Peruvian high

MOVE over, French, Japanese, Spanish, Italian cuisines. The next hottest item on the menu to entice the Singapore palate could well be from South America - Peru, to be exact. This comes courtesy of ERU, soon to open at The Patina, Capitol Singapore. The Peruvian restaurant will be headed by consulting chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, who owns Malabar Restaurant and Bar in Lima. Chef Schiaffino, 38, may not be a household name in this part of the world yet, but he's no flash in the pan. Malabar is ranked No 11 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2014, and No 95 on last year's World's 100 Best Restaurants list.

Speaking to BT Weekend over the phone at the start of a weeknight dinner service at Malabar, Chef Schiaffino says that he had never thought about opening a restaurant in another part of the world. ERU will be his first outside Peru.

The story began about three years ago, when Jean-Luc Fourrier, director of JFL+ Associates and a veteran global hotelier and restaurateur, came knocking on Malabar's door. Mr Fourrier works closely with owners, developers and operators to create multi-cuisine restaurant and bar concepts.