11 most popular home private dining experiences to book in Singapore

Chef Pristina Mok boasts an impressive resumé, having previously worked at three-Michelin-starred restaurants Odette and Zén, as well as positions at Magic Square, W Singapore and Raffles Hotel Singapore. Now, she’s striking out on her own with her new private dining concept Fragment, which she helms in her home in Clementi. With her experience, Mok has no difficulty using European and Asian ingredients with precision, here used to create bold Southeast Asian flavours. 

Take, for instance, Hokkaido scallop served on a bed of laksa sauce and topped with uni, or Yamada Bay oysters served with preserved mustard greens and topped with a generous serving of caviar. There is the beef cheek, braised in Guinness stout like an Irish stew, before it is freshened by a lemongrass, ginger, and galangal sauce. And for those who eagerly anticipate cheese courses, Mok has created a dessert of gorgonzola foam and crackers with soy milk and red dates to challenge the palate.  

“Fragment is all about piecing the pieces of me together to create something uniquely me,” Mok writes in an Instagram post. “This space to me, is not just a business or a job. It is an intimate space to share with you the joy through food. I aim to create a community of like-minded people who simply enjoy eating, conversations and friendships.” 

Information

Message @fragmentdining on Instagram to book your dining experience. 

Elegant and contemporary, chef Ethan Khoo’s food may look European, but don’t be fooled—Khoo aims towards a “borderless” cuisine that takes inspiration from cultures across the globe. Posited as a space for his creativity and personality to shine, Kanves is where you go for delicate, picture-perfect creations that don’t hold back on flavour. 

Featuring local produce is important to Khoo, so much so that he maintains connections with producers here to realise his vision. Spore Gardens is one such partnership, which delivers lion’s mane mushrooms specifically grown for his needs. When it arrives on Khoo’s counter, it is pan-seared and presented with a deeply savoury mushroom bordelaise, which is made complex by the addition of kombu dashi and red wine reduction. Fresh seafood from Ah Hua Kelong also makes an appearance, with mussels smoked over applewood and served with a celeriac “tagliatelle” and a vin jaune sauce. And when the local roast duck comes, smoked with hay in a pot, get the cameras out for a glimpse of that crisp, juicy skin. Having been brined for 24 hours and dry-aged for five days, the duck stands out as a main, best enjoyed with a sauce enriched with oloroso sherry.

Kanves is fully booked until October 2024 and reservations only open again on August 1, so those looking for a taste of Khoo’s cuisine should set a reminder in their calendars. 

Information

Visit the website or contact kanves.sg@gmail.com to book your dining experience. 

You can get a taste of Thailand right here in Singapore. Pun Im Private Dining was founded by chef Vincent Pang, an ex-hedge fund manager who holds a diploma in Thai cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu Dusit in Bangkok. The concept was born during the pandemic, and today, Pang is still capturing the imaginations of Singapore’s gourmands with his skilful treatment of powerful Thai flavours, each balanced to bring out the best in each other. 

Pang changes his menus every season, and each is carefully thought out. Take, for instance, this season’s amuse-bouches, which are treated as an exploration into Thai water-based curries. Gaeng liang, a herbal curry, is featured in one such treat, infusing pumpkin purée with its spice within a crispy tartlet. Elsewhere, you will find comforting dishes such as wholewheat noodles in a khao soi curry, augmented with prime-grade beef short ribs, or a comforting Issan pork soup with Hokkaido pork ribs. Mains are to be eaten with either coconut kaffir rice or yellow rice, which is just as well—Pang’s range of curries and stir-fries come with spicy sauces and gravies that are worth lapping up.

Information

Message or tap the link in bio at @vincent.pun.im on Instagram to book your dining experience.

Chef-owner of Proud Potato Peeler Alberto Simillides kick-started his private dining adventure in Singapore about one and a half years ago. “As a Turkish-Greek from Cyprus, I was constantly exposed to delectable flavours with an abundance of traditional home-cooked food by both my grandmothers—which is what inspired me to be a chef. At the age of 14, I embarked on my culinary journey by working as a kitchen porter in one of my father’s friend’s restaurants. Little did I know, that in his attempt to change my mind to be a chef, my father made an omerta (an Italian term for a silent agreement) with his friend, to let me do the same thing every single day for eight hours a day. The same thing that I did for four months was to peel potato skins. However, that did not derail me from my ambition. Instead, I was more dedicated and enrolled myself into a culinary school. After graduating, I worked in a few hotels and restaurants in Cyprus, before I had the opportunity to work overseas in Naples,” he shares.

Simillides found work in a pizzeria and specialised in making authentic Italian pizzas for over a year. He then moved to Athens to work as head chef at The Clumsies, one of the World’s 50 Best Bars. Eventually,  he moved to Singapore to work as head chef at Alati Divine Greek Cuisine.

Don’t miss: Missing Greece? Here Are New Hotels to Visit on Your Next Holiday

Throughout his culinary journey from Cyprus to Athens and Berlin (where he hosted his first private dining session), the one thing that the chef enjoyed the most was seeing groups of people enjoying time with one another through food. “Nothing gives me more pleasure than interacting with my guests, exchanging different stories and creating friendships,” he says. After he moved to Singapore, Simillides wanted to create this same experience for the people here. On his days off, he started to host small gatherings at home with friends, and they started to become popular through word of mouth.

For Simillides, a unique dining experience is derived from the combination of great food, location, and company. This is topped with interaction between him and his guests, who get to enjoy big platters for sharing, freshly baked bread and wholesome lovingly cooked dishes.

“Since I was raised by a Turkish and a Greek grandmother in Cyprus, aka Levant region, my creations are usually a combination of Middle Easterranean (a fusion combination of mid east & Mediterranean),” he says.

One of his latest dishes is Turkish dolma in a laksa-inspired sauce. This comprises Greek vine leaves stuffed with Japanese rice, topped with seared king prawns cooked in a wood-fired oven, and drizzled with a tinge of citrus and laksa-inspired sauce spiked with Spanish padron peppers. He continues: “One of our most popular signature dishes is the slow-grilled octopus leg. The octopus is slow cooked for six hours till just tender and then seared at the end to give it a crisp exterior.” This is served with cheesy barley arancini and sun-dried tomato aioli mixed with coconut sugar and chilli padi.

“Another recipe that I love and will always remind me of how I started this culinary journey is my grandma's stuffed onions. My version is slightly different—I would layer on complex flavours with kombu Wagyu broth, crispy leeks, dried sardines and gorgonzola cheese,” he adds.

Information:

The price ranges per guest, depending on the alcohol bundles chosen. The number of diners can be from two to 38 persons.

Proud Potato Peeler is located in a shophouse in Little India. The address and door password will be shared with guests closer to the date of their reservation.

To book, visit their Instagram page or call 8380 8139.

Grace Kee decided to start her private dining venture, Good Graces, when the pandemic happened. “I was in the events and entertainment industry and when Covid-19 hit, everything came to a halt; there were no events, concerts, festivals and gala dinners. With free time on my hands, I started replicating my grandmother’s dishes to gift to friends. Someone asked if they could buy my rempah, and eventually, I quit my job to pursue this home-based business.” Today she’s running her events company as well as offering private dining sessions twice a week.

Kee creates home-cooked goodness featuring both traditional and modern interpretations. “The food is the most important, but it is also about the overall ambience of creating a space that people feel comfortable in. I want guests to be themselves, relax and have a good time,” she says.

She describes her menu as “soul food that’s moreish and hearty”. Some of her most popular dishes are dry laksa, hee peow soup and ayam buah keluak. Kee adds: “The menu I serve requires time and patience as well as using quality ingredients—that makes a big difference to the taste.”

For the dry laksa, a key ingredient is quality hae bee. For the hee peow soup, she uses a mix of fresh crab, prawn and abalone to make the meatballs, which lends sweetness to the soup. “While my grandmother used to add a dash of brandy to her soups, I use Martell Cordon Bleu to elevate the flavour instead,” she shares.

Don’t miss: New Restaurant Alert: Chef Damian D’Silva Serves Up Long-Forgotten Local Dishes at Rempapa

Kee says that she has a serious obsession with buah keluak. “I love the nutty, slightly bitter, almost dark chocolate flavour.” She’s even tried making her own buah keluak sausages. “I started with a ngoh hiang recipe and added my own homemade sambal buah keluak paste. It turned out really well, but I am still experimenting with the right mix of meat and fat so the sausages do not turn out dry!”

She also doesn’t take any shortcuts for her incredibly laborious ayam buah keluak recipe. Kee buys the nuts from Tekka Market and painstakingly prepares them by soaking them for three days, removing the meat, and then pounding and sieving it to achieve a smooth texture. She also prepares the rempah in advance. “The rempah is cooked for more than three hours so that all the ingredients like shallots, galangal and lemongrass, caramelise and lose that raw taste… I like my gravy thicker and with more of a rich buah keluak taste, hence I add buah keluak into the gravy as well.”

Besides these creations, guests will get to savour a variety of Kee’s grandmother’s recipes along with some heritage dishes that she learned from her friends’ mothers and grandmothers.

Information

A minimum of five to eight persons are required per booking, as a communal-style set menu is offered. BYO is allowed and there’s no corkage. Visit the website to book your dining experience.

Located in a charming residence near Towner Road is Little Social. This private home dining was launched by Danial Chua and Dennes Yeo in May 2021. Chua, a self-taught chef who specialises in Peranakan and Asian-inspired cuisine, rustles up all the dishes while Yeo hosts the tables.

The place boasts two dining areas—Social Club room and Peacock Alley room—that seat 10 people and six people respectively. Guests get to dine at tables beautifully decked out with heirloom plates, bowls and other accessories. Chua says, “Most of the tableware, especially the ones we use for the Peacock Alley room are from our family collection passed down from my grandmother.”

The authentic Peranakan recipes and flavours were also handed down from Chua’s grandmother. The creations are mostly communal with the exception of the soup which would be either itek tim (salted vegetable with duck meatball soup) or bakwan kepiting soup (crab meatball with bamboo shoots fish maw).

In case you missed it: 5 Restaurants Currently Serving the Best Hairy Crab Menus in Singapore

Some of their most popular dishes are the ayam buah keluak with pork ribs, sambal udang petai and beef rendang comprising beef shin stewed with coconut milk and spices. Chua’s version of Nonya chap chye is robust and rich, brimming with cabbage, dried bean curd, dried sweet bean curd, woodear fungus, mushrooms, lily buds and glass noodles.

In the coming months, Little Social has plans to introduce some crab dishes that are inspired by Peranakan Asian spices and herbs. “I would like to bring back some traditional Peranakan dishes that are not so easy to find now like hati babi—pork liver balls. But these are still in the process,” says Chua. He refreshes the menu every two months by adding in one or two new dishes. 

“For the end of the year festive period, I will be bringing back the turkey buah keluak which was quite well received last Christmas. We also do takeaways for this, packaged in a nice rattan basket,” he adds.

Information

A minimum of six persons and a maximum of 16 persons are required per dining session. Visit their website to book your dining experience.

The Sundial is another private dining concept opened during the pandemic in January 2021 run by husband-wife duo Mark and Hilary Lee. Having lived in London, Paris, and New York, they decided to finally settle down in Singapore, where they decided to quit their intense corporate jobs. 

“After decades in corporate life, we were both jaded, drained by broken systems that ignored the real challenges in the world, and fed up of hiding our unique, true natures in order to fit obsolete and worn out molds,” their website reads. The result is a private dining and health and energy realignment concept that rejuvenates heart, body, and mind. 

Tranquility is at its finest as you sit at the Lee’s gazebo in their spacious Bukit Timah bungalow, where you’ll be served European-inspired cuisine specially prepared by Mark Lee. A self-taught chef who finds inspiration in his home-grown herbs and natural, minimal-intervention products, wellbeing is at the front and centre of his cooking with hearty dishes, sharing platters, and tasting menus made only with top quality ingredients.

Dishes include a whole roasted Galician turbot doused in a herbaceous parsley butter, topped with dill for a slight citrus and grassy hint, or a no-nonsense fullblood Australian Wagyu ribeye. 

Lee’s menus are accompanied by a selection of natural wines, ports and madeiras, a clear continuation of the Sundial’s commitment towards sustainability, wellbeing, and health. Expect the unexpected when you savour these wines as you indulge in a night of joy, laughter, good food and better company.

Information

All bookings are for a minimum of 8 people. Please do get in touch with Hilary at +65 93236206 if you would like to increase reservations for up to 14. Visit the website to book your dining experience.

Chef Justin Leong, previously of Tordu at Duxton Hill, runs one of the most exciting private dining concepts in Singapore today. Within his humble but stylishly decorated home in Tiong Bahru Estate he shares with his wife, Eileen T., sink your teeth into Leong’s luxurious omakase menu that will truly take your senses on a culinary journey across the world with a bold mélange of global cooking styles and techniques. 

Leong is conscious of the trappings of luxury culinary offerings, like uni, truffle, foie gras, and caviar. Instead, he focuses on the freshness of his ingredients with daily market visits and an eye for unheard-of butcher’s cuts. Because of this, Leong’s menus are inherently seasonal, making sure that no visit is the same. 

With an intimate space of up to ten seats, the omakase menu is a carefully curated journey that begins with seasonal fruits as an amuse-bouche. Silky, savoury “lip smackers” are then presented to whet the palate before the “potpourri” courses, with a ceviche or tartare and seasonal mushrooms cooked in innovative ways.

Seafood is then typically served for a burst of freshness and umami, before going into the star of the whole evening—the meat course, which only serves wet-aged Australian or New Zealand beef, lamb, or Iberico pork. Dessert is prepared by Leong’s wife Eileen, who prefers a lighter hand with the sugar for an exquisite treat that will end the meal perfectly. 

Information

By reservation only. Contact fattleongpk@gmail.com or +65 9488 4519 to book your dining experience.

Chef Sam Chablani recalls a time when he was training a chef who was afraid of caramelising a steak. Customers wouldn’t want to eat a burnt steak, the reasoning went. “I explained the Maillard reaction and how food that was black didn’t have to taste burnt or bitter; the trick was in how we applied fire to it,” Chablani introduces on his website. “But in the end, the simplest way to make him understand was to shout over the din of the kitchen, ‘No burn, no taste!’”

It’s this simple maxim that has taken him far. At Chablani’s private home dining concept, No Burn No Taste, Chablani serves up a bold 10-course barbecue omakase that amplifies flavour and spice with the assertive flame of a wood-fired grill. The self-proclaimed pyromaniac has spent years perfecting this skill—during his time at his restaurant Fat Lulu’s, he developed his brand of Southeast Asian cuisine, updated with premium ingredients, and grilled to bring out its intense and complex umami flavours. It’s this devotion to regional intricacies and high-quality ingredients that you’ll find at No Burn No Taste. 

Take Chablani’s signature garlic butter grilled crab, which doesn’t shy away from bold, dominant flavours. It’s smoked over lychee wood to lend the tender crab meat a distinctive aroma, while ribeye steaks are smoked over mangrove wood for a particularly woody char. Chablani’s offerings are meant to be shared with a large group of friends and family—there is a minimum of 7 to 8 people required for a booking—and he advocates eating with your hands. “Come grill with me if you want to. You can sneak the yummiest scraps right off the grill,” he invites. Expect a no-fuss, convivial dining experience in an intimate space that rings with laughter and thrums with passion.

Information

All bookings are for a minimum of 7-8 people. Groups of less than 7 will be required to hit a minimum spend of $1,050, not including additional drinks and merchandise. Visit the website to book your dining experience 

Simple, honest home cooking is the priority for Sam Wong, a self-taught chef who runs Lucky House Cantonese Private Kitchen. The word of the hour at his terrace home in Upper East Coast Road is “homely”—there’s no pretense to the interior decorations, which boasts jars of dried sea cucumbers, medicinal cabinets, Chinese calligraphy and porcelain plates, emanating the sincerity of a loved, lived-in home. There’s no fuss in the food either, which is cooked over gas stoves propped up by bricks, simmered in large clay pots, or grilled over charcoal in the backyard. 

In 8 courses, Wong serves up Cantonese fare that you may have grown up eating. The menu necessarily changes as ingredients become available or fall out of season, but you’re almost guaranteed classics like long-boiled soups thick and rich with collagen for a nourishing start to a meal. In true Cantonese style, you can expect whole chickens or fish presented in a show-stopping platter, steamed, fried, or seasoned with simple ingredients that’s perfect on rice. It is decidedly more fuss-free than some other private dining concepts, but don’t mistake simplicity for lack of quality—the waiting list can take months and up to years, showing that there will always be a demand for earnest home cooking.

Information

Call ​​9823 7268 to book your dining experience.

This story was first published on November 11, 2022, and updated on April 4, 2024. Additional reporting by Ethan Kan.

NOW READ

Homegrown Success: 5 Private Chefs and Bakers Who Have Opened Physical Stores

Tatler and Mortlach Hosted an Intimate Evening at Chef’s Table by Chef Stephan Zoisl

The Best Char Kway Teow in Singapore, According to Local Chefs