Born

Contemporary European-Chinese Fusion in Singapore

Right across the road from the Maxwell Hawker Center, famous for the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Stall, sits a nondescript building. Called Jinricksha Station, it was a central depot for rickshaws, human pulled carts originally imported from Shanghai. Originally built in 1903, the building fell into disuse after rickshaws were banned by the British government in 1947, and replaced with more modern versions of public transportation.

The culinary story of the space begins with Chef Zor Tan, who worked across Asia under mentor chef Andre Chiang. After working across Taiwan and Macau, he returned to Singapore to open Born, rooted in a concept he calls “The Circle of Life”.

The style of the restaurant is fine French dining, using Chinese ingredients and flavours, somewhat similar to Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong. It’s the first restaurant he opened and has been around for about 2.5 years, earning a Michelin star in that time and a place on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Located in Tanjong Pagar, inside a historic building, I was expecting a somewhat dated interior. That was precisely the opposite of what I walked into.

A contemporary, minimalistic space, with arches highlighted by offset lighting and a crumbled paper sculpture designed by Peter Gentenaar hovering above the main dining area. The theme was clearly pastels, smooth arcs, arches, offset lighting and bronze.

The majority of the seating was around an open kitchen where the staff ran around busily preparing everyone’s meals.

A welcome drink was presented - a cold tea made with a botanical blend with oolong tea, goji berries and osmanthus. This was presented along with the a circular menu, each flip of a page describing a course on the menu, along with its inspiration.

The menu for the night, presented at the end of the meal.

The first canape, green chocolate truffle filled with a sour plum (golden apple) liquor and some rock candy to give a bit of pop and crackle.

A pig ear jelly, sandwiched between two crisp crackers dusted with a Sichuan peppercorn powder.

A signature for Born, deep-fried cordyceps fungus lightly coated with a aged black vinegar sugar sauce with a bit of truffle oil. Sweet, sour, texture and a bit of chili. Great.

A crispy light tart filled with pickled daikon and egg yolk marmalade, topped with folded beef tongue slices with little olive oil caviar pearls.

A beef fried bao filled with pork, topped with an Otoro mince with basil oil and topped with caviar and microgreens. Crispy, meaty, fatty.

“About Chestnuts”, with chestnuts a feature of every menu from Chef Zor. Caramelized shallot and chestnut foam over roasted macadamia nuts, topped with shaved macadamia nuts and a black garlic sauce. earthy, nutty, crunch from the nuts under the smooth velouté.

“Opposite Ends” - a deep fried bao filled with oyster, XO sauce, whole peppercorns with a slice of wagyu beef bresaola. Smoked oyster emulsion, made with egg white and olive oil, a bit like an aioli.

“Less is more”, highlighting some of the delicate and nuanced nature of Chinese cooking, slices of razor clam and celtuce cuts into slices and arranged like fish scales on top of yuba (tofu skin), and topped with a light chicken consommé and olive oil droplets. Chewy, simple, dumpling like, fresh soy flavour from the yuba. Intricate design, clean, distinct flavours.

The highlight of my meal, the “Flavour Discoveries”. A bit like a deconstructed egg tart, an egg custard with sea cucumber and mussels, topped with small pearls of balsamic vinegar, topped with a thick, rich foie gras sauce and a single drop of spring onion oil. Served with a brioche with a baked on maple syrup coating. Fluffy, sweet, sugar, crystallized crunch. Absolutely amazing.

A really neat fish, the “Artful Muse” - monkfish, topped with jade fungus, with chicken oil (for rich mouthfeel). First time I’ve ever had jade fungus. Really interesting texture. It’s like a thicker slightly less crunchy version of wood ear fungus.

“Reimagination”, a dish of chewy, mild cuttlefish with a layer of prawn oil, pickled daikon, with some scorched puffed rice for texture and caviar topping.

Another very simple dish, “Soup for the Soul”, some sweet Japanese pearl onions in a chicken stock loaded with Chinese herbs - Angelica, Polygonatun and Codonopsis. A very Chinese herbal soup, topped with microgreens and mountain caviar.

The “Circle of Life”, a dish with a charcoal grilled pigeon breast, topped with a lightly pickled lily flower bud, a black hen egg injected with pigeon jus, and a side of Maitake mushroom and a glutinous rice ball. This was served with a confit pigeon leg on the side, topped with fried garlic breadcrumbs and microgreens.

A tea course came next, and we were offered many rare teas they had on the menu. They had one dessert wine in particular from China I was itching to try, so I decided to skip on the the tea.

The pre-dessert was a pear sorbet wit pickled starfruit, various flower petals for colour and a layer of bird’s nest jelly, a very classic Chinese dessert ingredient made from swallow’s saliva. Cold, refreshing and floral.

The forementioned Chinese dessert wine, from Longting Vinyard in Shandong, China. They’re known for a single-varietal Cabernet Franc, but this was their Jade Petit Manseng Late Harvest Penglai, a mouthful for a very sweet smelling, complex dessert wine. I’ve never had Chinese made dessert wine before and wasn’t sure what to expect. Really neat and I’d definitely want to buy a bottle if I ever see it in stores.

The dessert, named after Chef Zor’s favourite childhood cartoon, “Doraemon”. Sweet potato puree, crisps, with a oolong chantilly, burnt butter and sea salt ice cream. Flakes of sea salt sprinkled on top. Really nice, well balanced and delicate.

The petit four named for the the Chinese phrase for the joys and sorrows of life: sour, sweet, bitter and spicy.

• The spicy was a spicy XO sauce madeleine

• The bitter was a black sesame filled chocolate

• The sweet was a red date mochi with logan and osmanthus jelly

• The sour was a roselle chip delicately folded into a house with a sour gummy bear

The staff was super friendly and were clearly passionate about the cuisine they were serving. We had lengthy discussions about techniques and providence of dishes, and chef Zor came by as well to discuss some of his experience and food culture in Singapore versus Hong Kong. In fact, when they heard that there was an issue my reservation for a different restaurant the following night, they recommended another restaurant where they knew the chef well and even made the reservation for me.

Overall, amazing meal, I preferred Born over Tate Dining Room, and after the strong intense flavours of Bangkok, I was relieved at the delicate, nuanced flavours at Born. Definitely worth returning to.

Total Damage: 540 SGD/head