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Business Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Food review: Belimbing by The Coconut Club - where hawker food gets a mod-Sin interpretation by chef Marcus Leow
NEW RESTAURANT Belimbing 269A Beach Road Singapore 199546 Tel: 8869-7243 Open for lunch and dinner Tue to Sun: 12 to 3.30 pm; 6 to 10.30 pm. [SINGAPORE] Nasi lemak on the ground floor. Artfully poised, street food-inspired fine dining on the upper level. Want to see how far Singapore cuisine has come? Head to Belimbing, where an evolution by staircase takes place in real time at The Coconut Club's two-storey flagship outlet in Beach Road. The transition starts at the latter, which successfully gentrified humble local fare with pricey nasi lemak served in trendy premises. Except that now, it shows signs of slipping back into its hawker centre roots. The street-level dining area looks worn and unkempt – like your neighbourhood zi char, but with better dressed customers. Noisy, cramped and messy, it extends to the restroom, which may not have had its toilet paper replenished since Covid. Its overflowing (yet large) trash bin is a sign that the person most qualified to empty it must have quit that morning, if not the week before. We pity the bottle of Aesop handwash, releasing soap bubbles like morse code for: 'Help me – take me to a nicer bathroom, pleeease…' We can't wait to get back to our comfortable, cleaner perch upstairs where chef Marcus Leow takes the essence of The Coconut Club's Singapore comfort food – the sambals, rojak, satay and curries – and reinvents them completely. For those who remember Leow from his fledgling days at Magic Square, followed by Naked Finn and the short-lived Focal, the young man with a penchant for juggling local ingredients and recipes with a genre-bending mindset is back – with a new place to (almost) call his own. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up As The Coconut Club's offspring, Belimbing inherits the second floor of the conservation shophouse, serving a very reasonable, S$88 four course menu. If you pay S$21 for nasi lemak downstairs and top up with starters and other sharing plates, it could easily come close to that amount. Most of the dishes are new to us, but some are familiar from Leow's time in Focal, where the food was promising but raw, with good ideas that needed a few more rounds of research and development to perfect. No problem with that now, because Belimbing's dishes are mostly sharper, with a clearer storyline. It's not so easy to spot the local connection, though, given their distinctive, modern European appearance. But unlike an immigration official who will detain you if your post-surgery face doesn't match that in your passport, we know it when we taste it. The fleeting pungence of rojak's hei-ko prawn paste; fermented pineapple in a peanut sauce; the tartness of belimbing, the fruit that the restaurant is named after; and the fragrance of nasi ulam. Leow shows restraint by not making his food all about his heritage, but using heritage as the link to his thought process. A pre-meal bite has chopped raw shrimp and 'gong gong' sea snails stuffed into a crunchy charcoal-hued kueh pie tee shell, topped with belimbing kosho (instead of yuzu) and fried leeks. It's a bit spicy, a touch sour, and a very good start. Aged kanpachi in a cold coconut cream sauce. PHOTO: BELIMBING Fleshy slices of aged kanpachi swim in a pleasing cold coconut cream sauce tinged with the fruity tanginess of pickled pink guava. Slightly funky mussels distract a little. But what seals the deal is the 'firefly' squid 'rojak' – grilled local baby squid in an unlikely toss-up involving fried kailan, jambu, torch ginger and homemade hei-ko. Fruity, sweet and strong in the best way, it gets an extra push of umami from the squishy squid innards. Grilled 'firefly' squid 'rojak'. PHOTO: BELIMBING A combo platter of mee suah kueh, otak paste, fermented tau cheo dip and salad appears, with instructions to eat them in any combination we like. That's like sticking four anti-social people together at a dinner party and expecting them to have a heartfelt conversation. Mee suah kueh, otak paste and salad in peanut dressing. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT They're good in their separate ways. The salad tossed in a peanut dressing with fermented pineapple sauce on the side has lovely satay implications. The mee suah – pressed into carrot cake rectangles – is a plausible match with the Thai-Teochew dip, but is too independent to submit to the assertive otak spread. Toasted French loaf would be welcome here. Clam chawanmushi laced with assam pedas and white pepper sauce. PHOTO: BELIMBING There's also clam broth chawanmushi with extra kick from assam pedas and white pepper sauce, which we prefer to Leow's take on Taiwanese beef noodle soup – braised beef in broth arranged on potato espuma with chunks of green tomato. Fried chicken in yellow curry with coconut rice. PHOTO: BELIMBING The refreshing novelty does fizzle out a bit with the rice-based mains. A deep-fried chicken chop is weighed down by a heavy and one-note yellow curry, and the same for the green curry paired with otherwise tender grilled short rib and satay on the side. Nasi ulam is a refined update of Focal's donabe, where the wok-fried herbal rice is sealed in banana leaf and served with pomfret fillet on the side. The banchan-like condiments are a nice touch. Wok-fried nasi ulam served in banana leaf. PHOTO: BELIMBING Desserts (priced separately) are unchanged from Focal: a buckwheat min jiang kueh (S$12) that's drier than we remembered, filled with cempedak cream and peanuts; and the perennial favourite corn salat (S$14), this time served with corn husk tea. Perennial favourite corn salat served with corn husk tea. PHOTO: BELIMBING Belimbing's unrenovated, botanical-themed dining room feels at odds with Leow's modernist aesthetic. Maybe it's a low-risk test bed to see how his concept flies in this market. But they needn't worry. Leow is on the right track with food that is clever but not conceited. Even so, there's still that tendency to overthink, plus a need to fine-tune sauces, textures and combinations. But when it comes to playing it safe downstairs or stretching our horizons, we vote up. Rating: 7
Business Times
07-05-2025
- Business Times
Seafood and sake in Hachinohe
ARE we tired of Japan yet? It doesn't seem like it, going by the whopping, almost 37 million international visitors to the Land of the Rising Sun in 2024, and a forecast of 60 million by 2030. But if you're feeling crowded out of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and the like, the time is now to head out to lesser-explored prefectures and cities. If all you know about Aomori is its apples and cloudy apple juice, look further to discover the smaller coastal cities within the prefecture that you've probably never heard of. Such as Hachinohe, which may not get much of a shout-out in terms of scenic wonders (its Tanesashi coastal trail is not to be sniffed at, though) or famous attractions, but its sea-facing location makes it a treasure trove of the freshest – and reasonably priced – seafood that you can enjoy to your heart's content. Not to mention washing it down with local sake brewed from Aomori-grown rice. In this week's BT Lifestyle, we take you on a tour of the edible treasures that make this unassuming city worth a stop. It's also Mother's Day weekend; so what's on the agenda for the mum in your life? Check out our guide to the best books for her to browse through, and a shopping list of thoughtful gifts – cherry-picked to suit the myriad tastes of that very special lady. And in Dining, we get to sample the mod-Singapore cuisine of young chef Marcus Leow, who juggles local flavours in surprising ways at his new restaurant Belimbing. For all this and more, don't miss this week's BT Lifestyle. Make this Mother's Day a memorable one too.
Time Out
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Five exciting new restaurants in Singapore to check out this May 2025
May is looking to be a thrilling month, peppered with public holidays, GE2025, tons of things to do, and of course, plenty to eat. That's right, Singapore's dining scene is heating up, with a surge of openings bringing fresh energy to our F&B scene. Whether you're making plans to dine out during the anticipated long weekends or thinking of where to take Mum to this Mother's Day, there's certainly no shortage of options. We've narrowed down the most promising restaurant openings to keep an eye on this May, from new expressions of Singaporean cuisine to the city's currently most talked-about brunch spot. Here are five places worth booking a table at this month. Find out which are our favourite restaurants of 2025 so far. 1. Belimbing Cult-favourite nasi lemak joint The Coconut Club now has a sister restaurant called Belimbing, located right above its Beach Road premises. If the name sounds familiar, it's because it's a throwback to Belimbing Superstar, an economic rice concept – also by The Coconut Club – which shuttered in 2020. The refreshed Belimbing, however, brings something entirely different to the table – 'new-gen' Singaporean cuisine. Head Chef Marcus Leow (formerly from Naked Finn and Magic Square) tells diners to expect dishes that are 'comforting and unmistakably Singaporean', albeit not necessarily 'how our grandparents would remember it'. The restaurant offers a two-course menu ($58) and an à la carte selection for lunch, as well as a four-course menu ($88) for dinner – not too steep compared to the exorbitant prices at some fine-dining establishments. Look forward to ingenious recreations of rojak, rice-based main courses like nasi ulam, kueh for dessert, and hyperlocal cocktails crafted by Side Door 's Bannie Kang. 2. La Terrace Shrouded by Dempsey 's lush greenery and parked right behind the old chapel that houses Claudine, La Terrace is the latest French dining concept by chef Julien Royer. While the two restaurants share a kitchen, the latter is an unfussy, laidback alternative to the dressier Claudine, and more suitable for everyday meals. Its semi-open design lets in plenty of breeze and natural light, while tasteful earth-toned decor like bamboo shades and paper lamps add to its cosy-chic vibe. The restaurant whips up home-style sharing plates that complement its environment – think half-roasted chicken ($58) that feeds up to three; hearty potato galettes ($18) with pepper, garlic cheese, and wild mushrooms; and tempura zucchini flowers ($24). Oh, and have we mentioned? Claudine's famed sourdough with Iberico ham butter ($8) is on the menu as well. G&T fans are also in for a treat with La Terrace's curated line-up of 25 gins – floral, citrusy, spiced, and even non-alcoholic. 3. Bonjour Ma Cuisine You might have seen this new brunch spot plastered all over social media. From the proprietors of Michelin-starred French wine bistro Ma Cuisine comes Bonjour Ma Cuisine, a breakfast concept with a completely different menu, but sharing the same shophouse space as the restaurant. Here's where to indulge in a bougie – and boozy – weekday brunch, the true Parisian way. From 8am to 2.30pm, find yourself lounging outside at the pet-friendly terrace, or snapping pictures of the charming interiors furnished with red leather banquettes. Must-orders on the menu are the croque monsieur truffle ($25.50), or the croque madame truffle ($28.80), where a perfect sunny-side-up egg crowns the sandwich. Other savouries include the fish quenelle drenched in a rich crustacean sauce ($20.80); the parmesan linguine ($14.80); and the Jambon Persille ($13.50). Meanwhile, sweet tooths can go for a remake of the classic French toast with kaya ($14.50). And those who don't mind a little bubbly can check out the wine list, where glasses start at $20. 4. Firebird by Suetomi Mondrian Singapore Duxton welcomes another woodfire-focused restaurant to its F&B line-up, after bidding goodbye to mod-Asian grill Tribal which had a much-celebrated one-year run. The new Firebird by Suetomi is a partnership between Ebb & Flow Group and Tokyo-based chef-restaurateur Makoto Suetomi, whose yakitori joint Makitori Shinkobe in Japan sees a one-year waiting list. As suggested by its name, Firebird zooms in on two things: open-flame cooking, and chicken or 'tori'. Its debut menu is a 13-course omakase experience (from $188), where guests will get to savour different parts of the chicken, from momo (thigh) and furisode (shoulder), to rarer cuts like seseri (neck) and harami (abdomnal wall muscle). Each dish is fired up at a custom-made grill modelled after the one at Makitori Shinkobe, and techniques range from grilling and roasting, to sautéing and smoking – all done over Japanese cedarwood. An unmissable highlight on the menu is the Soboro donabe, where sautéed minced chicken sits atop Japanese rice in a claypot. And to go down with your food, choose from a handpicked selection of sake, shochu, beer, and highballs on the drinks menu. 5. Vincenzo Capuano Opening on May 17 at Robertson Quay, Vincenzo Capuano is the namesake restaurant of Italian chef Vincenzo, who currently boasts 30 outlets worldwide. His pizzas are known for using 'Nuvola Super' flour – a proprietary flour developed with a manufacturer. The dough is then long-leavened and highly hydrated to achieve a fluffy, light texture. To test the quality of the crust and base, guests are invited to cut apart the pizza dough with a pair of golden scissors placed on each table – a highlight of the dining experience. In Singapore, you can look forward to signatures like the Abbraccio e Mamma, which comes with a ricotta-stuffed crust and handmade meatballs; Tetti Illuminati, with a fior di latte base and toppings of mortadella, pistachio, and Pecorino Romano; and the Napolitudine, where crushed tomatoes, meatballs, and basil take the centre stage. There's also Come Una Capricciosa, which sees cooked ham, champignon mushrooms, and artichokes as main ingredients.
