More restaurant closures: Encore by Rhubarb shutters
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Chef Paul Longworth revamped his fine-dining Rhubarb into the more casual Encore by Rhubarb in 2025.
PHOTO: ENCORE BY RHUBARB
- Chef Paul Longworth closed Encore by Rhubarb after 12 years in Singapore, expressing pride, relief, but also sadness.
- Encore's demise highlights Singapore's brutal restaurant churn, driven by strong SGD, global uncertainties, high rentals, and labour shortages.
- Despite closures, 1,436 new F&B businesses opened in Jan-Apr 2026 versus 1,267 shut. Industry fears losing quality to "cheap and fleeting".
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SINGAPORE – Casual French restaurant Encore by Rhubarb in Duxton Hill has closed, another casualty of the brutal churn restaurants here are going through.
In a May 26 post on Instagram, chef Paul Longworth, 47, said: “After 12 incredible years, I have decided to close the restaurant.
“My feelings could be of sadness, pain, anguish and anger, but, actually, they’re feelings of pride, love, achievement and a slight tinge of relief. Thank you to all you beautiful people who have supported, patronised, worked, supplied and guided us over the years.”
He declined to comment when The Straits Times contacted him, saying he is in the midst of working out the closure.
Chef Longworth worked at Au Petit Salut before opening the 20-seat fine-dining eatery Rhubarb in 2014. It garnered a Michelin star in 2016, the year the Singapore guide launched. It fell off the one-star list in 2025, when he turned the restaurant into a more casual place with 32 seats at a cost of $150,000.
In the beginning, diners flocked to Encore, drawn by his kitchen’s solid French cooking and the irresistible lure of a substantial three-course lunch at $48 a person and a four-course dinner at $88. Encore was named Best New Restaurant by ST in 2025.
But in a recent interview with ST in March, he says the more casual set-up meant he had to fill all 32 seats at lunch and dinner – and that was not happening.
He said then: “It leads me to question myself. Do I not understand the market any more?”
In the last two years, the restaurant scene in Singapore has taken a beating.
The strong Singapore dollar makes it attractive for people to travel and spend overseas. People are also tightening their belts in the face of global political and economic uncertainties, with the war in Iran driving up costs. There are also the perennial rental and labour woes that restaurant operators face.
All this has meant restaurants of all stripes have closed. Recent closures include upmarket establishments such as Spanish restaurant Sugarra and pastry chain Tarte by Cheryl Koh, and casual places such as gastrobar The Horse’s Mouth and French cafe The Black Sheep.
Impending closures include heritage restaurant Wing Seong Fatty’s and Peranakan restaurant Nana Dolly’s – both slated for end-June.
And yet, more restaurants are opening. According to statistics from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, 1,436 new food businesses were registered between January and April. For the same period, 1,267 went belly up.
Chef Paul Longworth's Encore by Rhubarb has closed, despite a major revamp into a more casual restaurant.
PHOTO: ENCORE BY RHUBARB
Ms Magdalene Tang, 64, who owns Mag’s, a wine restaurant in Neil Road, has known chef Longworth since 2009, when he came to Singapore to work.
She says: “Encore was the real thing – craft, conviction and a kitchen run with genuine soul. But we live in an age that too often rewards the cheap and the fleeting over the considered and the enduring.
“That’s not a reflection of his talent. It’s a reflection of where we are. The F&B scene is the quieter and poorer for this closure. I hope it isn’t the last chapter, because people like Paul are exactly what this industry needs more of.”
