bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Shamilee Vellu

Raffles Hotel Singapore has named Taiwanese chef André Chiang, best known for his genre-defying modern French cuisine at the now-closed Restaurant André, as its newest writer-in-residence.
The hotel has long been associated with literary greats such as Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad, who were among its earliest guests.
The programme, launched in 2019 and now in its fourth edition, was designed to nurture creative writing talent.
Chiang follows in the footsteps of Oxford-born travel writer Pico Iyer, Singaporean poet Madeleine Lee, and New Zealand author and journalist Vicki Virtue. Notably, he will be the first chef to take part in the programme.

As part of the project, Chiang has produced Fragments of Time, a 200-page meditation on heritage, light and the art of preserving tradition.
Available to buy at Raffles Boutique and online, the book is his second publication in English, following 2016’s Octaphilosophy, which explored his eight elements of gastronomy.
It is not a cookbook, he insists, nor is it a memoir. Rather, it is a love letter to Raffles and the flavours of Singapore, where the intertwining of cultures has created something greater than the sum of its parts.
These have been stitched together with memories and musings gathered during a self-imposed, almost monastic two-week stay in the hotel’s plush Palm Court wing.
“I basically locked myself in,” Chiang says. “When I write, the world needs to stop. I did exactly the same thing every day so I could focus 120 per cent.”
Each morning for the chef began with the same blueberry-avocado smoothie, and lunch with the same chicken salad – both his own recipes.
To enter Raffles Hotel Singapore is to step into a world suspended between past and present, where light itself welcomes you
André Chiang, in Fragments of Time
His only diversions were two daily walks through Raffles’ colonnades during which he attuned himself to the tiniest shifts in light and life.
A black-naped oriole he dubbed “Wolverini” for its masked eyes became an unlikely mascot of his residency.
“I immersed myself like a teabag in the building,” he says. “Like noticing there were three birds today instead of five. And then I found the light of Raffles.”
Throughout Fragments of Time, light emerges as the book’s central character. “To enter Raffles Hotel Singapore,” Chiang writes, “is to step into a world suspended between past and present, where light itself welcomes you.”
The book draws on pivotal moments from Raffles Hotel and Singapore’s history, refracted through Chiang’s gastronomic lens.
Old menus featuring dishes such as Consommé Westminster and Bouchée Balmoral (a puff pastry dish) evoke colonial grandeur, while others, such as clear turtle soup and iced asparagus in mayonnaise sauce, are intriguing examples of bygone tastes.

Raffles itself, Chiang suggests, is a mosaic of cultural fragments. “It’s not from one certain period,” he says. “Instead, it keeps the most beautiful things – from Victorian, art nouveau, art deco and contemporary periods – seamlessly weaving these fragments together over time to make what Raffles is today.”
The book distils these diverse influences into what Chiang calls “the four pillars of Raffles Singapore”, with Chinese represented by wok hei – the smoky flavour that comes from stir-frying – Europeans by terroir, Southeast Asians by mélange, as in the blending of cultures, and Indians by spices.
Chiang’s philosophy is clear: culinary traditions are perpetuated by adapting them, not slavishly adhering to them.
“For example, we’re not going to eat sweet and sour pork forever,” he says. “It’s not the dish we should pass on, but the concept of sweet and sour. Future generations can then apply it in the way that best reflects how they live, even if it’s sweet and sour crickets.”
The chef describes the book’s 26 recipes as fragments – spice blends, dressings, marinades – that are intended to be interpreted by readers. “Only when you apply these fragments to your life,” Chiang says, “do they become yours.”
Among the most memorable are those for a Nutella-like lotus seed spread and a reimagined version of kue lapis, the traditional Indonesian snack of layered soft rice flour pudding, which he fills with layers of cream cheese and fresh cream speckled with truffle salsa.
Singapore is my second home … I feel comfortable here and enjoy the mix of East and West
André Chiang
Another is the Umami Bomb, a concentrated purée of several umami ingredients (such as shiitake mushrooms and fish sauce) that can be spooned over just about anything.
His favourite? A green curry sorbet – a witty riff on the French chaudfroid technique. It blends the warming heat of green curry paste with basil purée, lime juice and sorbet into something cold, savoury and entirely unexpected.
Chiang recommends getting creative with it, stirring a spoonful into salads, gin and tonics or even a glass of lemon and soda water.
His literary residency coincides with an exciting announcement: he will soon lead a new restaurant inside Raffles’ neo-Renaissance main building.
This has been a long time coming for the chef, whose relationship with Raffles stretches back nearly two decades.
He recalls his first encounter back in 2008, when he took part in a spectacular culinary showcase hosted by the hotel, featuring a galaxy of three-Michelin-star restaurants. “Even now, you don’t see anywhere else pulling off something like that,” he says.

Having shut his Singapore restaurant in 2018, returning to the city – and the hotel – as both a writer and a chef feels like a homecoming.
“Singapore is my second home,” he says. “[Restaurant] André really started here. I feel comfortable here and enjoy the mix of East and West. People here appreciate the effort behind a dish – like a hidden gel under a scallop or that little drizzle of olive oil that makes all the difference.”
As for his next chapter, he is inspired by the Chinese idiom jí guāng piàn yǔ – a celestial feather left behind by an unimaginably beautiful creature – as proof that beauty exists, and that it can exist again.
“Raffles Hotel Singapore is like that feather. And so is every beautiful thing we create,” he says. “It makes you believe there is a better future – something to work towards.”


Crispy, chewy, soft: why texture, not taste, rules South Korea’s current viral food trends

Hong Kong consumers need not be at sea when it comes to oysters

History of Chinese flatbreads reflects how food has echoes of faraway places

How Rocky’s Matcha founder built a blossoming tea brand after being told to quit coffee

Food and Drinks

André Chiang on Raffles Singapore homecoming as chef and writer, and why hotel is a mosaic

Taiwanese chef André Chiang. Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore

André Chiang is Raffles Singapore’s new writer-in-residence, and will soon open a restaurant there. He talks about his book about the hotel, and why Singapore is his “second home”. Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore

Chiang’s new book Fragments of Time will be sold at Raffles Singapore and online. Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore

In his book, Chiang explores Raffles’ history through a gastronomic lens. Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore

Chiang’s return to Raffles to lead a new restaurant feels like a homecoming to the chef, whose relationship with the hotel stretches back almost two decades. Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore

Hong Kong chef-rapper whose hip-hop cooking videos lit up Instagram on the power of food

Hong Kong rapper and cook Chef West. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Chef West in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town neighbourhood. The musician and cook has found thousands of fans on Instagram by blending food and hip hop. Photo: Jonathan Wong

West, who grew up on home-cooked Cantonese dishes, says he would always stand beside his mother in the kitchen and watch her cook. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Egg and char siu barbecue pork rice by Chef West. The musician started cooking Cantonese dishes to save money while on a gap year in the UK. Photo: Chef West

West says that when it comes to food, “People just connect to it”. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Black Pearl Restaurant Guide 2025 makes its international bow in Singapore awards ceremony

Meituan’s Black Pearl restaurant guide held its first awards ceremony overseas, including a gala dinner, in Singapore. Photo: Meituan

Sebastien Lepinoy of Singapore’s Les Amis restaurant, recipient of the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide 2025’s Master Chef Award, speaks on stage at the awards ceremony in Singapore. Photo: Meituan

Tang Yan, the head of the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, addresses guests at the awards ceremony at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands complex. Photo: Meituan

Park Seung-hun of Hong Kong’s Hansik Goo restaurant received the Young Chef Award. Photo: Meituan

Chef Weng Yongjun of Yong Fu in Shanghai introduces his dish for the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide dinner, Ningbo-Style bamboo shoots. Photo: Meituan

Amber chef Richard Ekkebus (left) with other two-diamond awardees at the ceremony in Singapore. Photo: Meituan

On the menu at the ceremony was braised South African abalone. Photo: Meituan

12 of the best new places to eat in Hong Kong, Macau in May 2025 and one to keep an eye on

Yakiniku Sho specialises in tender Kuroge Wagyu beef. It is one of a host of new restaurant openings in Hong Kong to check out in May. Photo: Yakiniku Sho

Mama Tiger Noodles serves plenty of Thai-style noodles, including Wagyu boat noodles. Photo: Mama Tiger Noodles

Black pork and abalone dumplings from Fat Boy Dumplings. Photo: Fat Boy Dumplings

At Primo Posto, diners can look forward to Milanese-style dishes. Photo: Primo Posto

Classic bistro dishes at Jean Pierre. Photo: courtesy of Jean-Pierre

A tempura udon set from Marugame Udon. Photo: Marugame Udon

6 of Singapore’s best hidden speakeasy bars that will take you back in time – and how to find them

Bartenders at Chandu create drinks with a narrative that are loosely based on history. Photo: The Robertson House by the Crest Collection

A bartender mixes a drink at Chandu, one of our picks of six of the best hidden speakeasy bars in Singapore. Photo: The Robertson House by the Crest Collection

The Mizuwari whisky highball at Live Twice uses Hokkaido soft water rather than soda to accentuate the malt notes of the Japanese Nikka whiskies. Photo: Instagram/@livetwicesg

Chandu is inspired by Singapore’s colonial era, when opium dens flourished in the city state. Photo: The Robertson House by The Crest Collection

Chandu’s Mata Hari cocktail is named after a Dutch dancer and courtesan. Photo: Facebook/Chandu

Oriental Elixir, located in a Peranakan rowhouse, is a dimly lit watering hole for nonconformist cocktails. Photo: Philipp Meier

Oriental Elixir’s Malabar Tamarind cocktail combines the sour ingredient with roasted cherry tomato gin, dry vermouth. Photo: Instagram/@oriental.elixir

Junior the Pocket Bar is a small, 25-seater speakeasy that tasks itself with changing the menu completely every few months. Photo: Philipp Meier

A cocktail titled Sesame from the Korea-inspired menu at Junior the Pocket Bar. Photo: Junior the Pocket Bar

Jade Harbour is part of The Bund menu currently offered at Junior the Pocket Bar, inspired by the Shanghai district. Credit: Junior the Pocket Bar

For its Korean Joseon dynasty-inspired menu, the interiors of Junior the Pocket Bar featured dragons. Photo: Philipp Meier

Roxy is a hip-hop-inspired speakeasy hidden inside the Miss Fitz restaurant in Singapore’s Marina Bay. Photo: Facebook/Roxy

The drinks at Roxy are based on classics, but are given their own spin. Photo: Facebook/Roxy

Last Word has finessed tipples that were invented in the 1920s. Photo: Philipp Meier

Last Word’s eponymous cocktail is a classic, blending gin, maraschino liqueur, green chartreuse and lime. Photo: Instagram/@lastwordsg

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Taiwanese chef talks about his 200-page love letter to Raffles as its writer-in-residence and why he’s excited to open a restaurant in hotel


Taiwanese chef talks about his 200-page love letter to Raffles as its writer-in-residence and why he’s excited to open a restaurant in hotel.


Singapore

Fame and celebrity

André Chiang on Raffles Singapore homecoming as chef and writer, and why hotel is a mosaic

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Taiwanese chef talks about his 200-page love letter to Raffles as its writer-in-residence and why he’s excited to open a restaurant in hotel

Taiwanese chef talks about his 200-page love letter to Raffles as its writer-in-residence and why he’s excited to open a restaurant in hotel