Cover Taiwanese chef André Chiang at Raffles Hotel Singapore (Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore)
Taiwanese chef André Chiang at Raffles Hotel Singapore (Photo: Raffles Hotel Singapore)
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Taiwanese celebrity chef André Chiang will serve as the culinary director of hotel’s yet-to-be-named restaurant, which will be located in the signature main dining room
“André Chiang is back”. These were the words of the Taiwanese celebrity chef when he announced yesterday that he has partnered with Raffles Hotel Singapore to open his latest gastronomic venture on the island. This collaboration marks Chiang’s return to the local fine-dining scene, following the debut of his hotpot concept, Bon Broth, at Raffles City earlier this year.
The restaurant will be located at the hotel’s neo-renaissance building, which is considered its most elegant space. However, no details about the concept, name and price point have been announced yet.
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“Singapore and Raffles Hotel [Singapore] have always been special to me, and I can’t think of a better place to start a brand-new journey,” says Chiang, who completed an exclusive two-week culinary residency at the hotel last year. “I call Singapore the home of grown-up André… I’m going to present a restaurant that’s deeply personal to me, for Singapore, in a setting where I’ve been deeply inspired,” he enthuses.
Ahead of the much-awaited opening later this year, Chiang was also appointed as the hotel’s writer-in-residence, a programme launched in 2019 that celebrates the hotel’s literary heritage.
Read more: André Chiang is the new culinary curator of Belmond’s Eastern & Oriental Express
On the writer-in-residence programme, Raffles Hotel Singapore managing director Christian Westbeld explains that if you look back in time, “Raffles Hotel has always been a gathering place for creative minds like Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling, Ernest Hemingway and Alfred Hitchcock”. These people, he shares, didn’t just stay at the hotel or have a drink at the bar but also put the name Raffles Hotel Singapore on the world map. “We wanted to create [a programme] that truly resonates with the present moment.”
As part of the residency, Chiang released the 200-page book, ‘Fragments of Time’, deeply inspired by his four-week stay in the hotel last year. Summarising his experience at the hotel, he shared: “If Singapore is one of the best restaurants in the world and you are its prestigious diner, then Raffles Hotel Singapore must be the signature dish.”
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Images: Raffles Hotel Singapore
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
