We may no longer be able to taste chef Matthew Orlando’s fermented potato bread at Amass in Copenhagen again, but at Air, Orlando’s Singapore project with renowned pastry chef Will Goldfarb, we can indulge in an updated version with cassava. Handmade with fermented cassava and baked with a brushing of mushroom oil, the result is a beautifully crisp exterior with an impossibly fluffy interior, with a powerful savoury profile. It’s good as it is, but even better with the mushroom XO butter—it’s made with mushroom trimmings cooked with ginger, onion, and garlic in oil for 12 hours before it is strained and mixed with butter. Together, it is a burst of umami that’s quite unforgettable.

Air
Address: 25B Dempsey Road, S(249918), +65 8228 1528

Read more: Why Air is one of the most exciting nose-to-tail restaurants to open in Singapore this year

There are always gasps of amazement when chef and co-owner Fernanda Guerrero brings out the bread platter at Araya, the South American fine dining restaurant she founded with her husband, Francisco Araya. Guerrero, who is in charge of the bread and desserts, creates three loaves of bread to accompany the tasting menu, which includes the marraqueta (a bread roll), the chapalele (sourdough potato bread made with South American potatoes), and a brioche roll studded with chorizo. Needless to say, each roll comes freshly baked and steaming on your plate. The marraqueta and the chapalele each boast an irresistible crust, and the brioche is wonderfully flavourful. Accompanied by both salted Uruguayan butter and mérken chilli butter, it’s no surprise that the bread plate is always finished before the commencement of dessert. 

Araya
Address: 83 Neil Road, 01-08 Mondrian Duxton Singapore, S(089813), +65 8870 0871

Long a signature of Rosemead’s American grill concept is its shiitake shokupan, a must-have on the dining table. It’s brushed maple-kombu glaze, which leaves a sticky, sweet-savoury crust on the loaf. Combined with the careful technique behind this Japanese milk bread, the result is a light and airy loaf that’s best eaten with shiitake cultured butter for additional depth and flavour. 

Visitors to Cure at Keong Saik Road are always greeted with a starter of Irish soda bread, a fitting introduction to chef-owner Andrew Walsh’s Nua Irish cuisine. Soda bread is an Irish staple leavened by baking soda, not yeast; at Cure, it is elevated by a glaze of treacle, Guinness and fermented honey, giving it a complex sweetness that blends well with the nuttiness of the oats it is rolled in. Served with a shot of Guinness, of course. 

Shaped like a flower and coated in a luscious sticky glaze, Bacatá’s pan de la casa (house bread) is not one to miss at chef-owner Fernando Arévalo’s Colombian restaurant. This rye loaf bursts with umami thanks to the glaze made of fermented mushrooms and porcini powder; cream, bacon fat and brown sugar offer flavour and depth. Arévalo doesn’t skimp on the butter either—the bread comes with a quenelle of smoked Pamplie butter, an exceptionally rich French butter created especially for pastry chefs.

Bacatá
Address: 182 Cecil Street, 03-01/02 Fraser Tower, S(069547), +65 6904 5686

NOW READ

How local chef Lee Boon Seng’s love for Asian flavours inspired him to open Imbue

Singapore’s first South American fine dining restaurant, Araya, will open its doors next month

5 iconic Malaysian breads that we love