The revered Taiwanese chef will present signatures from his now-shuttered Restaurant André in Singapore and lauded restaurant Raw in Taipei, Taiwan, in his only culinary showcase in Singapore this year
It has been six years since revered Taiwanese chef André Chiang closed two-Michelin-starred Restaurant André in Singapore and moved to his home country of Taiwan to rediscover his roots. But from March 13 to 24, André is returning to the island for an exclusive two-week restaurant takeover at La Dame de Pic, Raffles Singapore. “I miss Singapore and I have always thought of doing something [here],” André tells Tatler Dining in an exclusive interview ahead of his restaurant takeover—the only one he has planned in Singapore this year.
For this exclusive restaurant takeover, André shares that his menu will comprise signatures from the now-shuttered Restaurant André and Raw, his ground-breaking dining concept in Taipei which celebrates all things Taiwanese. “My menu will showcase two personalities… one is Raw which is more hip, vibrant and younger, and the other is Restaurant André which is more timeless, elegant and contemporary.” While André prefers to keep the menu a surprise, he quips that this is an opportunity to showcase both sides of him to diners who had been to Restaurant André but not Raw and vice versa. “I want to bring both of these to the table,” he declares.
During his Singapore takeover, Raw will be closed for two weeks as André will bring his whole culinary team—20 of them, to be exact—to reintroduce two sides of chef André in a 2.5-hour dinner. Adds André, “I want to bring the entire team over so they can witness how the dining scene in Singapore has changed.”
Read more: Taiwanese Chef-Restaurateur André Chiang on Why He's Not Afraid of Change
This is truly an exciting dining event for many gourmands, especially those who have been following André’s decorated career which started when he relocated to France in 1991 (at the age of 15) and worked his way up to become head chef of three-Michelin-starred Les Jardin des Sens. Moving to Singapore in 2008 to helm Jaan restaurant at Swissotel The Stamford and opening his eponymous restaurant two years after, André expresses that the local scene back then was very different in the sense that many of the “best restaurants were in hotels and there were only a handful of independent restaurants that were very good”.
You could say that André helped pave the way for chef-driven and independent restaurants with Restaurant André, his eponymous three-storey establishment in Bukit Pasoh where his “Octaphilosophy” culinary philosophy was still intrinsically rooted in French cuisine but incorporated more Asian ingredients. In 2018, however, André shocked the culinary world when he announced that he was closing Restaurant André at the peak of its popularity to move to Taiwan to understand his Taiwanese heritage. “I left Taiwan at 13 and there were many things and flavours that I didn’t know about that I wanted to spotlight,” he explains.
In case you missed it: Taiwanese Chef André Chiang Gets Candid About Embracing Change and Finding the Meaning of Success
