SINGAPORE – This turbulent year in the food and drink scene in Singapore has seen reliable brands, some built over decades, vanish overnight. Social media is filled with posts from restaurants, cafes, bars and other food businesses saying goodbye.
Michelin-starred restaurants such as
Alma by Juan Amador, Euphoria and Oshino have closed
. Heritage brand Ka Soh is no more, and chains such as Prive and The Manhattan Fish Market are gone. International brands such as Eggslut, Burger & Lobster and Fluffstack have also packed up and left.
There is more to come. By year-end, these other restaurants will have closed: Italian restaurant Amo, after eight years; Japanese restaurant Esora, also after eight years; and East Ocean Teochew Restaurant, after 33 years.
The eyes register these names on the screen or page. What goes unseen, and unfelt, by most: livelihoods lost, partnerships and friendships incinerated, legacies dismantled and aspirations shattered.
Statistics from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, which go up to October 2025, show that 3,450 food businesses started up this year, with 2,513 winding down. The final tally is still to come.
But to focus on closures would be to ignore the resilient people fighting the good fight against diner apathy, wanderlusting Singaporeans, and the strong Singapore dollar and passport.
Canny operators who know how to reel in even the most reluctant diners; owners who dare to make radical changes to their restaurants; chefs and kitchen teams who put out compelling food day after day; front-of-house staff who demonstrate what hospitality means – they all show why Singapore can and should be proud of its food scene.
Here is The Straits Times food team’s picks of the best newcomers in 2025.
Where: 3 Duxton Hill
Open: Noon to 2.30pm, 6.30 to 9.30pm (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays to Saturdays), closed on Wednesdays and Sundays
Info:
www.encorebyrhubarb.sg
At some point in the last two years, this thought must surely have crossed the minds of chefs and restaurant owners: Which is more important, Michelin stars or bums on seats?
British chef Paul Longworth, 47, chose the latter. In June, his 11-year-old Rhubarb, which had kept its one Michelin star since 2016, was reborn as the casual Encore by Rhubarb.
British chef Paul Longworth.
PHOTO: ENCORE BY RHUBARB
He said goodbye to the star. Encore is now attracting diners who can eat there more often.
Chef Longworth says he is no longer “faffing around with flowers”. What he offers, instead, is a friendlier price point that keeps diners returning to the 32-seat restaurant. A three-course set lunch is priced at $48 a person and a four-course set dinner is $88 a person. Diners have a list of choices for each course. Wines by the glass are priced from $24 to $48.
There are touches of luxury still. Lescure French butter with the bread basket. Unabashedly rich – but also mind-bogglingly light – Robuchon-esque whipped potato served with the main courses.
The food is not cutting-edge. It is just plain good.
The finesse expected in a Michelin-starred restaurant does not just disappear. It shows in the House Ballontine made with chicken, duck, pork and ham. It shows in the main course options of hearty, slow-cooked Canadian pork belly served with a strip of puffed pork skin; and poached chicken leg coated with parsley and bread crumbs.
Encore by Rhubarb’s slow-cooked pork belly and puffed pork skin.
PHOTO: ENCORE BY RHUBARB
Pivoting has paid off for Encore. That begs the question: What is a Michelin star really worth? – Tan Hsueh Yun
Where: 02-01 House of Tan Yeok Nee, 101 Penang Road
Open: 6 to 11pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays), closed on Sundays and Mondays
Info: Call 6592-5815 or go to
bit.ly/46Duh0j
Picking a worthy restaurant for this category felt like a repeat of 2024.
As in 2024, there were slim pickings, with fine-dining debuts playing it safe. Would anyone make the cut in 2025, we wondered?
Somma at New Bahru – 2024’s title-holder – opened in September that year. This time, we pushed it right to Nov 6, when Loca Niru launched at the restored House of Tan Yeok Nee in Penang Road.
While it is billed as a modern Japanese-French restaurant, it is the South-east Asian influences in the food that make its Nagano-born Japanese chef Shusuke Kubota, 33, one to watch.
Loca Niru’s chef Shusuke Kubota.
PHOTO: JOHN HENG
And it is the thoughtful details in the eight-course tasting menu ($298++ a person) that impress and excite the palate.
It is the balance of smoked tofu puree with roselle and calamansi vinegar that make its tuna dish shine.
It is the depth of mushroom flavours – seasonal mushrooms such as button mushrooms, dried porcini, black trumpet and shimeji for a consomme with yet more lion’s head and shimeji mushrooms – that elevate its chawanmushi course.
And it is the rich Nonya beurre blanc – infused with a rempah made from ginger flower, lemongrass, galangal, shallot, garlic, chilli, gula melaka, lime and calamansi – that makes the perfectly seared Japanese grunt fish dish unforgettable.
Loca Niru’s Japanese grunt fish (isaki) with Nonya beurre blanc.
PHOTO: JOHN HENG
Throw in the genius creation of a buah keluak bread roll to mop up all the sauce. And it is clear that chef Kubota – formerly of Omakase @ Stevens – has upped his game.
He is also behind the desserts showcasing Asian elements, such as kedondong jelly and granita, chocolate ice cream made with 68 per cent dark chocolate from Malaysia, and gula melaka sabayon.
Loca Niru is the feather in the cap for food and beverage company Gaia Lifestyle Group in 2025, which rolled out two hit openings in November. The other is Tokyo noodle specialist Udon Shin at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, which has been drawing queues since debuting on Nov 13. – Eunice Quek
Where: 01-05, 211 Henderson Road
Open: 11am to 3pm, 6pm to midnight (Wednesdays to Saturdays), 11am to 4pm (Sundays), closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
Info:
www.r-evolution.sg
There is no shortage of restaurants in Singapore serving pasta, and a handful that serve it with well-curated wines. But pasta and well-curated wines with Fritz Hansen tables, chairs and lamps? There is only one: Revolution Wine Bistro, in an industrial building in Henderson Road, next to the luxury Danish furniture brand’s showroom.
The 40-seater opened in July. Running it are wine trade veterans Alvin Gho, 44, and Ian Lim, 41. In the kitchen is chef Sunny Leong, 35, who trained and worked in fine-dining kitchens.
Revolution is run by wine trade veterans (from left) Ian Lim and Alvin Gho, with chef Sunny Leong helming the kitchen.
PHOTO: REVOLUTION
At dinner, he serves a $98-a-person tasting menu showcasing his talent and finesse. Those attributes are also on display at lunch, which offers terrific bang for your buck. And it is the pasta offerings that shine.
Three in particular stand out. The first is Black Pepper Wagyu Mini Skirt Steak Bucatini ($22.80), with perfectly seared steak. Skirt is a cut loaded with flavour, and Leong’s black pepper sauce complements the meat, allowing the diner to enjoy the minerality of the beef.
Revolution’s Black Pepper Wagyu Mini Skirt Steak Bucatini.
PHOTO: REVOLUTION
Chicken Rendang Home-made Ravioli ($19.80) is topped with spicy, crunchy crumbs; and Hua Diao Clams Linguine ($19.80) boasts fat clams in Chinese yellow rice wine. This dish makes a compelling case for using hua diao in place of white wine for vongole.
Order the housemade Chicken Nuggets ($20) with tomato sriracha. It is nonpareil.
Leave Mr Gho and Mr Lim to pair your choices with wines – you are in good hands. They have some delicious labels, including Shofang from China.
All that, and I get to sit on Grand Prix chairs, designed in 1957 by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. It is the closest I’ll ever get to anything Fritz Hansen. – Tan Hsueh Yun
Where: 01-10, 211 Serangoon Avenue 4
Open: 10am to 7.30pm (Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays), 8am to 3pm (weekends), closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Info:
@theweirdoughs.sg
on Instagram
The Weirdoughs, a new cafe in Serangoon, is an anomaly, but not in the way its quirky name suggests. Nothing weird, after all, about its display case of croissants, focaccia, tartines and sandos – all standard staples one might find in any self-respecting cafe.
It is when you bite into the bread that you notice the difference. No Nutella-smothered croissants or burnt sourdough here. Just golden pillows with the right amount of crunch, thoughtfully layered, served fresh and warm.
