Singapore boasts a vibrant melting pot of eclectic culinary influences and elevated gastronomy, both of which come together every National Day to inspire fusion menus inflected with local flavours and ingredients.
These are some of the very best local-themed menus and dishes created by fine-dining restaurants and gourmet joints for Singapore’s 58th birthday. Check out our list of eats to get in the mood for National Day.
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Indulge in a one-night gourmet festival at Level33, a rooftop gastrobrewery promising unrivalled views of the National Day Parade fireworks. Expect house-brewed beers, wines, and the classic Singapore Sling, along with live food stations dishing out local-inspired grub.
This includes Westholme wagyu rendang sliders, beer-brined soy chicken wings grilled over charcoal (inspired in spirit by a similar hawker dish) and a throwback to one’s childhood with ice-cream sandwiches, complete with old-school ‘rainbow’ bread.
#33-01, Tower 1, Marina Bay Financial Centre, 8 Marina Boulevard. Find out more here.
Local restaurant collective Paradise Group honours Singapore’s 58th birthday with homespun takes on its various restaurants’ signature delights. Highlights at Taste Paradise in ION Orchard include the steamed dragon grouper, coated with a fiery “Singapore-style” sauce comprising more than eight herbs and spices, including lemongrass and red chillies.
Enjoy this with a nod to local kopi culture in the Nanyang Kopi-O Honey BBQ Spanish Iberico Pork, featuring pork shoulder coated in a housemade honey-coffee glaze and baked until tender. These dishes (and other National Day specials across the group’s restaurants) are available from July 24 to August 31.
#04-07, ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn. Find out more here.
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Perched on Andaz Singapore’s 39th floor, Mr. Stork is a rooftop bar that offers an excellent view of the National Day Parade’s fly-by jet displays (and a partial viewing of the fireworks at The Padang), bundled with a trio of Singapore-styled cocktails underpinned by the country’s first homegrown gin distillery, Tanglin Gin.
National Day-exclusive bar bites to go with your booze include salted egg prawn toast, chicken rice arancini, chilli crab cake and prata pizza, all available until the end of August. Visitors on the eve of parade day and the big day itself (August 8 & 9) get something special by way of live tunes from local DJs.
Level 39, Andaz Singapore, 5 Fraser Street. Find out more here.
The classically British high tea goes local for National Day at LeBar in Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa. Scones and crumpets are swapped out for bites inspired by local flavours like mackerel otah and hae bee hiam (spicy dried shrimp) sandwiches, braised Kurobuta pork buns, and chilli crab mantou sliders.
Sweet treats to follow include a Kopi O macaroon, teh tarik panna cotta, and Onde Onde-styled lamington (sponge cake). This afternoon tea set will be available for the entire month of August.
2 Bukit Manis Road, Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa. Find out more here.
French bistro faves are given a localised makeover for National Day 2023 at The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore’s La Brasserie. Think the aromatic broth of classic hawker dish laksa paired with octopus, langoustine, and sea prawns, or elevated kaya toast. Hainanese brown bread is swapped out for buttery brioche, kaya cremeux (or frosting, from French for ‘creamy’) and kopi crumbs with a side of teh tarik gelato. These dishes are available as part of La Brasserie’s National Day brunch (on August 9 only), or its weeklong set dinner (August 1 to 9).
The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, 80 Collyer Quay. Find out more here.
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In celebration of Singapore and Malaysia’s respective national days in August, mod-Asian restaurant Path switches kitchens with Eat and Cook, a professed Malaysia-style omakase joint from Kuala Lumpur, in an act of gastronomic diplomacy. Malaysian chefs Lee Zhe Xi and Soh Yong Zhi of Eat and Cook (which was awarded No.79 for Asia’s Best Restaurants 2023) kick off the collab on August 7 and 8 by presenting an eight-course dinner that recognises both countries’ culinary similarities — expressed through the Malaysian and Singaporean chefs’ favourite foods.
Expect elevated takes on dim sum teahouse classics like crystal chicken feet, oyster omelette, and Teochew steamed pomfret, reimagined with turbot and ginger scallion oil.
#01-05/06, Tower 3, Marina Bay Financial Centre, 12 Marina Boulevard. Find out more here.
The local outpost of New York-famous Black Tap at Marina Bay Sands presents Singaporeanised twists on its two signature offerings — burgers and indulgent topping-laden milkshakes. The former plays on an iconic local seafood dish, black pepper crab, reimagining it as a tempura soft-shell crab patty slathered in housemade black pepper rub and served with a creamy black pepper slaw and fries.
The latter shake is a National Day-hued number made rosy pink with a base of bandung. A red and white cake slice, star sprinkles and a bright red cherry finish the towering dessert.
#L1-80, Bay Level, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue. Find out more here.