Michelin Guide Singapore will release their 2019 list of Michelin star restaurants on 17th September. It’ll be an exciting day for Michelin star hunters like myself. The Bib Gourmand list is usually released a few weeks prior, so that should be dropping any time soon. I’ve collected a total of 14 Michelin stars from our neighbor to the south and reviewed every single one of them:
Waku Ghin 🌟🌟
Shinji by Kanesaka (Carlton Hotel) 🌟
Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice (Chinatown) 🌟
Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle 🌟
Nouri 🌟
This is an opportunity for me to come out with my own predictions on who will drop out of the list. I was very unimpressed with 2 Michelin star Shisen Hanten but realistically, they’re in no danger of being relegated. I don’t even think they’ll lose a star.
My top 3 favorite Michelin starred restaurants are Nouri, Summer Palace and Burnt Ends. I also enjoyed the impeccable food and ultra-polished service at Waku Ghin. Nouri has inventive and delicious food. I brought my dad and he thoroughly enjoyed the food there. The service is faultless too. Summer Palace is solid, unpretentious comfort food – a delightful take on Chinese cuisine you’ll come back for over and over again. Shinji by Kanesaka has an exceedingly good value-for-money lunch that I cannot recommend enough. They’re an outpost of Chef Shinji Kanesaka’s Tokyo sushi restaurant (also with a Michelin star) and both their outlets in Singapore won a star each.
My bottom 3 is Crystal Jade Golden Palace, The Song of India, and Labyrinth. Crystal Jade Golden Palace is so mediocre I struggle to find anything good to say about their dismal food. The fact that they’ve been awarded a Michelin star is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. They not only failed to impress, it’s like they made it their mission to serve uninspiring food.
The Song of India has serious shortcomings in service and food which the esteemed Andy Hayler also noted in his influential website. I read his review before going and thought it was another case of a clueless Caucasian trying and failing to understand Asian food. It’s not. Don’t make the same mistake as I did. Avoid this restaurant like the plague. They had a broom closet open the entire time I was dining there.
Labyrinth received bad reviews for their service from Fay (real name Fang) of thywhaleliciousfay – a blogger I follow and respect. I believe I got the same waiter she did, a thoroughly incompetent nincompoop with terrible halitosis. Some of the other waiters were good, but Michelin inspectors don’t take service into account when rating restaurants. In the end, Labyrinth’s insipid modern Singaporean cuisine tries too hard to be different and misses the mark.
Labyrinth, The Song of India and Crystal Jade Golden Palace are my picks to lose their Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Singapore 2019. We shall see in about 2 weeks!
