Starting a new cooking chapter

THE restaurants they worked at may sound familiar. But get set to hear the names Louis Han, Remy Lefebvre and Thiru Gunasakaran more often as they set out to helm new concepts to feed the insatiable appetites of diners looking for their next culinary fix. It won't be a moment too soon, after the dining-in ban that kicked in last month put a halt to their opening plans. If things go well, here's another three restaurants that we might have to fight to get a booking at.

NAE-UM (Opening July 1)

When Louis Han decided to leave Kimme in early 2020 (which closed down for good during the Circuit Breaker F&B crisis), Covid-19 was still another country's problem and he was planning to go home to Korea and think about starting his own restaurant.

As with all well-laid plans, they all came to a grinding halt when he left Singapore a week before Circuit Breaker. He found himself stuck in Korea with a fiancee in Singapore he needed to marry (in the end they conducted their marriage registration virtually), but plans for the new restaurant continued. Very slowly, but surely.

Now, he's finally set to open NAE-UM in Telok Ayer Street on July 1, if the dining ban is lifted as planned. And unlike before, he is starting on a fresh slate as chef and sole proprietor of his own restaurant, financed without partners but help from friends and family. Creatively too, he is older and wiser, and fresh with new ideas after spending time working at the two Michelin-starred Mosu in Seoul, learning pottery and tending to his small family farm.

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"I definitely did some soul-searching while I was there," says Chef Han. "I had been away from Korea for almost six years since I first arrived in Singapore. It was good to spend time with my family and friends, re-discover my roots and get new inspiration. I couldn't travel, but I could enjoy hiking the mountain near my home and going on road trips to the East Sea."

All of that is reflected in NAE-UM, which means 'nostalgic scent'. While it will showcase contemporary Seoul cuisine, "I want to serve my customers innovative dishes with a sense of familiarity", he says. "I want them to feel like they're eating in a friend's home."

He describes NAE-UM's menus as "episodic, each showcasing a different food story or inspiration". His 'pilot' episode is a spotlight on his favourite ingredients, one of which is 'hwae' (sashimi) - a key ingredient in 'mulhwae', a cold spicy raw fish soup popular in summer. In his version for NAE-UM, he replaces the soup with "a gochujang and citrus sauce that is poured over slices of aged fish and koji-fermented daikon rolled in Korean sesame leaves, topped with Korean herbs". It's part of the five-course, S$148 dinner menu that he will serve first, along with supplementary dishes.

Doenjang (fermented Korean bean paste) is another of his favourite ingredients. Normally used in stews, he uses it to marinate a dry-aged Challans duck which is seared, roasted and finished off on binchotan.

He will open in familiar territory in Telok Ayer Street, just around the corner from Amoy Street where the former Kimme was. But, unlike the unexposed young chef he was in 2016 when he first came to Singapore, he's all grown up now with his own business and a more mature perspective on cooking.

"In short, now I have 'aged' like doenjang," he laughs.

• 161 Telok Ayer Street.

• Go to naeum.sg for more details.

CASA Restaurant by Remy Lefebvre (opening June 21)

Remy Lefebvre has come full circle in his career in Singapore, starting out as an employee and now as a business partner of Plan B Ventures, the F&B group that first brought him to Singapore in 2014 to helm its Mexican restaurant El Mero Mero. In the last few years, he was better known as the chef of Butcher's Block in Raffles Hotel until last month. He's now the face and hands behind CASA -- where he serves his culinary autobiography on a plate.

"The concept is shaped by my early life experiences growing up in Africa and France and celebrating the seasons through produce; working in Spain, and living in places with pristine natural environments," he says. His eco-friendly approach means using line-caught, responsibly sourced, traditionally farmed and bio-dynamic ingredients, and "showcasing 'real cooking' with woodfire in the traditional way".

It's taken him more than 10 years to take the plunge with his own venture again. "The closure of my first own restaurant in Barcelona in December 2009 shook me up, and it has taken me many years to re-establish my confidence, to take the step to 'put my name on the door' again." Knowing his strengths and weaknesses, having an established group as a backer gives him the security he needs. As chef/partner of CASA, he receives a share of the profits.

He was fortunate in that renovations were already underway before the Heightened Alert (HA) was imposed. "We were able to maintain the project timeline - we were planning to open in the first week of June, so now we'll open as soon as dining in is allowed again."

CASA joins Plan B's stable of restaurants in CHIJMES, and serves four- to eight-course lunch and dinner menus priced from S$118 to S$258. Seafood takes precedence over meat, with only one land animal served each day, and there will be weekend champagne brunch at S$198.

Setting up CASA has special meaning for the chef who has settled in Singapore with his wife and kids. In the same way that the restaurant is designed to evoke a sense of familiarity and comfort, "launching CASA for me means to finally be home - both literally and metaphorically", he says.

• #01-20 CHIJMES, 30 Victoria Street.

• Tel: 9722-8171. casarestaurant.sg

Firangi Superstar (Opening June 25)

When you put an Indian chef trained in French-Western cooking and who has never been to India at the helm of an Indian restaurant, what do you get?

"A foreigner's love letter to India," says Rohit Roopchand, co-founder of the Dandy Collection, the F&B group behind the quirky dining concepts Neon Pigeon, Fat Prince and Summerlong. Its first Indian restaurant is helmed by the afore-described Thiru Gunasakaran, who was last the executive sous chef of Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Marina Bay Sands.

It seemed only right that one without professional experience in Indian cuisine would be in the best position to give it a fresh perspective, which is what Mr Roopchand and his partner Michael Goodman want. "We constantly try to challenge the status quo, and bring a differing viewpoint to everything we do," says Mr Goodman. So, looking at Indian food through "a totally imagined kaleidoscopic fantasy lens" is a task that Chef Gunasakaran is setting out to achieve.

"I knew I had to give it a shot even though I had never cooked Indian food professionally," says the Malaysian chef who has been in Singapore for almost six years. "I'm of South Indian heritage and have never been to India - the Indian food I am most familiar with is what I eat at home. But I'm guided by these familiar flavours to create the dishes we'll be serving at Firangi Superstar."

That means putting a unique spin on classics such as Aloo Gobi, which at Firangi will be known simply as This is Not Aloo Gobi - unrecognisable in its preparation and presentation, yet totally familiar with every bite, says Mr Roopchand. Or Beirut Bhatura - a take on 'Chole Bhature' which pairs celeriac hummus with chickpea masala seasoned with Punjabi spices and eaten with a puffed up bhatura.

Firangi Superstar is a heftier investment than its sister restaurants, says Mr Roopchand, adding that the group's concepts cost on average S$1 million. Other investors were roped in for this project. While the challenges are always there in the tough F&B industry even without the shadow of Covid-19, "it's a great time to open a restaurant as it enables us to transport people to places they would love to travel to in the form of food, drink, and experience," he adds.

• 20 Craig Rd, #01-03. Tel:6221 7794. firangisuperstar.com