The food and beverage industry in Singapore is a tough school, where partnerships fall apart, surprises are often unpleasant, and diners' apathy can be a real challenge. It's a place where you earn your stripes the hard way. And 2025 has been a particularly rough year for the Singapore food scene.
In 2024, Singapore boasted an impressive 42 one-Michelin-starred restaurants. However, by the end of 2025, that number had dropped to a mere 30. Two key factors contributed to this decline.
Firstly, fewer restaurants met the stringent Michelin standards or managed to get promoted. In 2025, only one new restaurant, Omakase @ Stevens, made the cut, and just one, Sushi Sakuta, earned a second star. This is a stark contrast to previous years.
The second factor is even more concerning: a wave of restaurant closures. Ten restaurants from the 2024 Michelin list have shut their doors, including Terra Tokyo Italian, which lost its star, and Rhubarb, which reinvented itself as a casual dining spot, Encore by Rhubarb. By the end of the year, another one-starred restaurant, Esora, will have closed, leaving Singapore with only 29 one-starred restaurants.
This downturn has affected all types of food businesses, from Chinese restaurant stalwarts like East Ocean, which is closing after 33 years, to chains like Prive and The Manhattan Fish Market, and even heritage brands such as Ka-Soh. But amidst the challenges, there are stories of resilience and innovation.
Maxi Coffee Bar: A Community-Driven Comeback
In June, Maxi Coffee Bar, a popular spot in Ann Siang Hill, announced its sudden closure, leaving many regulars in shock. The Instagram post hinted at the reasons, but the full story was more complex.
Co-owner Denise Lum explains that the cafe shared its space with a bar, which was the main tenant. For five years, this arrangement worked well, but when the bar closed in May, Lum discovered that the rent she had been paying for four months had not been passed on to the landlord. Despite attempts to negotiate, the landlord refused to allow the cafe to stay open until a new space could be found.
Lum had been searching for alternative spaces before the troubles began but hadn't found anything suitable. However, the community's support rallied around Maxi. A regular customer offered space in his office building across the road, and crowdfunding efforts raised $12,000. Lum was determined to reopen in the same area, believing that the coffee shop's regulars and community were tied to the neighborhood's terroir.
The new Maxi Coffee Bar, just a short walk from the original, reopened in October. The cafe is bigger, with more seating, and offers an expanded menu, including five types of beans for filter coffee. Lum plans to grow the retail side of the business, selling Maxi's roasted coffee beans and canned filter coffee. Customers can still enjoy favorites like the Madeleines with citrus curd and the Iced Cereal Milk Latte, along with new additions like Aubergine and Fennel and Tuna Melt sandwiches.
Qin Restaurant & Bar: A Chef's Journey Home
Chef Marvas Ng, formerly of Path, a modern-Asian restaurant, noticed a decline in business due to the shift to remote work and reduced corporate entertainment budgets. Despite dropping prices by 10-20% for set lunches, tasting menus, and a la carte offerings, the restaurant couldn't survive.
Ng wanted a change after four years at Path and joined Qin, an 80-seat restaurant and bar at The Clan Hotel. Here, he focuses on the food he grew up with and ate while working in China and Hong Kong for over 12 years. The menu features dishes like Sarawak Pork Ear Terrine "Qian Ceng," Straits Line Caught Local Threadfin "Qing Zeng," and Cameron "Nai Cha," a dessert inspired by his daughter's love for bubble tea.
Ng sources about 90% of his ingredients from Singapore or neighboring countries, ensuring freshness. He's even talking to a local prawn farm to grow tiny glass prawns for snacks and dishes like cheong fun or steamed rice rolls. For Chinese New Year, he plans to offer a vegetable slaw made with sprouts and baby greens grown in Singapore.
The menu is free of "luxury" ingredients, instead featuring sharing dishes like Hokkaido Pork Belly "Har Cheong" and 5-Day Dry-Aged Local Kampong Chicken, served with housemade sauces and salads. Ng hopes to build a loyal following, inspired by his experiences collaborating with chefs at Path, where he saw the power of simple, comforting dishes that regulars love.
Ethos Gelato Lab: A Sweet Reset
Chronos Chan, founder of Tom's Palette, a gelato brand he ran for 17 years, decided to walk away after bringing in an investor in 2022. The partnership didn't work out, and Chan left, with all traces of his involvement removed from the brand's website.
In May 2025, Chan debuted Ethos Gelato Lab, making gelato in his HDB flat and selling it online. Before starting Ethos, Chan took time to "reset his mind," recognizing the need to be mentally prepared for a new venture. He spent six months running, swimming, and meditating, and later did consultancy work and taught gelato-making classes.
Ethos was born out of a desire to reconnect with old customers and the realization that he could make gelato at home between other work commitments. Chan, a self-taught gelato maker with a degree in mechanical engineering, enjoyed tinkering with machinery and became fascinated with ice cream. He and his wife, Eunice Soon, started Tom's Palette in 2005, named after a friend. At the time, local ice cream brands were few, but by 2006, Tom's Palette was offering unusual flavors like Salted Caramel, Salted Egg, and Parmesan Cheese & Cream Crackers.
By 2008, the brand had gained a strong following, taking up two neighboring units in Shaw Tower. Social media was gaining traction, but Chan didn't join Instagram until 2015. He focused on product quality, believing that if the gelato was good, customers would return. However, he soon realized the impact of social media and the need to attract a younger audience.
With Ethos, Chan is wiser, active on Instagram, and makes about 25kg of gelato a week, offering flavors like Chrysanthemum, Mint Mosaic, Tau Sar Piah Tribute, and The Corn I Remember. For Christmas, he offers A Slice Of Christmas, Citrus Snowfall, and Nutty Black Forest. Chan believes that a person's life story can be turned into a gelato flavor, and he hopes ice cream can help people express and let go of their emotions.
Euphoria: A Star's Farewell
Just a week after the launch of the 2025 Singapore Michelin Guide, one-starred Euphoria in Tras Street, known for its French-style, vegetable-forward cuisine, closed its doors. Chef Jason Tan, who opened the restaurant in 2020 and earned his star in 2022, wanted to go out on a high note. This year also marked his 10th appearance on the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list.
Tan had been considering closing the restaurant for a year, feeling that the market was getting worse. He planned to take a long break and finally celebrate Christmas with friends, something he rarely got to do due to the demands of the industry.
However, Tan's "break" hasn't quite materialized. Soon after closing Euphoria, he started receiving consultancy work offers. Instead of traveling for pleasure, he's been traveling for work, talking to entrepreneurs in Bangkok about opening a restaurant there. He's completed projects in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, where he's drawn up menus, sourced ingredients, trained staff, and set up operating procedures.
Tan is also working with a hotel group to improve its food and beverage offerings and consulting on the menu for a newly opened casual restaurant, Cloudfields. In the new year, he'll be in Tokyo to create a menu and train staff for a French bistro. For Chinese New Year in 2026, he's collaborating with Legacy, a local gourmet bak kwa brand, to create a bespoke flavor.
While Tan seems done with fine dining for now, he doesn't rule out opening such a restaurant in Vietnam or Indonesia, where there's less competition and operating costs are lower. He's even considering selling wallet-friendly Western food in food courts, offering chicken chop, roast chicken, and affordable steaks.
Tan believes fine dining may not be his future, at least not in Singapore. He questions how long he can continue in the industry, asking if he can still be in the kitchen at 55, creating super-detailed dishes with tweezers.
These four stories showcase the resilience and innovation of Singapore's F&B industry, proving that even in the face of adversity, there's always a way to bounce back and create something new.
