A to Z of 2024: Quitting the food and beverage scene

SINGAPORE – La Dame de Pic, Tippling Club, Gemma, Art di Daniele Sperindio, Sushi Kimura, Beni, Chef Kang’s, Sommer and Braci are all restaurants that fine-dining fans might recommend as must-visit places in Singapore.

Yet, they are on another list: restaurants that shuttered, or will shutter, by the end of 2024.

Food and beverage is a blood sport in Singapore, where competition is rife and diners are fickle. The industry bled profusely this year and no type of restaurant has been spared.

Alongside fine-dining establishments, 2024 also saw the end of the road for Cafe Natsu, Goho, Le Matin Patisserie, Ms Maria & Mr Singh, Oriole Coffee + Bar, Tigerlily Patisserie, Tuga and Yue Bai, among others.

Everywhere on the spectrum, from casual to high-end, business suffered as diners made themselves scarce. Belt-tightening in the face of economic uncertainty was one reason, as was the strong Singapore dollar driving people to spend overseas.

According to statistics from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, some 3,616 food businesses sprang up in 2023, and 2,748 shuttered. Figures for 2024 run until November and, so far, there have been 3,577 new food businesses and 3,004 casualties.

Figuring out what those fickle diners want has become a priority.

Tasting menu-only restaurants now offer a la carte options for some meals.

Since Dec 11, one-Michelin-starred Araya, the Chilean restaurant at Mondrian Singapore, has been offering a la carte lunches from Wednesdays to Saturdays. It also now offers a shorter five-course tasting menu, priced at $168 a person, at lunch and dinner. Its dinner tasting menus are priced at $298 a person for eight courses and $368 a person for eight courses, featuring mostly seafood.

Modern Indian grill restaurant Revolver in Tras Street is also offering diners an a la carte menu.

If value was what diners wanted, restaurants went the extra mile to provide it.

In 2024, the restaurant “feast” became a thing. For one price, diners could order a soup-to-nuts set menu in some restaurants, and have a table laden with food. Chef Dylan Ong offers 10-course communal menus at both his restaurants: The Masses at The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore ($59.90 a person) and Choon Hoy Parlor in Beach Road ($49.90 a person).

Korean grill restaurant Gu:um, in Keong Saik Road, offers a $168 a person sharing menu. It has four starters and four cuts of grilled meat with accompanying vegetables, banchan (side dishes) and ssam (wraps), plus a rice dish, a stew and a dessert.

Also offering feasts are Sri Lankan restaurant Kotuwa and Artichoke, a Middle Eastern-inflected restaurant, both at New Bahru, that hot new restaurant and lifestyle enclave.

At Kotuwa, diners can opt for the $68 a person Lankan Feast, with two snacks, two stir-fries, two main dishes, rice and hoppers, four side dishes and a dessert. Artichoke’s Feed Me menu is priced at $70 a person, which gets diners five mezze, two salads, two meat dishes, rice and a dessert.

In a tough market, being nimble counts. After all, the diner is king.