Among the 10 new and refreshed restaurants and bars are outlets by French chefs Anne-Sophie Pic and Alain Ducasse and Singaporean chef Jereme Leung
By Tan Hsueh Yun
Singaporean chef Jereme Leung, formerly executive chef of Jiang-Nan Chun at the Four Seasons hotel here, makes a homecoming by opening yi by Jereme Leung, a 120-seat contemporary Chinese restaurant on level 3 of the Raffles Arcade, serving Cantonese classics and adaptations of ancient Chinese dishes.
Hong Kong-born Leung, 46, started his culinary career at age 13. He also ran the Whampoa Club in Shanghai and Beijing. He now has a restaurant consultancy business, creating modern Chinese restaurants in hotels in China and the US, among other countries.
Joining the three new restaurants is Butcher's Block. The 70-seater, which will be located at the Raffles Arcade, showcases high-end meat stored in a glass meat cooler called The Vault, and cooked in an open kitchen.
Favourites such as the Long Bar, where the Singapore Sling was concocted more than a century ago; and the Tiffin Room, which serves North Indian food, will return, as will the Writers Bar, for hotel residents and restaurant patrons; and alfresco all-day bar and lounge the Raffles Courtyard.
Ah Teng's Bakery will be renamed Ah Teng's Cafe, offering grab-and-go pastries, drinks and ice cream at the Raffles Gift Shop at the hotel's Seah Street entrance. Afternoon Tea at the hotel's lobby lounge will also make a comeback.
A hotel spokesman told The Straits Times that the history of the hotel was important in considering which restaurants would return, adding that the Tiffin Room and Long Bar, for example, hold fond memories for visitors and guests.
This was balanced with a need to push forward.
"A key consideration is to ensure that Raffles Singapore continues to stay at the forefront of the city's culinary scene and, as such, our three celebrity chef collaborations are a series of 'firsts' that the hotel will introduce when it reopens."
Chef Pic, 49, said of her new restaurant: "Like the Raffles, the Pic family's culinary heritage spans more than a century. Just like this beautiful hotel that will become one of our overseas residences, we are storytellers and constant seekers of excellence."
