Celebrity chef Andre Chiang’s new Raffles Hotel restaurant to have heritage concept

[SINGAPORE] After months of secrecy, Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang will finally open 1887 by Andre on Mar 31 at Raffles Hotel Singapore – a fine-dining restaurant inspired by the hotel’s heritage and Chiang’s stint as its writer-in-residence in 2025.

The 42-seater restaurant will take over the space vacated by the former La Dame de Pic, and is named after the year that Raffles Hotel opened in Singapore. Reflecting “A Taste of Time”, Chiang delved into its 139-year history – with archives filled with information about dishes served in its dining rooms – to craft a menu that reflects Victorian-era dining, but reinterpreted for the modern palate. 

While there are no specific menu details yet, guests will get to relive the dining rituals of the past, including being served from a 100-year-old silver beef wagon and using antique silverware from the same period.

A la carte and set menu options will be available, and online reservations are already open on the hotel’s website. Menu prices are not stated, but an indication comes from the S$200 cancellation fee.

1887 by Andre sees the celebrity chef come full circle in a career that began in Singapore in 2008 when he helmed Jaan par Andre at Swissotel The Stamford. He opened Restaurant Andre in 2010, before leaving Singapore in 2018 following the closure of the two-Michelin-starred eatery. He returned to Taipei, where he helmed the two-starred RAW until its closure in 2024. 

Chiang announced his retirement from the kitchen that year, but pivoted to developing restaurant concepts such as the hotpot restaurant Bon Broth in Raffles City.

“The reason for coming back is simply a desire to build an iconic restaurant once again – for Singapore,” says Chiang, who will be involved in the restaurant at a “strategic and creative level”. In his role of chef-patron, he is expected to spend more time in Singapore when he is not travelling.

The restaurant’s interiors are conceptualised by prolific hotel designer Bill Bensley, and bring to mind the old iconic Raffles Grill and Elizabethan Grill – but with a relaxed elegance rather than stuffy formality. 

In the kitchen, Chiang has assembled a team that has worked with him for over a decade.

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Christian Westbeld, managing director of Raffles Hotel Singapore, said: “With 1887 by Andre, we welcome a remarkable chef back home to Singapore, while contributing to the evolution of the culinary landscape with an experience that is deeply anchored in history, yet attuned to the present and future.”