New Restaurants in Singapore this August: Foodie News Flash

We’ve got intel on the hottest new restaurants in town…

This month, new openings include the long-awaited restaurant by Chef Rishi Naleendra, a new restaurant championing sustainable produce, two Peranakan restaurants, lots of new Japanese restaurants to satisfy that sushi or unagi craving, gravity-defying Japanese soft serve and more.

Cloudstreet — New restaurant by Chef Rishi

Chef Rishi Naleendra opened his new restaurant, the hugely anticipated Cloudstreet, barely a few weeks ago. Cloudstreet features a chef’s counter next to the open kitchen so that diners can get up close to the chef action. There are tasting menus from a three-course lunch menu at an affordable $68, all the way to a seven-course dinner menu at $198. The food is set to showcase ‘a culinary philosophy which seamlessly marries disparate cultures and influences through ingredient-driven cuisine.’ While Chef Rishi focussed on modern Australian for his popular Cheek Bistro, this new restaurant might look to bear more of Chef’s soul and heritage so we might expect nods to both Australia and more excitingly, Sri Lanka.

Cloudstreet, 84 Amoy Street, Singapore 069903, Tel: (+65) 6513 7868, www.cloudstreet.com.sg

Kausmo — Sustainable Produce

Kausmo is a new 16-seater restaurant backed by Les Amis Group that embraces less preferred veg and fruit (overstocked, over-ripened, and oddly-shaped vegetables that are still completely fresh and good to use). Or as young co-founders Lisa Tang, 24, and Kuah Chew Shian, 26 put it, “aesthetically filtered fruits and vegetables”. These chefs are all about living more thoughtfully and sustainably so they use produce that might otherwise go to waste as well as less popular secondary cuts of meat. Kausmo offers a very affordable 6-course menu at $75, with a gut-friendly Kombucha (hurrah!) tasting at an additional $20. Every part of the restaurant, from the upcycled coasters to the ‘imperfect’ porcelain tableware, is envisioned as thoughtful conversation starters.

Kausmo, 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, #03-07, Singapore 228208, www.kausmo.com

Emma — Japanese no drop soft serve

Japanese soft serve specialist Emma comes to Singapore. The famous soft serve is known for being gravity-defying! As in, tip it over and it won’t fall – handy info for mamas with kids who like to swing their ice cream maybe? The soft serve (from $4.80) is made from premium Japanese milk, Okinawa brown sugar, Japanese brown sugar syrup and soybean powder. Order it in a cup, a wafer shell (with boba pearls), or a charcoal cone for maximum IG effect with your choice of finishing dip in different flavours. Hold it upside down…go on, we dare you!

Emma, 68 Orchard Road, #B2-45, Plaza Singapura, Singapore 238839, www.facebook.com/pg/emmasoftsg

Indigo Blue Kitchen — Peranakan

Indigo Blue Kitchen by Les Amis Group offers true blue Peranakan cuisine. Drawing from Group Chairman of Les Amis, Desmond Lim’s food memories of growing up in a Peranakan household, dishes are inspired by traditional recipes with the addition of modern flourishes. Signature items include IB’s Nonya Poh Piah ($32 for two people) made with egg skins wrap giving way to turnip, bamboo shoots, pork belly and fried bean curd. Other highlights include Bakwan Kepiting Soup ($22) a broth with hand-rolled meatballs of crab, prawn, and minced pork; Satay Babi Lemak ($16) of pork stir-fried in candlenut spice paste and coconut cream; and the turmeric-infused Otak-Otak Jantan ($16). For dessert, Apom with Three Pengats ($14 for 6 pieces) sees fluffy rice pancakes served with D24 durian, jackfruit and banana cooked in gula melaka and coconut milk.

Indigo Blue Kitchen, 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, #03-09/10/11, Singapore 228208, Tel: (+65) 6235 3218, www.indigobluekitchen.com.sg

      Read more: New Restaurants in SG This Summer

Gochi Church Street Japan Kitchen — Japanese dining

Gochi Church Street Japan Kitchen is the newest Japanese food concept to open in Singapore with six Japanese eateries (four of which are new-to-Singapore) in Capital Square. The largest of the Japanese outlets is Italian-Japanese casual dining chain Pronto, serving mainly Italian casual fare with some Japanese dishes. There’s also conveyor belt sushi chain, Chojiro; unagi and rice restaurant Unaemon, a take-away Suage Express kiosk offering Japanese curry, Morozoff for Japanese chocolates and Paletas, hailing from Yokohama, selling upmarket fruit ice lollies.

Gochi Church Street Japan Kitchen, First floor of Capital Square, 23 Church Street, Singapore 049481, www.facebook.com/gochisg

Godmama — Modern Peranakan

Godmama, a modern Peranakan restaurant and bar, has launched at new mall FUNAN. Its name is a tribute to two women who made the restaurant possible, co-founder Christina Keilthy’s Godma and Mama. This new restaurant serves up heirloom Peranakan recipes like All Star Egg Skin Popiah ($6.50) filled with hand-cut vegetables and wrapped with soft egg skin crepe with fresh prawns, lettuce, crushed peanuts, and crispy shallots. Other signatures on the lunch and dinner menus include a classic Ayam Buah Keluak ($18.90) and Babi Assam ($16.90), as well as the nostalgic Godmama’s Homemade Otak Otak ($9.90) and Sambal Udang with prawns ($23.90) – the latter two dishes pictured above. There are also set lunches ranging from $13.90 to $17.90, that come with a main, chap chye (mixed vegetable stew), butterfly pea jasmine rice, achar and homemade belachan.

Godmama, 109 North Bridge Road, #04-07, Singapore 179105 , Tel: (+65) 6970 0828, www.facebook.com/godmamasg

Mott 32 — Award-winning Chinese at MBS

Mott 32, Hong Kong’s multi-award-winning contemporary Chinese restaurant, opens at Marina Bay Sands later this year. Mott 32 will be helmed by Maximal Concepts’ Group Executive chef Lee Man-Sing, who held two Michelin Stars in his previous role. We can’t wait for this opening to taste the Cantonese, Szechuan, and Beijing dishes like the Applewood Roasted Peking Duck (pictured) which is specially aged in a custom air-drying fridge for 42 days before being roasted in a custom duck oven – a process that takes over 48 hours from start to finish (available by pre-order only).

Mott 32, B1-42/43/44, Galleria Level, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands www.marinabaysands.com/restaurants/mott

      Read more: New Restaurants in June: Foodie News Flash

Two Bakers — Comfort food & artisanal desserts

Two Bakers has opened up in Serangoon, taking up one of the shops along the row of shophouses on Teck Chye Terrace. This simple café-restaurant serves up a popular brunch (their pandan pancakes with gula melaka sauce are a hit), as well as lunch and dinner options of Fish & Chips ($18), Ribs ($20), Burgers ($18) and a selection of pastas, as well as Asian inspired bowls. Desserts here are a highlight: a small counter displays each offering from entremets to individual cakes. The Nostalgia series sees classic childhood treats reinterpreted. The Paddle Pop ice cream, with its infamous colour swirls, is actually a cheesecake ($8), while the cute Baozi ($8.5) is a dessert made with a chrysanthemum ‘skin’ and tangy yuzu lemon with white chocolate mousse.

Two Bakers, 9 Teck Chye Terrace, Singapore 545720, Tel: (+65) 6293 0329, www.two-bakers.com

Burger Labo — Gourmet burgers

Burger Labo is the latest concept by the team behind The Naked Finn. Also situated at Gillman Barracks, this tiny cube of a restaurant dishes out gourmet burgers. Their Char-grilled Chicken Burger ($20) was actually developed by Chef Julien Royer (from Odette)! The Basic Burger ($23) features a blend of grass-fed Angus beef neck, Aomori Gyu ribeye, Toriyama Umami Wagyu A4 tenderloin and – yes there’s more! –  Sendai Wagyu A5 brisket packed into a 170 gram patty topped with tomato, locally-farmed lettuce, American cheese, and house-made bone marrow ‘butter. Fries are of the truffle variety ($3).

Burger Labo, Block 41, Malan Road, Singapore 109454, Tel: (+65) +65 6694 0940, www.facebook.com/burgerlabo/

      Read more: Best Kid-friendly Restaurants in SG

In other foodie news

– Newly halal certified Copper Chimney excels in North Indian and Indian Chinese cuisine. Our experience here was an amazing culinary journey through various flavours from flavourful Masala Roomali, a thin bread filled with onions and tomato, to Chicken Lababdar, tandoor cooked Salmon Fish Masala, and comfort food Triple Szechwan Rice made with long-grain rice, hakka noodles, and spicy gravy.  100 Syed Alwi Road, Singapore 207676, www.copperchimney.com.sg

– Burger & Lobster is opening a second Singapore outlet at Raffles Hotel’s Arcade later in 2019 — it’ll be three times larger than the Jewel Burger & Lobster branch. #01-25, Raffles Arcade, 1 Beach Rd, Singapore 189673