao Jiao Jiang’ burnt chilli pesto (made by grilling Green Horn Chilli ‘Er Jing Tiao’ over binchotan). 

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To kick of the meal, Braci serves Ricchi e Poveri which refers to ‘noble and peasant’ in Italian. A delicate potato cannolo is filled with pork trotter salad (popular in Italy’s countryside) and topped with oscietra caviar which is a representation for the affluent.

Having spent most of his childhood holidays by the Ligurian Coast, chef de cuisine Matteo Ponti’s personal favourite is the red prawn from Santa Margherita, a sweet and delicate prawn best enjoyed raw.  Part of the snacks menu include Rosso su Rosso which means “red on red” in Italian. This comes in the form of crispy snow fungus with Santa Margherita’s red prawn topped with Salsa Rossa – a sauce made of red capsicum originally from Piemonte.

Braci’s version of vitello tonnato is done with a twist and served as Tonno Vitellato – a tartlet with bluefin tuna tartare glazed with veal jus and garnished with alyssum flower for a light horseradish flavour.

Find out more here.

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At one-Michelin-starred Sommer Dining at The Sail, Chef Lewis Barker changes his contemporary snack courses according to the seasons. Currently, the beautifully plated amuse bouche creations include a spring pea tartlet topped with gleaming marinated ikura, sudachi and smoked creme crue. 

Another delicate item is smoked eel layered with watercress bavarois, potato and topped with N25 Kaluga Reserve Caviar. Lewis also serves a richly flavoured snack of foie gras, madeira and caramelised onion crowned with edible flowers.

Find out more here.

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