SINGAPORE – Eleven new restaurants have been awarded one Michelin star at a glitzy gala for the Singapore Michelin Guide held on Thursday (June 29) at The Fullerton Hotel.
Waku Ghin, by celebrity chef Tetsuya Wakuda, was bumped up to two stars while Joel Robouchon Restaurant remained the only three-starred establishment in Singapore.
Chef Wakuda, 58, said: “I didn’t expect it but it was a very nice surprise. Every year I ask ‘how can I get better?’ We want to keep being on the list and push harder. Happy customers are the most important.
“It’s nice to get a reward to share with the staff. My team is everything. We are very fortunate.”
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Nineteen Singapore restaurants, including Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle and Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, retained their one Michelin star. Two restaurants – Forest and Terra Tokyo-Italian – were bumped off the list.
About 500 guests attended the event, including corporate head honchos, restaurateurs, chefs, as well as members of the public who paid $595++ a person to attend the sold-out affair.
Other guest chefs – chef Tam Kwok Fung of two-Michelin-starred Jade Dragon in Macau; and chef Curtis Duffy of three-Michelin-starred Grace in Chicago, United States – are also part of the chef brigade that cooked the dinner.
The chefs began arriving at The Fullerton at about 5pm.
Chef owner Malcolm Lee, 33, of the one-Michelin-starred Candlenut professed that he was feeling nervous: “At first I wasn’t so worried but other people were worried for me and then they made me worried. Even today everyone was texting me and I didn’t want to look at my messages.
“My guys put in a lot of hours of hard work so whatever happens, it’s all their hard work.”
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