Ex-Reve chef Kawano Masahiko brings Michelin-starred flair to Japanese-French outpost Chaleur

NEW RESTAURANT

Chaleur 77 Neil Road Singapore 088903 Tel: 8863-4637 Open for dinner Tues to Sat: 6 pm to 8.15 pm. Lunch on Fri and Sat: 12 pm to 1.15 pm

WHICH came first, the Michelin-starred restaurant or its chef? Depends on who you ask: the “without me you wouldn’t even have a star” chef, or the “too bad, you can leave but the star stays with us” restaurant. Both have a point, although the former has to start from scratch if they leave, while the latter gets to lord it over unless they lose it, which might create a satisfying “so there” moment for said chef.

We doubt such thoughts go through the head of Kawano Masahiko, who’s so mild and soft-spoken he even apologises for the rudeness of a presumptuous fruit fly that wants a taste of what we’re drinking. We kill it anyway. But it is true that he was the chef of Reve when it stunned observers last year by winning its first Michelin star after being open for just nine months. Now he’s back to square one at the newly opened Chaleur on Neil Road, star-less and trying to craft a new journey for himself.

You can take the chef out of a Michelin environment but you can’t take the Michelin drive out of the chef, and Kawano’s sophomore attempt sees him raising the bar in both decor and cuisine. If Reve was a literal dark horse with dim lighting and darker interiors, Chaleur is akin to a cleaner waking up with a newfound ability to see what they’re sweeping. The dining room is bathed in warm cosy lighting, dressed in neutral tones starting from the cool cement staircase that leads you up from the wine bar (Chapter One) downstairs. It’s bright enough to peer at the large white-on-white framed artworks on the wall, to decipher the message behind a ghostly baby face amid twisted loops of black thread, or an alien-like landscape covered with white nippled bumps in various sizes like a magnified bacteria specimen. Rather pretty, actually.

You’re seated at a long communal dining table that functions like a counter, while the open kitchen is off to the side rather than in front of you. So you don’t get to see first-hand what’s being cooked – just Kawano and his chefs seriously conferring over something on the counter as if deciding whether to engage it or cook it.

It’s clear that he wants to distinguish the cuisine from what he served at Reve – which incidentally now serves Italian food. That is, parlaying French techniques into his Japanese aesthetic. But if Reve’s cooking was more like an easy-to-please romantic comedy, Chaleur leans towards a darker relationship drama. There’s more emphasis on technique and complexity, and layering of flavours. A big caveat here is that we visit during its soft-opening phase so the menu may well change in the coming days, and they will continue to finetune both the food and presentation. 

Prices are somewhat higher, from the S$218 we once paid at Reve, to S$258 for Chaleur’s current dinner tasting menu. But we don’t begrudge them as each course is painstakingly crafted and well thought out, if maybe a little overthought at times.

There are pleasant little snacks to start with that are perfectly fine if not terribly exciting. A charcoal-hued rose-shaped cracker gets a topping of chopped scallop, edamame and caviar, while its little cousin has chutoro sashimi stuffed into a tart shell with sour cream and sakura ebi.

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Thick slices of aged and lightly smoked bonito are slinky smooth, but seem slightly underdressed with just a smidgen of black garlic paste and shredded ginger that give the bland fish some much-needed lift.

We’re happy to see Kawano’s signature – and stingily sized – bread rolls appear, with the familiar toasty resilience of a chewy rice bun and milk roll. It feels vaguely annoying that the higher menu price does not include a refill, or at least an offer of one. A fluffy square of focaccia does appear later but that’s not the point.

A cold chawanmushi we really liked at Reve is reinterpreted here, but we have less love for it. The luscious savoury custard is glazed in a layer of blood-orange jelly that messes with our sweet-savoury orientation, which tender discs of white asparagus and ikura can’t get back on track.

After a slightly wonky start, things rev into gear with very good crisp-skinned amadei with its scales flattened for top-notch crunch. A rich green sauce of Japanese shungiku or tang oh to us clings to the fish like a much-loved blanket. 

Kawano’s never-sous-vide pigeon is still a class act with a perfect tender bite and gently broiled. You get breast and leg for contrast, garlic flower tempura for fun and simple port wine jus to embellish. It always outperforms the beef dish, in this case a commendable piece of charbroiled Hida seasoned with truffle miso.

It’s just a plate-warmer for the real highlight – the unctuous, rich, collagen-bursting duck (and other meaty contributors) bone broth that you slurp up with mochi-chewy noodles made for the restaurant based on Kawano’s own recipe.

All that richness is easily washed away with a lovely pre-dessert of sudachi sorbet and jelly. You don’t really need the main dessert of Hokkaido milk mousse layered with cookie crumble, minced candied minkan and yuzu sorbet, but you will want it. Along with the petit-fours that wrap everything up.

There’s much to like already at Chaleur even though it’s still finding its feet. It’s a reflection of Kawano’s own understated, unassuming personality that doesn’t try to impress but rather draw you in with sincerity and skill. It’s an appealing combination and this new opportunity could be his best move yet.

Rating: 7