TRENDS

For dinner, there are more premium options such as the 12-hour slow-braised herbal pork belly and oriental-spiced pork scotch eggs to gussy up your bowl of noodles.

“We made minor tweaks to the char siew marinade, but didn’t deviate too much from traditional recipes. We wanted to keep the avours as traditional as possible, and just enhance [the] wonton mee with modernised techniques and better ingredients,” says Brandon.

The surprise hit of 2016, The Coconut Club – which focuses on a singular nasi lemak dish, with Thai jasmine rice cooked with Mawa coconuts for a lightly fragranced nish – shot to instant fame when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hosted Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to a meal there.

Despite its immense popularity – long queues form outside its Ann Siang Hill home even before it’s open – it is not without detractors. Many foodindustry insiders I speak to wonder if it is reasonable to charge $12.90 for a plate of nasi lemak, regardless of elevation techniques.

“I love the intention, passion and the craft [the owners] are investing in, and understand that that comes at a high cost,” says Denise Khan Tan, group marketing and communications manager at lifestyle collective Unlisted Collection. “However, I’m not too keen on them adding to that cost by placing their concept in a location with high rent that surely adds to the dish’s price point.”