Where to eat in Singapore: three of the hottest restaurants right now, from seafood in Raffles Singapore’s BBR to healthy eats in Cook & Tras Social Library

Be it stalwarts that have stood the test of time or exciting new venues, every visit to Singapore reaffirms the Lion City’s status as one of Asia’s best destinations for dining out.

BBR by legendary French chef Alain Ducasse combines both these elements in a brand-new restaurant in historic surroundings – the recently restored Raffles Singapore.

It sits in the hotel’s Bar & Billiard Room (hence BBR), which started life in 1896 and has been the subject of folklore over the years, such as being the spot where the last tiger in Singapore (which escaped from a circus) was said to have been shot in 1902.

What early 20th-century hunters would make of the room’s conversion is anyone’s guess.

BBR marks Ducasse’s Singapore debut and celebrates his use of modern Mediterranean flavours, primarily from Portugal, Spain, Italy and, of course, France.

There are no tablecloths in sight, and it’s not fine dining, but as a sharing and grill concept BBR offers a relaxed and gently busy vibe on a Sunday lunchtime. For solo diners – or those simply unwilling to share – individual plates are also available.

Chef de cuisine Louis Pacquelin has worked closely with the French maestro for years and leads the open kitchen team in a menu featuring excellent renditions of familiar classics. The “very BBR menu” at S$128 (US$94) allowed us to try many of the classics through eight shared dishes.

These included pissaladière, a classic Niçoise dish of onion and anchovy tart, in which the flavours ended up much more subtle than the ingredients suggest. The delicate lattice effect was eye-catching, while the sweetness of the onions paired beautifully with the salty, maritime hit of the fish.

The cataplana de marisco was a bowl of shellfish, including mussels and clams, topped by carabinero prawns, all sitting on top of a glorious bisque which needed more bread to really do it justice. Another shared dish was the Iberian classic pulpo à la gallega, where tender octopus was char-grilled before being drizzled with olive oil and dusted with paprika. The dish was simple but beautifully executed, and lifted further by two sensational sauces – a green piccata sauce and an orange one made with piquillo peppers.

The main event veered from sea to land with lomo à la brasa, mojo verde – grilled strip loin served with a memorable sweet green bell pepper sauce. Blistered padrón peppers and fried potatoes completed a dish which would make a great lunch by itself – as long as you aren’t sharing plates.

East of Raffles, past Fort Canning Park, sits Esora, which is overseen by young chef Shigeru Koizumi, who has worked in two restaurants that boast three Michelin stars – Nihonryori RyuGin in Tokyo and Julien Royer’s Odette in Singapore. His sensitive touch, beautiful plating and refined palate shows how profoundly he was influenced by both.

Esora – which translates best as “unconventional” – is an elegant space where you should aim to snare one of the 10 seats at the cedar wood counter so you can witness Koizumi and his young team work in a culinary ballet of timing and quiet precision.

Behind the counter are branches of a willow tree, the foliage of which changes throughout the year in line with the seasons. It’s a lovely touch and adds to the high-end Japanese aesthetic contributed by screens and materials including wood, paper and copper.

Singapore has some three-Michelin-star restaurants again

The eight-course dinner – S$268 – was called “Memories of Esora – crackling coals and sweet potatoes bring comfort to the soul”. An alcohol or tea pairing is available, and the latter proved a fascinating journey across a world of tastes, with the excellent sommelier letting me smell the tea every time before serving it.

The first dish was a dashi made with kombu seaweed and katsuobushi – skipjack tuna that’s fermented and dried, then thinly shaved – which was poured over green flecks of yuzu zest. It spoke volumes for the dishes to come, with its clean, pure and refined flavours that celebrated the produce.

There were other stand-outs across a menu whose excellence made it all the more surprising that Esora has not yet been acknowledged with a star by Michelin. Persimmon from Japan’s Nara prefecture came with a monaka (crisp, thin wafers made of mochi flour) filled with foie gras, shaved myoga (ginger flower) and kaffir lime zest. An exemplary sashimi selection, wagyu sirloin cooked over charcoal and served with quenelles of wasabi, and a chawanmushi custard with hairy crab all suggested that Esora strongly merits a look the next time the Michelin inspectors do their thing.

Finally, there is the Tanjong Pagar district of Singapore’s Chinatown. The area is filled with restaurants and bars, making it a lively spot after sundown and at weekends. Few places to eat at there are better situated than Cook & Tras Social Library in the Six Senses Maxwell hotel – an establishment formed from a row of shop houses.

The “social library” takes its names from the adjoining Cook and Tras streets and features more than 3,000 books to peruse over a coffee (or something stronger), as well as lunch or dinner. The dark woods, patterned carpets, deep armchairs and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves make it feel more like a private member’s club than a restaurant, while the Wi-fi seems to encourage people on laptops to use it as a co-working space.

Titles in the library run the gamut but focus on topics including natural history, sustainability and wellness – perhaps understandably. Executive chef Ian Mancais says: “Food is our natural medicine, and my team and I strive to serve wholesome, nourishing and clean dishes with a Six Senses twist.”

If that strikes fear in your greedy heart, happily the Mediterranean-inspired menu (a “Straits Heritage cuisine” is also available) features a range of dishes which allow you to veer from healthy to decadent.

The set dinner at S$68 offers three choices of appetiser, main course and dessert. Broccoli and spinach soup with micro herbs was the worthy choice, but the Aegean Sea garlic prawns tempted this diner, along with garlic bread that was used to soak up the roasted tomato sauce that they swam in.

The main event could have involved steak with chimichurri or poached organic chicken breast, but pasta came calling with a very well-executed aglio e olio. The decadence was taken up a notch with a cracking lemon tart with passion fruit and mango, the sharpness and sweetness well-balanced over a delicious biscuit base.

BBR by Alain Ducasse, Raffles Singapore, 1 Beach Road, Singapore 189673, tel: +65 6637 1886, bbr-byalainducasse.com.sg

Esora, 15 Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore 238964, tel: +65 6365 1266, restaurant-esora.com

Cook & Tras Social Library, Six Senses Maxwell, 2 Cook Street, Singapore 078857, tel: +65 6914 1400, sixsenses.com/en/hotels/maxwell/dining/cook-tras-social-library