At Butcher’s Block, a love and care of the land (aloha ‘āina and mālama ‘āina) guides chef de cuisine Jordan Keao’s Hawai’ian culinary identity, lending itself to the restaurant’s zero-waste approach. Now, he is taking it further with an indoor vertical farm not far from the restaurant’s home at Raffles Hotel Singapore. Constructed in partnership with vertical farm Farmd, the farm combines hydroponics with peat found only at about 20 metres below ground level, supplying the restaurant with nourished and seasonal vegetables and herbs that can be grown year-round—no more, no less. Using about 90 per cent less water than typical farming, this new approach complements Keao’s whole animal butchery, making sure that only the best arrives on your table.

After perfecting his brand of whole fish butchery at his famed Australian restaurants Saint Peter, Petermen, and Charcoal Fish, celebrity chef Josh Niland has brought his scale-to-tail philosophy to his restaurant Fysh in Singapore. Only whole fish is used here, and is effectively treated like a land-based protein with the way that it is butchered and aged. The fillets, of course, are expertly prepared, like the signature dry-aged yellowfin tuna steak with café de Paris butter, while the heads, collars, and bones are used to make sauces. Look out for unusual dishes like the tuna eye ice cream as well, where Niland’s creativity is on display. Only the gills and gallbladders are not used in the restaurant, yielding about 90 per cent of the fish as opposed to about half that of traditional fillet cooking. 

Fysh at Edition
Address: 38 Cuscaden Road, S(249731), +65 6329 5000

This bar at Chijmes managed to clinch the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award 2023 by Asia’s 50 Best Bars, where it also enjoys its spot as the No. 15 best bar in Asia. Analogue Initiative offers a plant-based-only menu that’s just as delicious as a carnivorous one; take the “Nuggetz”, a plant-based version of a comfort food that’s addictive with the curry crack sauce. Or the dessert named “Fruit Rollups”, where citrus piths—the most wasted ingredient in bars—are boiled, candied, and emulsified in olive oil to create a cream that accompanies fruit leather rollups, which are also made from byproducts of a cocktail on its menu, “Cactus”. This same philosophy extends to the drinks as well—the “Wabi-Sabi”, for instance, is made with whatever ingredients and byproducts the bar has on hand. 

If that wasn’t enough, the decor ranks highly on sustainability too. The bar is made from 1,600 kg of recycled plastic bottles, designed and 3D printed at a length of 20 metres to weave around the bar. The coasters are also made from recycled plastic, and some tabletops are even made from mycelium, a network of fungal threads that have been inoculated with organic matter to create unique patterns and designs.

Analogue Initiative
Address: 30 Victoria Street, 01-31 Chijmes, S(187996), +65 8518 1882

Open Farm Community is a farm-to-table restaurant which hopes to connect people with food. Here, ingredients are mostly sourced locally, supporting local farms like Ah Hua Kelong, Toy Thye San farm and Hay Dairies. The restaurant is situated beside its edible garden, where fresh herbs and vegetables are harvested daily and used as garnishes.
 
The restaurant also boasts an extensive natural wine list, promoting forgotten grapes and regions. These selected domains favour authenticity and responsible ethics, while refraining from the use of herbicides and chemicals in its vineyards and winemaking. Other than ethically sourced produce, the restaurant also strives to limit single-use plastics, wasteful water and electricity usage. 

Open Farm Community
Address: 130E Minden Road, S(248819), +65 6471 0306

Sustainable dining has a broad definition, from providing meatless options to reducing its overall carbon footprint. For Labyrinth, sustainable dining means providing guests with a 90 per cent locally sourced menu. Diners will find ingredients procured from local farms like Ah Hua Kelong and Edible Garden City. “It’s really about discovering these gems of produce out in Lim Chu Kang, Lorong Halus, Chua Chu Kang, [and] Kranji that is locally farmed by local people,” shares chef-owner Han Liguang. Its menu also puts the spotlight on local flavours, such as the rojak. This dish features sorbet of jackfruit and cempedak sourced from the local Tekka market, and 12 herbs and vegetables from local farms such as Edible Garden City.

Hidden in Gillman Barracks is the seafood-centric restaurant, Naked Finn. Its bounty is sourced from small fisheries that focus on non-mainstream species, so the popular varieties that are under threat of extinction are able to recover. It’s for this reason that obscure fish and those which are vulnerable to overfishing (such as tuna and Atlantic halibut), won’t appear on the menu.

Instead, look forward to tantalising dishes featuring less vulnerable marine species—among which are the juicy giant river prawns grilled a la plancha; narrow-barred Spanish mackerel grilled over binchotan; and chewy Japanese abalone braised in abalone dashi for six hours. Sauces and dips are also made in-house and are served to enhance the natural flavours of the dishes. 

Naked Finn
Address: 39 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, S(109442), +65 6694 0807

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