Singapore

On a Bukit Timah brunch cafe that has, for years, served exactly what its neighbourhood wanted, with the kind of consistency that gets quietly underrated.

On a small Amoy Street tasting room run by a chef whose identity statement arrives in the first bite.

On a Tiong Bahru bakery that built its reputation on one small object and has spent twelve years quietly earning that object back.

On an Esplanade restaurant that decided hawker food and Peranakan dishes deserved the tasting-menu format, and has spent years defending the choice.

On a Dempsey restaurant that has spent years arguing for Peranakan cuisine as serious modern cooking, against a category that mostly does not want the discussion.

On a Kyoto-rooted cafe and equipment shop that arrived in Singapore quietly and made a small case for the cup as a working object.

On a Shaw Centre institution that has, since 1994, carried Singapore's longest-running argument for classical French dining at the top of the market.

On an Everton Park microroaster that has refused for years to become anything other than what it already is.

On a modern French dining room inside the National Gallery that has had to balance the chef's vision with the building's institutional gravity.

On a Jiak Chuan Road cafe that takes African coffee and African food seriously enough to risk being misread as theme.

On an Ion Orchard coffee room that staged a Moroccan heritage fantasy around Arabica beans, and somehow made the staging useful.

On a tiny Selegie Road room that serves coffee the way a kappo bar serves dinner: slow, sequenced, and explained only when the explanation helps.