In March, there were 43 new restaurant openings. In April, 30. This month, I could only track down 9. Not sure if this is a sign of the economy or maybe I am not hardworking enough. In any case, these are the 9 new restaurants and 4 new hawkers that open recently.

RESTAURANTS

Casual Italian restaurant by the Il Lido Group which operates other Italian restaurants such as Aura, &Sons, and Osteria Art. Opening sometime this month.

The shophouse of 12 Ann Siang houses 3 concepts, and one of them is Catchfly, a basement speakeasy bar headed by New York mixologist Liam Baer.

Offshoot of Coriander Leaf and part of the 5-storey 12 Ann Siang, Coriander Leaf Grill serves charcoal grilled contemporary food with Asian accents. Recommended: Harissa chicken burger ($20).

A 3-generation family business in Thessaloniki has expanded to 300 stores in Greece, and has a presence in Europe. This is the first permanent shop outside Europe, offering Mediterranean cuisine with a focus on Greek produce.

Gonpachi Ramen uses imported ingredients from Japan, and serves tonkotsu (pork bone) and tori (chicken) soups originated from the Kyushu and Nagasaki Region respectively.

Japan’s largest fugu restaurant chain, Guenpin, has 96 outlets in Japan and over 30 years of history. This is its first ever overseas outlet. The 32-seater outlet in Singapore serves torafugu and snow crab cuisines, offering both à la carte and full-course menus.

The insanely popular Sushiro, known for their inexpensive barachirashi don, has expanded in the same mall. This new casual restaurant focuses on beef don ($12) and unagi don.

After 4 months of renovation, Straits Cafe reopened to bring new dishes to their Peranakan and local buffet (weekday lunch $42++, dinner $50++; Sunday brunch $48++; F-Sun dinner $58++). These new dishes include beef rendang lasagne, black pepper carrot cake, and kong bah bao. They also have chilled seafood, oysters, sashimi, and chilli crayfish. Of course they are famous for their durian pastries, and their durian penyat is the star for the dessert section.

They serve Thai seafood hotpot ($36), good to be shared with 4 people.

HAWKERS

The fourth Fish & Chicks outlet.

[FULL REVIEW] Lobster Time at Bishan is newly opened on 10 Apr. They sell 5 bowls: prawn noodles ($4.50), big prawn noodles with clams ($8.50); crayfish with clams ($16.50), lobster with clams ($26.50); and combo ($38.50).

Modus serves quinoa bowls at the Esplanade Exchange foodcourt for $7.50 each. The meat are cooked freshly upon ordering; the fermented vegetables are homemade; and the organic quinoa is from Peru. Recommended:  Japanese Bowl (quinoa, aburi salmon, tsukemono, sautéed crabmeat, corn kernels, furikake) and Western Bowl (quinoa, Australian striploin with fermented pineapple salsa, crispy wasabi chips).

The hawker graduated from Enderun Colleges in Manila that has a program by 3 Michelin-starred French chef Alain Ducasse. Pick a protein and a pasta at $7. Most popular: chicken cutlet with aglio olio.

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

You may be interested in…
–43 New Restaurants in March 2017
–New Hawker Openings in Apr 2017
–30 New Restaurants and Bars in Apr 2017
–New Openings in Feb 2017

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.