Singapore rejoins the three Michelin star club as Odette, Les Amis elevated to fine dining’s top rank

French haute cuisine establishments get top marks from France-based dining guide to give Lion City its first restaurants with the highest Michelin ranking
‘With this historic first … Singapore enters a new dimension in the eyes of food lovers,’ says Michelin Guide’s international director

Food and Drinks

Agence France-Presse

Published: 3:15pm, 18 Sep 2019

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Two Singapore restaurants have been awarded the maximum three Michelin stars for the first time ever.

Odette and Les Amis, which both serve French haute cuisine, got top marks from the gastronomic bible, putting them on the same level as the some of the world’s best restaurants.

Both are run by French-born chefs, with Sebastian Lepinoy of Les Amis adding to the two stars he picked when Michelin launched its first Singapore guide in 2016.

Chef Julien Royer, who named his restaurant after his grandmother Odette, was praised for the “subtle Asian touches” he matched with “highly-mastered French technique”.

Julien Royer, chef and co-owner of Odette in Singapore. newly awarded a third Michelin star. He recently opened Louise in Hong Kong.

He said his grandmother showed him “how the most remarkable dishes can come from the purest ingredients and taught me the importance of adding that ‘little something’ to create dishes that excite the palate and fill the heart”.

Only 133 restaurants in the world have three Michelin stars, with Japan heading the ranking with 31, followed by France with 27.

Hong Kong and Macau come in fifth with 10 top-rated restaurants between them.

Singapore previously had one restaurant with three Michelin stars, French chef Joël Robuchon’s self-titled restaurant at Resorts World Sentosa, until it closed in 2018.

Renowned for its street food, Singapore is “clearly positioned as a leading gastronomic destination”, said Michelin Guide’s new international director, Gwendal Poullennec.

“With this historic first … Singapore enters a new dimension in the eyes of food lovers,” he added.

Lightly smoked eel tiede at Les Amis restaurant in Singapore.

Five restaurants now have two stars in the city state – Saint Pierre, Shisen Hanten, Shoukouwa, Waku Ghin and the Nordic-Asian establishment Zen – while 37 more got one star.

Editor’s note: A sentence has been added, and headlines amended, to reflect the fact that Singapore previously had a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

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