Want a good meal? Head to factoryland

Straits Times

12-07-2025

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SINGAPORE – Convenience is king, but intrepid Singaporean diners have been known to travel far and wide for good food. Even if it means eating in an area filled with factories and workshops.
That is how they found Seafood Paradise, which began in 2002 in a canteen in Defu Lane, an industrial area.
Today, the Paradise Group has 155 restaurants in 12 cities and has spawned 12 brands. These include Taste Paradise at Ion Orchard; Paradise Teochew at Scotts Square; and hotpot chain Beauty In The Pot, with four outlets here, including at Centrepoint.
New Ubin Seafood, now at Chijmes, was located for some years in Sin Ming Industrial Estate, amid car workshops.
More recently,
diners have flocked to Na Oh , the one-year-old Korean restaurant in Jurong West, housed in car manufacturer Hyundai's factory and innovation centre.
Two new restaurants might find the success these brands have had in industrial locations.
Revolution, which opens on July 18, is next to Danish furniture brand Fritz Hansen's showroom in Henderson Road. And Richman Dim Sum in Ubi Crescent has been packed since opening two months ago.
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Designer furniture for dining space
Revolution (opens July 18)
Where: 01-05, 211 Henderson Road
Open: 11am to 3pm (lunch), 3 to 5pm (tea time) (Mondays to Saturdays), closed Sundays
Info: @r_evolution.sg (Instagram)
There are perks to dining at Revolution, opening on July 18 at 211 Henderson Road, an industrial building housing logistics, automotive, catering and other companies.
Danish furniture design company Fritz Hansen is moving its showroom there from Tan Boon Liat Building, and has carved out space for the 40-seat bistro. Those seats are the 153-year-old brand's Grand Prix chairs, designed in 1957 by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen.
Diners eat off the brand's Superellipse and Supercircular tables by Danish mathematician, designer and inventor Piet Hein; Swedish designer and architect Bruno Mathsson; and Jacobsen. The space is lit by Kaiser Idell pendant and wall lamps by German designer Christian Dell.
But Mr Dario Reicherl, Fritz Hansen's chief executive for Asia, says the whole enterprise is not about selling more furniture.
'When you go to a furniture store to buy a chair or lights, I find that a boring experience. We want to do here something that goes against the Singapore experience. Create good memories and fun. Create something that doesn't exist here,' he says.
The 50-year-old, who has lived in Singapore for about 20 years, has done the same in South Korea, partnering wine bar Big Lights to open a natural wine bistro above the Fritz Hansen showroom in Seoul.
Fritz Hansen Asia chief executive Dario Reicherl at the Danish furniture brand's Henderson Road showroom, where space has been carved out for Revolution bistro.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
In 2023, it was Tokyo's turn. The brand outfitted Le Ginglet in Iidabashi, known for serving natural wine and housemade charcuterie.
In Singapore, he roped in Mr Alvin Gho, 44, and Mr Ian Lim, 41, who used to run Wine RVLT, a natural wine bar in Carpenter Street that closes on July 12. Mr Reicherl had been a customer there for about five years.
Mr Gho and Mr Lim had been looking for their next project after eight years of running RVLT. The rent at Henderson is about a third of what they used to pay in Carpenter Street, and Revolution will be a different concept altogether.
For one thing, it will be more food-focused. RVLT chef Sunny Leong, 35, has worked at fine-dining restaurants such as Corner House and Sky On 57, and will be leading the new kitchen.
The wine list will be more diverse, with natural and organic wines, and wines from Burgundy, France. Prices will range from $80 to $600 a bottle.
(From left) Revolution co-founders Ian Lim and Alvin Gho used to run Wine RVLT, a natural wine bar in Carpenter Street.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Mr Gho says: 'People want to go out and spend money, but they are drinking a lot less. Our regulars are now in their 40s, with one or two kids. They don't want to get smashed on a night out, but they are still happy to go out for dinner.'
The restaurant will open only for lunch initially. Set lunches are priced at $28.80 and will include salad, a choice of pasta and a drink. Pasta selections include Hua Diao White Clams Linguine, Mala-pesto Trofie and Salted Egg Carbonara Spaghetti. After 3pm, diners can order Salted Cod Portuguese Egg Tart ($12) and Pork Sausage Roll ($8) to go with wine.
Dinner service will open to the public in September or October, with five-course tasting menus priced at $98 a person, and a menu of sharing dishes for large groups of diners.
The offerings have not been finalised, but the tasting menu may include Chicken Skin Foie Gras Stroopwafel, Blue Mussel Cheong Fun and herbal roasted duck. Sharing main dishes include Grilled Sole Fish with Ginger Flower Sauce Vierge and Charcoal Grilled Wagyu Tomahawk with mashed potato.
Mr Lim says: 'We've been proud of the food Sunny has put out at RVLT. But the setting was a wine bar. We promised to give him a proper kitchen, and a chance to showcase what he can do.'
Mr Reicherl says of the partnership with the Revolution team: 'This place doesn't want to be another furniture-brand cafe. Fritz Hansen is a design brand that is more than 150 years old, we don't follow trends. We have a lot in common. What they are doing is different from others.'
Richman dimsum, average-Joe prices
Richman Dim Sum
Where: 01-05 Excalibur Centre, 71 Ubi Crescent
Open: 7.30am to 4pm daily
Info: @richmandimsum (Instagram)
Taro puffs shaped like swans, mushroom buns shaped like snails, har kow with fuchsia skin coloured with beetroot – the dimsum at Richman, a two-month-old restaurant, looks like it comes from an upscale restaurant in a hotel.
But the prices show that you need not be a rich man to dine at Richman. The Crispy Taro Swans are priced at $6.80 for three, the Crispy Mushroom Snails are $5.80 for three and Beetroot Shrimp Dumplings are $5.80 for three. Most of the other dimsum – including Hand-Chopped Siew Mai, Homemade Carrot Cake, Hand Pulled Char Siew Rice Rolls – are priced at $4.80 a serving. Prices start at $2.90 for Fresh Shrimp Yong Tau Foo.
Richman Dim Sum's food includes (from left) Crispy Taro Swans, Har Cheong Squid, Muah Otah Siew Mai, Cantonese Dried Vegetable & Salted Pork Porridge, Beetroot & Rice Crisps Rice Rolls and Crispy Popiah Rice Rolls.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
The restaurant is the latest venture for restaurateur Keith Kang, 42, who also has Yang Ming Seafood in Bishan, Ubi Crescent and VivoCity; and Great Nanyang Heritage Cafe in Craig Road and Somerset. In fact, he had bought the coffee-shop space in Ubi Crescent to open the second Yang Ming outlet, and was renting out the other stalls.
He tells The Straits Times: 'When Yang Ming in Bishan got too busy, I started looking around for another space. I drove by this place and although it looked old, I saw there was potential. The outdoor area has a kampung atmosphere, and a breeze.'
So, he opened Yang Ming there in 2021, and it did well. The tenants, however, had manpower issues, and some owed rent.
Mr Kang adds that he had always wanted to open a dimsum restaurant, but that the chef he wanted to work with was unavailable at first. Finally, that chef, 47-year-old Foo Wah Keng, was – and Richman opened on May 5.
Mr Kang says: 'When I go out for dimsum, hotels are good but the prices are high. Finding hawker stalls selling good-quality dimsum is hard.'
Between Yang Ming and Richman, Mr Kang has no problem putting bums in the many seats. Indoors, the place seats 226, with 70 seats in the main dining area, a 120-seat air-conditioned dining room and a 36-seat private room. There are 150 seats outdoors. On weekends, he says, the place is packed.
Chef Foo, who had worked at Crystal Jade and Mouth Restaurant, among other places, offers dimsum that diners might be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
There is steamed Coconut & Salted Egg Layer Cake ($5.80); Crispy Popiah Rice Rolls ($6.80), which are cheung fun stuffed with popiah filling and crispy wafers; and Har Cheong Squid ($5.80), squid steamed with fermented prawn paste.
Richman Dim Sum's Har Cheong Squid is unlikely to be found elsewhere.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Mr Kang says: 'Of all the food businesses I have, dimsum is the most labour-intensive. It's hard to find people with the skills to make dimsum and who want to work in a hot kitchen.'
He has air blowers in the kitchen for the nine staff, and the restaurant hires additional people on weekends to cope with the crowds. Aside from about 40 varieties of dimsum, Richman also offers roast meats, which can be had on their own or with noodles. Prices start at $4.50 for Wanton Char Siew Noodle.
With people flocking to Richman, the natural progression would be to expand. But Mr Kang wants to run the business for a year before deciding.
'Customers have complained about the long wait for tables and food,' he says. 'And we sometimes run out of certain items. Everything is handmade. I can expand only if I can hire more workers.'