Do newcomers and returning restaurants deserve place in latest ‘Michelin Guide Singapore’?
We sample cuisine after Nouri, Jiang-Nan Chun and Ma Cuisine make debuts and Braci and Jaan return with one-star ratings in this year’s city guidebook
The third edition of the Michelin Guide Singapore focusing on the Lion City’s culinary scene was unveiled at a glitzy presentation ceremony held on the resort island of Sentosa on July 25.
After the closure the three-star Joel Robuchon Restaurant – the eponymous establishment run by the celebrity French chef who died in August – barely a month before the event, there remained only five two-star and 34 one-star restaurants in the food-mad city state – one more than last year's crop of 38 restaurants.
There are five new entrants this year representing a diverse spectrum of culinary creativity from an entrenched Cantonese fine diner to a seven-month-old wine gastro-bar.
Most from the class of 2017 have survived the cut for yet another year, albeit with a few notable exceptions such as Joel Robuchon Restaurant and André Chiang, who caused a stir by handing back his two star ranking before he closed his hugely successful and heavily lauded Restaurant André in February.
Two hawker stalls, Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles and Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodles – regularly touted as the world's cheapest Michelin restaurants – remained on the list if only to raise the question of what it means to be a Michelin-starred eatery these days.
Applause for the elevation of street food has largely abated in the two years since “history was made”, with people now questioning the relevance of a secretive guide that shuts out restaurants for nuances in delivery, but embraces fuss-free hawker stalls that some may regard as “dime a dozen”.
Let’s take a look at some of the new and old winners in the new Michelin Guide Singapore and see why they deserve their freshly minted accolade.
New blood