One of the newer restaurants in the tranquil Portsdown Road estate is Ce Soir, a three-month-old modern French restaurant helmed by 29-year-old head chef Koh Han Jie. 

With sweeping bouquets of dried flowers sprawled across the restaurant’s walls, it is easy to let the flowery décor distract one from the food. Don’t. Koh has interned at the three-Michelin-starred Maison Pic in France and worked at Les Amis here — and it shows in his precisely executed classic cuisine with dabs of Asian influences. 

Opening the Iridescent Menu ($198) are ‘Razor Clams’ that ingeniously tricks the mind into thinking that the canape contains shellfish. The jelly-like topping is a mix of truffle and sweet onions. The signature dish of cured hamachi rosette on a pool of tart and refreshing apple juice and chrysanthemum brightens up every bite of the sweet fish. 

The Mozambique Langoustine has two tender poached slabs paired with acidity from the pickled zucchini, which astonishingly resembles mini agar agar blocks, and a creamy rice Vin Jaune-spiked sauce. The roasted Challans Duck breast is served with cherries and preserved plum to temper the richness of the meat with some tart acidity. Chewing on the bits of sansho pepper in the duck jus numbs the tongue in an oddly refreshing way. 

Desserts are by head pastry chef Suzanne Eng, who has worked in Joel Robuchon Restaurant here and in various hotels. The pretty pink tart cactus fruit sorbet with macerated strawberries is topped with a halo-shaped almond sable dotted with mascarpone topped with edible flowers. Ce Soir is run by florist-turned-F&B entrepreneur Nicole Chen, who will be opening her fourth concept — a dessert place near Ce Soir later this year.

Where: 5B Portsdown Road

As part of the Zouk Group‘s Clarke Quay Japanese dining enclave, three Singaporean chefs with close to 50 years of combined culinary experience have banded together to helm Maison Shūko, a reservation-only eight-seater omakase restaurant. Chefs Jeremy Chiam, Justin Foo, and Angus Chow are well-known in the culinary world, and their cuisine blends modern Asian with French and Japanese influences.

More than half of the dishes on their eight-course menu ($250++) feature ingredients from local farms and are accompanied by short films on the various producers. Previously with Senso Ristorante and Le Saint Julien, Foo contributes to the bulk of the first iteration of the menu, which changes twice a year. The most eyebrow-raising dish is the grilled crocodile tail meat from the Long Kuan Hung farm in Kranji, which comes from 7-year-old reptiles. 

As the shredded meat is seasoned larb-style with Thai basil, palm sugar and shallot oil, one is distracted from chewing on a tougher version of pork. As an alternative to masking its gamey taste, Foo tempers it with acidity from tomatoes and pineapple and tomato sorbet. The ricotta salad is made from goat’s milk from Hay Dairies.

Zouk’s chef-patron Chow’s dishes include chilled somen and truffles, stirred in a rich and creamy egg sabayon made with Ang Seng Farm kampong chicken eggs. Chiam’s contribution is pan-seared foie gras in a dashi broth with daikon and pear. Dining at 

Dining at Maison Shūko is like feasting at a six-hands dinner on demand, with the boisterous chefs bantering back and forth with you. 

Where: #02-02, Clarke Quay, The Cannery, 3E River Valley Road 

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Having operated his home-based private dining and catering business for 18 months, Yeo Kai Siang opened his brick-and-mortar restaurant, Chez Kai at the recently refurbished Coliwoo Hotel Gay World in June. The 30-seat restaurant serves Franco-Chinese cuisine, reflecting the chef’s culinary training in Le Cordon Bleu Paris and his work experiences in Michelin-starred establishments in France and the UK, as well as Chinese restaurants in Paris. 

Once the curtains are drawn at the restaurant, the simply-furnished space feels homey, with art pieces painted by Yeo adorning the walls. With dishes influenced by both Chinese and French cuisines, the nine course-degustation menu ($178++) focuses on the solstice seasons in the Chinese calendar. 

The menu opens with canapes on a Chinese rosewood stand, such as a fried dumpling loaded with sweet angka prawns dressed in chilli soya vinaigrette and herb aioli. As part of the ‘Surf and Turf’ dish, French milk lamb shoulder roulade is roasted and served with an umami Cantonese-style broth reduction made from smoked snapper bones and lamb jus. The homemade egg pasta, drenched in a creamy fish stock reduction, is crowned with a Hokkaido scallop and a robust XO sauce made from scallop trimmings, angka prawns and shrimp dried in-house. 

Eating at Chez Kai feels like a laid-back hang-out with thought-provoking food, complemented by a young, earnest service team.

Where: 115 Geylang Road

Having worked in restaurants for over a decade, chef Joe Leong joined Sonder, a four-month-old restaurant, as chef-partner.

The 35-seat restaurant serves Euro-Asian cuisine influenced by his Thai and Chinese heritage and previous work experiences in modern European restaurants. In addition to his role as pastry chef at V-Zug Gourmet Academy, Leong has worked at V-Dining and Tippling Club. 

Key dishes at Sonder include chargrilled coconut-glazed kurobuta pork collar served with burnt apple and finger lime — his take on moo ping, Thai-style barbecued pork skewers; and a robustly-flavoured spring onion pesto risotto with chicken roulade, pickled cucumber and ginger tuile, which pays homage to chicken rice.

Inspired by a red apple painting in the restaurant, Leong’s Apple Crumble has a delectable core of caramelised apples, apple brandy jam and mousse with  a glossy apple sauce coating. Sonder also sells bread and pastries such as rye sourdough, croissants and focaccia from noon to 5pm.

Where: 217 Henderson Road, #01-03

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