Singapore - Restaurants

Les Amis is Singapore's undisputed Grande Dame of fine French dining. New resident chef Armin Leitgeb (who has worked in several three-Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe) creates contemporary European food with classic techniques. Signature dishes include the lightly smoked eel “tiède”, with crispy pork crouton, horseradish and Dijon mustard emulsion, the Baby monkfish on the bone served with maitake mushroom, lettuce and caper, and the roasted, crispy skin suckling pig, with cabbage, speck potatoes and caraway. The décor, by renowned Singaporean architect Kay Ngee Tay, features a generous mix of yellow marble and teak, and there are five private dining rooms in addition to the main restaurant.

With awards and fine reviews galore, chef Emmanual Stroobant (awarded Chef of the Year at the 2006 World Gourmet Summit) unites his Belgian roots and Asian experience in an elegant and modern restaurant in Singapore, proving that fine French cuisine does not have to mean a formal and stuffy dining experience. The menu includes delicacies like foie gras mousse with apple compote and lobster dressing, crispy kurobuta pork belly with roasted scallops and white-miso-marinated black cod fillet with millefeuille of cauliflower. For dessert, Grandma Stroobant's flourless chocolate cake lives up to its reputation as unmissable. Reservations recommended. No lunch Saturday, closed Sunday, closes at 2130 Monday to Friday.

Opened in 2008, this inventive upscale Italian restaurant, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Osvaldo Forlino (and his family), quickly wowed both critics and local diners. This place is seriously hot, so make sure you book in advance. Forlino's acclaim is rooted in the chef's masterful blending of Italian cooking with choice ingredients from across Europe and Asia, resulting in exquisite dishes like tagliatelle with duck ragout and foie gras, free range roast rabbit with sweet peppers and a dessert of pannacotta sweetened by plum golden figs. Situated beside Marina Bay, the location is a perfect complement to the extraordinarily good cooking.

Located on the fourth floor of the Wisma Atria shopping mall on Orchard Road, this slightly mid-range hawker centre is a popular hangout for hungry shoppers at lunchtime and an eclectic mix of diners in later afternoon and early evening. A broad selection of Asian cuisines - ranging from north Indian curry to Hokkien fried noodles and Hainanese Chicken Rice - are served from almost 100 well-managed kiosk-style outlets, with central seating in a large food court. Make your choice and sit down to eat a tasty, on-the-run lunch among a mix of local shoppers, schoolkids and families. For sweet-toothed diners, look out for several specialist dessert kiosks selling Asian snacks and sweet puddings.

Perched atop Mount Faber with fabulous views over southern Singapore, the Jewel Box development's newest dining concept serves Singaporean-Chinese heritage cuisines. Created by Hong Kong-born masterchef Jereme Leung, who created the Whampoa Club restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing, this elegant, sophisticated restaurant serves contemporary takes on traditional dishes that Singaporeans have grown up with either at home or in restaurants. The origins of the menu hail from different parts of China, but Leung has successfully infused Singaporean flavours and flourishes into tasty dished like fried noodles with prawns and scrambled eggs, and fried caramelised king prawns.