Cover Quenino’s calming wood-panelled interiors adorned by verdant foliage (Photo: Quenino)
Quenino’s calming wood-panelled interiors adorned by verdant foliage (Photo: Quenino)
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In both à la carte and tasting menus, Quenino at Artyzen Singapore delivers big Southeast Asian flavours
What is home? For Sujatha Asokan, chef de cuisine of modern Asian restaurant Quenino, home is a warming broth inspired by her mother’s kiam chye soup. Home is a duck leg meat stuffed inside a Chinese-style roast duck, reflecting her Chinese-Indian heritage. Home is diving into childhood memories and Singaporean iconographic dishes to create a menu that brings us back to our roots—which is exactly what Asokan (affectionately known as chef Su) has done with Quenino’s newest menu, “A Taste of Home”.
Eagle-eyed gourmands will remember that in 2023, when the restaurant opened in Artyzen Singapore, there were only tasting menus on offer. More recently, it has introduced tasting and à la carte menus that change every six months, giving chef Su a wider breadth to leave no Southeast Asian culinary stone unturned. That said, she ensures the cuisine is accessible for diners to better understand and appreciate the restaurant’s offerings.
The result is a combination of regional flavours that, in contrast to its name meaning “little one” in the Eurasian dialect Kristang, revels in its maximalism. The name is fitting in other ways—in the calming wood-panelled interiors adorned by verdant foliage, there’s no grandiosity or pretension. Just a place that feels like home.
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Above Yellowtail kingfish appetiser at Quenino
Above Russian hybrid caviar at Quenino
Yellowtail kingfish appetiser at Quenino
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So it is in the Discovery tasting menu, full of culinary references recognisable to Singaporeans. In the snacks, Old Chang Kee’s deep-fried squid transforms into octopus parcels, where a finishing of green Szechuan pepper oil and buah kulim masala dust tingles on the palate. In another dish, traces of chwee kueh are found in the chye poh foam atop a torched dragon chive custard, accompanied by raw scallop that replaces the radish cake in chai tow kway. Quenino even has its version of “fried rice”, which takes cues from three distinct Southeast Asian rice preparations—fried rice, mui fan and nasi ulam—elevated with ham floss, house-made XO sauce and Chinese olive relish.
But there are even more dishes to try in the à la carte menu. Consider the wild-caught swordfish in a taro leaf coconut emulsion, or the tamarillos touched with tamarind juice and filled with a laksa leaf jelly, inspired by assam laksa. The Stone Axe M9 Wagyu striploin is a highlight, complemented as it is by chef Su’s ode to regional garlics: there’s pickled garlic sprout salad, fermented black garlic foam, jungle garlic dust and even a green garlic chilli—a cheeky wink at the garlic chilli packets at McDonald’s.
Above Stone Axe M9 Wagyu at Quenino
Above A modern interpretation of cereal bowl at Quenino
Stone Axe M9 Wagyu at Quenino
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Home never leaves the palate at Quenino—not even in the drinks. Laksa reappears as a “Laksa” Sour, which infuses Hennessy VSOP, lemongrass syrup, and lemon with the eponymous aromatic herbs. The Yuzu Rojak approaches the spirit of the beloved salad with St George vodka, ginger flower, jasmine flower and soda water. But a tour among global vineyards is also possible with its extensive wine list, which is stocked with as many superstar labels as there are organic, biodynamic, and low-intervention vinos. There should be no surprise to a seasoned oenophile why this restaurant earned Wine Spectator’s Award for Excellence in 2025.
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are,” wrote Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste), celebrated for his reflections on the art and science of cookery. Chef Su knows this lesson well. You may dine within Quenino’s stylish interiors in one of the most rarefied neighbourhoods in Singapore, but a bite of her food might take you somewhere else: to the humble storefront of your favourite snack vendor, or the cosy dining table of your childhood. In other words, you get a taste of home.
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Images: Quenino
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Ethan Kan was Tatler Singapore’s dining writer.
