Food, art and life at the newly-revamped Nouri

IF YOU are what you eat, you are also where you eat - and that would be at the newly-revamped Nouri, where chef-owner Ivan Brehm takes his concept of crossroads dining to the next level.

Reopened on Jul 6 after a month-long renovation, the Michelin-starred eatery on Amoy Street sees Brehm pushing the envelope further on his intercultural approach to cuisine, but not in the way that makes you feel like you have to memorise the telepathic connection between a Tibetan momo maker and a siew mai-making dim sum chef in order to understand his food.

In fact, the newly-revamped Nouri has streamlined its presentation such that you can interact as much or as little as you want with what you’re eating. There will be no dissertations served with your starters - descriptions are kept to a minimum unless you say otherwise, in which case an illuminating conversation could ensue.

And it wouldn’t be one filled with high-minded thoughts but simply a thinking that revolves around how people from different cultures are more alike than we think. 

“At Nouri, the study of ingredients, techniques and flavours to identify the connection between food traditions results in dishes that are novel and creative, and yet rooted in familiarity,” says Brehm. “This is where Crossroads Cooking begins.”

Designed by architect Akira Kita, Nouri version 2 is styled as an “ingredient” in the whole process of evolution, with materials like earth and stone to represent nature and crushed clay walls decorated with Thai silk and artworks to showcase the craft of human hands. Crockery by local studio Mud Rock Ceramics also features on the table.

The menu is mostly new, and leans towards raw and fermentation techniques while balancing sweet desserts with savoury undertones.

The Raw and the Cooked is as it says, with carabinero prawns as the star. The raw prawn flesh becomes a sweet and spicy crudo while its tomalley is turned into intensely flavoured floss and paired with the crispy prawn head.

Nouri’s research into food origins shows that Edomae sushi can trace its roots to South-east Asia. Which is why Narezushi makes use of cultured rice cake, fermented Cambodian fish paste, pickled sardines and ginger flower as its exploration of different preservation techniques.

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Barbarians’ Head is more dumpling than noggin, so Central Asian manti dumplings - also related to Chinese mantou - are filled with confit chicken skin in beef consomme, served with a wagyu and nduja roll.

Meanwhile, Chocolate Fish Ball is a dessert but a wild taste test of chocolate sorbet coated in chocolate crumbs spiked with candied chilli and fried candied ikan bilis, lightly seasoned with Italian fish sauce.

Food aside, there’s also an art element to Nouri, a natural follow-through from its sister restaurant Appetite which has built up a strong reputation for its exhibitions and related events. Nouri will hold 2 exhibitions a year, featuring established and emerging artists picked from its open call conducted earlier this year. The first exhibition will be Emi Avora: Feasting with Shadows, where Greek-born, Singapore-based artist Emi Avora shows off her take on Crossroads Cooking in her humorous play of motifs and colours. 

After 5 years building up Nouri, don’t expect Brehm to coast through the next 5, so a meal here is set to be an eye-opener. Priced at S$228 for a 5-course lunch and S$328 for a 9-course dinner, it’ll be a feast not just for the eyes but the senses as well.

As Brehm puts it, “Crossroads Thinking is a way of seeing moments of connection in the world. Food is an easy and approachable way of highlighting this. By incorporating a little understanding of this in our lives, I hope that we can nourish better relationships with ourselves, each other and the world we share.”

For reservations, go to nouri.com.sg