Cooking a pot of magic

IN the freshly whitewashed, steel-cased interiors of a converted colonial-era building in Portsdown Road, a sense of deja vu emerges. The three young chefs look familiar - not in face but the same eagerness, sense of purpose and ambition.

Back in 2018, just across this very building but in a more makeshift, almost haphazard fashion, the original Magic Square was born as a platform for young, undiscovered chefs who had the zeal but not the money or guidance to open their own restaurants. It was a passion project of Tan Ken Loon, the owner of restaurants Naked Finn and BurgerLabo, who wanted to provide a safe learning environment for untested chefs to cook, create and more important - learn how to run an F&B business.

It was a one-year pop-up that was so successful that the two-seating, 18-seater "restaurant" was sold out every day. A second Magic Square was a logical step, but finally, after a series of fits and starts, the new-improved - and permanent - Magic Square V2 is set to open early in August, although that is now on hold with the latest dining-in ban.