THESE days, Singapore is so globalised that you don't have to go overseas to buy your favourite BB cream from Korea or Bomba rice from Spain anymore. Be it food, cosmetics or fashion, sooner or later, some bright spark will bring it in.

'WHEN we first started our business in Singapore, we were not sure how it would do,' says Thomas Choong, co-owner of Xi Yan, a private dining brand that was founded in Hong Kong a decade ago by celebrity chef Jacky Yu. 'We were confident of our food and all that, but we didn't know whether the concept of private dining would catch on here and if people would come.'