A meal worth your dollar doesn’t always have to include exotic ingredients sourced from overseas. Take a thing or two from these dining establishments prove that local producers can punch well above their weight
Wild Rocket
Uses: Singapore-made Kwong Woh Hing soya sauce
Says chef-owner Willin Low of mod-sin restaurant Wild Rocket. “I Love Kwong Woh Hing soya sauce because it has depth,” he says, “Many mass produced soya sauces these days taste flat, is just plain salty or smells like artificial aromas have been added.
For Low, Kwong Woh Hing’s full fermentation process — done the old school way, in a vat under the sun — is able to achieve that complexity. “Mass produced sauces cut short the fermentation process and add flavour enhancers. I also love supporting other crazy Singaporeans who stand by what they believe in.” His dish? Tau yew bah (braised pork belly in soy sauce) cannelloni baked with cheese and served with a soy sauce cured yolk.
Wild Rocket
Hangout @ Mt Emily
10A Upper Wilkie Road
Singapore 228119
Tel: +65 63399448
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiGyzpknpNL/?hl=en&taken-by=restaurantlabyrinth
Labyrinth
Uses: Lala clams from Ah Hua Kelong
Chef-owner of one-Michelin-starred Labyrinth, Han Li Guang, has devised a new culinary philosophy: “New expressions of Singapore cuisine”. With this notion, Han chooses to focus a lot more on ingredients found in our waters such as lala clams that grow naturally at Ah Hua Kelong located off Sembawang. Han’s dish showcases the sweet lala clams and clam liquor jelly resting atop a tart made from deep-fried wonton skin. This is a unique twist of street snack fried-wonton, spiked with a dollop of house-made XO sauce.
Labrynith
#02-23
Esplanade Mall
8 Raffles Ave
Singapore 039802
Tel: +65 6223 4098
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjLz-bGHGyg/?hl=en&taken-by=restaurantnouri
Nouri
Uses: Foraged plants from all over Singapore
Ivan Brehm, chef-owner of one-Michelin star Nouri at Amoy Street, forages for ingredients such as wild pepper leaf, bilimbi, red ginger buds and torch ginger. And where does he find them? He says, “in the vicinity”. The chef uses the wild pepper leaf, a wild-grown plant that’s often eaten raw in Southeast Asia, for his black pepper fish dish. The unique creation comprises locally farmed grouper, black pepper and vanilla sauce, alongside charred pickled carrot. He also uses the sourish bilimbi fruit to pair with his delicate Hokkaido scallop tartare, toasted coconut, oscietra caviar, and pressed coconut milk dish.
Nouri
72 Amoy Street
Singapore 069891
Tel: +65 6221 4148
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlWz4npHt8C/?hl=en&taken-by=chefjustinquek_
Chinoiserie and JustIN
Uses: Local seafood from a local kelong and Tekka Market
Chef Justin Quek has recently launched his Franco-Asian fine dining restaurant Chinoiserie and the more casual JustIN Flavours of Asia at Marina Bay Sands. He uses a large variety of local ingredients for his menu including seafood sourced from a local kelong and Tekka Market. The next time you pay his restaurants a visit, look out for the blue river prawns in his hor fun dish and shark head that’s topped with caviar and sour cream.
Chinoiserie
B1-15
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
10 Bayfront Ave
Singapore 018956
Tel: +65 6688 7782
JustIn
L1-83
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
10 Bayfront Ave
Singapore
018956
Tel: +65 6688 7722
Find out how these products are made (or sourced) in Singapore in our August print issue.
