Thevar

Contemporary Indian Flavours with European Techniques in Singapore

When I think of fine dining, Indian cuisine doesn’t exactly spring to the top of mind. I think of heavy, rich, dense sauces, and hangover food. I’m reminded of one of my favourite Indian restaurants, Ghandi Roti, serving multi-kilogram rotis from a tiny street-side stall in Toronto. We used to go there for lunch after a heavy night of drinking, and make bets how much spice or how many rotis someone could eat.

Thevar is a very different experience. Helmed by Chef Mano Thevar, who trained at Guy Savoy, Pure C and Waku Ghin, Thevar is his ode to contemporary Indian cuisine, combining traditional Indian flavours, incorporating European techniques and Japanese ingredients. Interestingly, Chef Mano had no formal training in Indian cuisine, but spent a month in India immersing himself in regional cuisines and flavours before returning to open Thevar.

First opening in 2018, Thevar earned its first Michelin star in 2021, and a second in 2022 and has held both every since. In 2023 and 2024, it made it to the list of Asia’s best restaurants as well.

I arrived at an aisle of historic Singaporean shophouses sitting in front of a monolithic apartment building - one of the most famous HDBs in Singapore. Looking around, I struggled to find the restaurant.

It took me awhile. There was no visible signage from the street, and the long lines of people I saw were actually for a famous Chinese restaurant across the street.

Eventually, I found the place, and I was escorted inside the tiny restaurant and sat at the counter watching the staff assemble dishes in the large open show kitchen.

Chef Mano was manning the pass beside me, and we conversed throughout the night, talking about his inspirations, the ingredients and other restaurants I should try in Singapore.

Upon sitting down, I was presented with the welcome drink, a spiced clarified buttermilk. I was intrigued - it was cloudy, just slightly thicker than water, and I wasn’t prepared for the potent hit of sour and salt in a shot glass. Made from the leftover whey produced when they make their homemade yoghurt, the whey is steeped in spices and left to ferment creating this potent combination.

Frankly, the welcome drink wasn’t my favourite, and I ordered another drink to get the taste out of my mouth. The “fluffy watermelon and pink guava paloma” was exactly everything I expected to me, and with the refreshing and deceptively alcoholic drink washing out the hit of salt and sour from my mouth, I was ready to start the tasting menu.

The appetizers started with a cured sea trout on top of an Indian Idli, a bit like a mochi rice ball, with a bit of dill raita yoghurt topped with Osetra caviar. Really neat combination of textures and flavours - chewy from the rice ball, creaminess from the raita, a bit of brininess from the caviar, oilyness from the trout and a hit of lingering spice from chili oil. Amazing!

Next came Thevar’s take on Chaat. two crisp tarts with an masala chutney with pomegranate topped with slices of kiwi. Contrasting sweet and sour flavours, juiciness of the fruit contrasting with light crispness of the tart.

Next came a cube of fried pork dusted with a curry powder in a sambal aioli wrapped in a betelnut leaf. the curry powder around the pork dried out the crust, allowing for a crisp, crunch crust with a perfectly moist and juicy interior.

A take on another classic Indian street food dish, Thevar’s carrot pani puri. A hollow deep fried shell made from dried carrot juice and filled with a feta buttermilk tomato chutney. Crispy outside, liquid filled inside with alternating sweet and sour flavours. A bit like a giant chocolate truffle.

Finishing off the appetizers, the smoked eel vadai. Another classic Indian street food, Vadai is a bit like a savory donut, spongey dough deep fried and served with chutney or other accompaniments. This one was topped with a piece of smoked eel with a tamarind glaze, making a meaty, umami, smokiness that lingered on the tongue.

Moving into the mains, the first dish was a Canadian lobster tail served on a bed of tomato chutney with puffed rice and sunflower seeds for texture. All of this was surrounded with a Japanese Ishtu sauce made with coconut milk and spices. One of the things Thevar did stunningly well was the finish on their proteins - every single one was cooked to perfection, and the Lobster tail was just perfectly cooked. Plump and juicy and fall apart on fork tender.

The lobster dish was served with a spiced ball of bread as an accompaniment to soak up and finish the sauce. Good thinking!

My personal highlight of the night, a giant Jeju Abalone, grilled to perfection over charcoal served on a spiced Indian porridge. Instead of daal, they used Japanese rice and couscous, and added a bit of puffed rice for texture. Smokey, tender abalone with a rich, creamy risotto-like base for one of the best dishes of hte night.

Reminding me a bit of Gaggan’s “This is not a taco”, a grilled soft roti filled with a classic Indian Chicken Chettinad coated with chopped chives.

Before the main course, a palate cleanser made with a slice of pickled beetroot forming a shall around a bubble of hibiscus juice, a kokum (An Indian fruit from the same family as Mangosteen) sorbet topped with popping rock candy. Eaten in one (large) bite - hits of sour, sweet, cold, crackle to clean the palate and prepare us for the next dish.

For the main, a juicy falling off the bone rack of lamb topped with a spiced jus and finger lime zest, served with a squash masala, mango-pineapple chutney and sorrel chutney. This wasn’t a high-class affair, and they encouraged us to grab the the bone, dip the meat into one of the sauces and eat the lamb straight off the bone. Delicious!

Accompanying the main was a lamb biryani and slightly sweet raita (Indian yoghurt). Once the lamb rack was done, we were told to mix the biryani with the raita and the rest of the sauce leftover on the plate. Another perfectly executed dish with an explosion of flavours.

Getting to the predessert, a peach and paneer sorbet in a rose syrup with small diced apple chunks topped with a bit of basil oil.

Dessert was a roasted date kulfi, a traditional Indian ice cream that is a bit denser and creamier than regular ice cream. Made from slow cooked milk condensed slowly in a pot, the slow cooking process caramelizes the sugars in the milk creating a very distinctive flavour profile.

Finally, a small cup of masala chai, served like a cappuccino, with a thick layer of milk foam on top. The second I saw the masala chai on the menu, I tried to order it - all the way back at the beginning of the meal. They insisted that I would ruin my palate and promised to get me one for dessert. Creamy, rich, spicy and sweet, it was well worth the wait!

To finish off the meal, a single raspberry financier topped with chopped pistachios.

Overall, an absolutely amazing meal with hit after hit after hit. I wasn’t sure what to expect when booking Thevar. Normally, when I think of Indian food, it’s very heavy, rich, full of dense and creamy sauces and not very well balanced. Instead, what I got was an amazing meal of very refined dishes. I wouldn’t exactly call it light, or delicate, but very well-balanced and really showcasing the broad diversity and heritage of Indian cuisine.

The closest comparison I can think to Thevar is Gaggan, but that would be selling Thevar short. As I mentioned to the Maitre’D when we were talking about high-end Indian cuisine, Gaggan is incredibly famous, and visiting one of his restaurants is an experience, but the food itself is not necessarily the main selling point. In contrast, Thevar is focused on the food itself, showcasing the best of Indian flavours in a very refined way.

Total Damage: 450 SGD/1 person