The three-Michelin-starred restaurants to spend your paycheck on

Food is life for most Singaporeans but for the uninitiated, deciding on where to splurge on for the ultimate luxurious culinary experience amongst the standout options in the city might be daunting. What do the awards mean? Does the Michelin star count for anything? 

We’ve put together a guide to the only three establishments in the city to be awarded three Michelin stars, one of the highest culinary accolades in the world, to let you decide.

Les Amis

Lineage: The grande dame of French fine-dining in Singapore, Les Amis opened in 1994 and was the first of its kind to open outside of a hotel then and earned its three stars in 2019, holding on to them ever since.

Acclaimed executive chef Sebastien Lepinoy leads the kitchen, having trained for 17 years under the late Joel Robuchon renowned for modernising French gastronomy.

Cuisine: French haute cuisine: The belief that a dish should never have more than three or four distinct flavors on a plate, making sure the star ingredient is always respected. Les Amis sticks to old school, tried-and-tested techniques to present ingredients as they are.

Expect only the best butter, Le Ponclet, made from a rare Celtic cow breed, and dishes that have been staples on the menu for years such as Cold Angel Hair Pasta crowned with Oscietra caviar and black truffle. The restaurant is also famed for its cheese trolley and extensive collection in its wine cellar.

Ambience: Designed by Kay Ngee Tan Architects, Les Amis is a time capsule with white starched tablecloths, black stone arches, a chandelier, and red velvet walls reminiscent of 18th-century Parisian Hôtel architecture.

Odette

Lineage: Named after chef-owner Julien Royer’s grandmother, Odette opened in 2015 and gained three stars four years later, holding onto that accolade ever since. The restaurant’s dedication to nature and terroir can be traced to Royer’s “culinary father” Michel Bras, master of la cuisine de terroir, who put wild plants, herbs and vegetables at the forefront of his creations.

Royer also trained under Alain Passard, a pioneer in vegetable-forward and plant-based dining at L’Arpege. 

Cuisine: After its renovation in 2025, the establishment’s modern French cuisine has pared back on the dramatic storytelling in exchange for a more contemporary, minimal presentation.

For more than a decade, Royer’s been based in Singapore working in partnership with the Lo and Behold Group, and the evolved cuisine reflects his deeper understanding and ease with Asian flavours and ingredients. 

Ambience: Gathering the same minds behind its first iteration, interior designer Sacha Leong and multidisciplinary artist Dawn Ng, Odette introduces a welcomed playfulness with warmer hues in the dining room: pale beurre, tawny umber, oyster, and cherry timber.

It’s a departure from the ministerial former Supreme Court building it’s housed in and an informal answer to the changing appetites of diners. 

Zén

Lineage: Notable for its New Nordic cuisine popularised by renowned Swedish chef Björn Frantzén, the Singapore sister property of Frantzén, has reliably dished out ingredient-focused creations showcasing complex preparation and cooking techniques such as curing, fermentation and pickling to bring out natural flavours presented Japanese kaiseki-style.

For the first time, the restaurant is run by a fully Singaporean team with head chef Kelvin Ng at the helm, ensuring the team keeps to Frantzén Group’s DNA.  

Cuisine: Clean Nordic-Japanese dishes that seamlessly blend Swedish and Japanese ingredients as a coherent creation such as crudo of shima aji with artichoke bariguole, quince and nasturtium.

The menu is led by the seasons (of both countries) as fresh produce is flown in from Japan four times a week. Expect an interactive dining experience moving through all three floors of the heritage shop house, and courses plated tableside.

Ambience: Newly reopened, Zén’s moodier, more grown-up outfit comes from the minds of Stockholm-based interior architecture studio Joyn. Raw wood and stone finishings set the backdrop for a hodgepodge of culinary paraphernalia including Japanese teapots and fermentation jars alongside artworks from Swedish artists.