This month’s openings are slightly fewer than March’s 43 new restaurants.

Out of 30 restaurants opened in April, two are pop-ups, which make sense that, in this uncertain market, you test the viability of the products before deciding to have a permanent space or not. Some restaurants have reopened after a face-lift and a revamping of menu. Japanese and Asian restaurants dominate the openings this month: finally, there is some pride in Asian cuisine. There is also a concept shop, that is a retail-cum-restaurant which seems to be the rage these days.

Restaurants

Casual restaurant selling Tex-Mex food like burritos, quesadillas and tacos and pulled pork burger.

63Celsius at Asia Square 2 has opened an outlet at Paragon, serving all-day borderless cuisine from breakfast, brunch to lunch and dinner in small and big plates.

A yakitori Japanese skewers and sake bar.

Taking over the space of Ember Restaurant in Hotel 1929, Bistro November is a pop-up restaurant until… November 2017. It’s managed by the Unlisted Collection Group which owns Burnt Ends, Meatsmith, Esquina, and Pollen.

Brine, which serves contemporary cuisine, is co-founded by the lads behind The Laneway Market.

Connam reopens with a new look and a new menu. Recommended: bánh báo (pork buns, 2 pcs, $7.90), cơm gà xào xả ớt (lemongrass chicken on rice, $9.90), bún chả Hà Nội (pork done two ways with vermicelli, $9.90).

DSTLLRY par Christophe Lerouy
21 Media Circle #01-01 Infinite Studios, Singapore 138562
Tel: +65 6334 4816
6pm-11pm, closed Sun
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Chef Christophe Lerouy, who led Alma by Juan Amador to its Michelin Star, has joined DSTLLRY and the restaurant is rebranded to DSTLLRY par Christophe Lerouy. It now serves prix fixe: six courses $95++, 8 courses, $120++.

Flying Monkey
67 Bussorah Street Singapore 199480
Tel: +65 6291 0695
Sun-Th 12pm-2.30pm, 5.30pm-11pm, F & Sat 5.30pm-11.30pm
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[FULL REVIEW] Engineer-turned-restaurateur Sumeet Singla, who also owns Pizza Fabbrica, enlists the help of head bartender Kannan (formerly from Cufflink Club) and Chef Azad (formerly from Yantra) to open Flying Monkey, an Indian tapas bar.

[FULL REVIEW] Chef-owner Jeremy Cheok of Slake restaurant has joined the management team of the Michelin Bib Gourmand awardee, New Ubin Seafood. The now defunct Slake has rebranded into Garang Grill, which is a pop-up of New Ubin until 31 May.  “Garang,” as any decent NS boy would  know, means “fierce” in Malay, and he wishes to cook bold flavors from the $16000 charcoal grill oven by Spanish makers Mibrasa.  He atas-fied New Ubin’s specialities such as turning the New Ubin Black Angus beef into his rendition of USDA Prime ribeye ($90 for 500g) served with bordelaise butter, beef jus, red wine reduction, shallots. He also adds chilli padi to the New Ubin’s fried rice with beef fat.

Is an izakaya (which means “drinking house” in Japanese) still an izakaya when it doesn’t serve alcohol? Touted to be the first Muslim-owned izakaya, Hararu Izakaya brings a modern twist to an izakaya bar and gives a traditional tatami dining experience. Opening sometime in Apr.

Joji is Carlton Hotel’s newest bar, brought to you by the team behind One Michelin star Omakase restaurant Shinji by Kanesaka.

Originally from Indonesia, Kambing Bakar Cairo specializes in chargrilled Australian lamb. They also serve traditional Indonesian dishes.

Recommended from this Thai restaurant: charcoal barbecue set ($28) with prawn, squid, flower crab and crayfish; claypot glass noodles with prawn in tom yum broth ($15) and deep-fried fish with mango ($22).

Joshua Koo and Dylan Ong made waves a few years ago when they moved from a kopitiam stall to to open Saveur restaurant and quickly expanded into the Saveur Group. Both of them have left the Group and are currently flying solo. Koo went back to his roots and opened Taste Affair, a hawker stall in Amoy Food Centre, selling pasta and rice for $5 to $7. Today, Ong opens The Masses, a restaurant that serves affordable fine-dining food.

Watami brought Niku Kappo from Tsukiji in Tokyo to ION Orchard. It offers Japanese Kappo (割烹) styled cuisine, and focuses on beef. Signature: Edo Yaki (江戸焼き) is the original form of Sukiyaki, and uses Miso as base instead of the usual Shoyu. Starting from $18.90 per pax.

A bar-restaurant. Opens 18th Apr.

Saigon Rolls functions more as a takeaway kiosk. It rolls Vietnamese ingredients like a burrito and they use non-traditional fillings such as avocado, and smoked salmon.

SBAM, a vegetarian restaurant, stands for Spice, Brew and Masala. It serves Chinese and Malay food with Indian spices. Popular for ricebowls (starting from $6.90) and pastas.

Sens offers a wide range of Japanese dishes including sashimi, sushi, teppanyaki and omakase. A sample of their prices: sukiyaki ($18.50), bara chirashi don ($32), chargrilled cod fish ($22.80), otoro sashimi (1pc, $12.50), sashimi mix 3 kinds ($25.80), yakitori sticks starting from $4.50, rosu katsu ni set ($26.50).

Showa Hakata Ramen & Izakaya
1 Yuan Ching Road, #01-02 SuperBowl Jurong Singapore 618640
Tel: +65 6592 6829
11am-3pm, 6pm-10pm daily
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A casual Japanese restaurant in the West, serving ramen, sushi and rice bowls.

One Michelin-starred Shinji has moved out of Raffles Hotel into Carlton Hotel. The outlet at St Regis Hotel remains.

Spark Restaurant
73 Upper Paya Lebar Road, Level 1 Centro Bianco Building Singapore 534818
Tel: +65 6282 0251
M-Th 10am-11pm, F & Sat 10am-2am, Sun 11am-11pm
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Chef Shawn Yan offers a 5-course prix fixe menu ($55++), and the restaurant is rather spiffy.

So Ramen offers 3 types of noodles and 5 broths. If you want a rice dish, they use Koshihikari rice from Niigata Perfecture, a variety that is said to be best in Japan.

Steamroom with The Pillar and Stones or awkwardly acronym-ed as SRPS is a concept that integrates the best of retail, cuisine and art. The kitchen is helmed by Chef Stephan Zoisl. It’s supposed to be open in the first quarter of the year, so it should be opening soon.

Sorry for the lack of information. I walked past the restaurant, which took the place of Candlenut, and it received congratulatory flowers, but I couldn’t find any information online except that it is a Shanghaiese restaurant. They don’t even have a facebook account or instagram. But I guess they are serving Shanghaiese food? It’s just a wild guess. Don’t kill me if I’m wrong.

They have a funny but likely to be apocryphal story on their facebook, about their chef named MeUp who grew up in Chiangmai, so their restaurant name is Thai’d Me Up. Their signatures include mango salad ($13.90), tom yum ($14.90), and steamed seabass ($35.90).

Tingkat PeraMakan
119 Owen Road Singapore 218924
Tel: +65 6291 3474
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By the PeraMakan group, Tingkat PeraMakan is a casual joint that serves Peranakan set meals, similar to cai fan, from $10-$15. The rice meals include a meat, 2 sides, a drink, and a dessert.

Japanese restaurant selling bara chirashi don ($19.80) and 7 kinds of sashimi ($32.80) at affordable prices.

Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodle
Blk 1 Beach Road #01-4757 Singapore 190001
11am-10pm
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After opening their second outlet at Esplanade, the hawker stall has opened at 3rd at a coffeeshop. The prawn soup starts from $5 but the big prawns are priced at $10, $20, $30.

WTF stands for Wine, Tapas, and Friends.

PHOTO CREDIT: Photos without RERG logo are taken from the respective establishements’ facebook pages or websites.

You may be interested in…
–16 New Cafes and Takeaway Shops in Apr 2017
–New Hawker Openings in Apr 2017
–New Cafes, Bars, and Hawkers in Mar 2017
–New Openings in Feb 2017

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.