Restaurant Born

Restaurant Born is one of Singapore’s most architecturally and gastronomically distinctive fine dining experiences, housed in the lovingly restored Jinricksha Station, a former rickshaw depot built in 1903 that stands as one of the city’s most iconic heritage landmarks. Conceived by Chef-Owner Zor Tan, a Malaysian-Chinese chef who previously served as co-executive chef of RAW in Taipei and executive chef of two-Michelin-starred Sichuan Moon in Macau, the restaurant opened in 2022 and earned a Michelin star in its very first year. Chef Tan is a protégé of legendary chef Andre Chiang and the menu at Born is a profound personal expression of his life’s journey, drawing on his Hokkien ancestry and the rich tapestry of Cantonese, Taiwanese, and Sichuan culinary legacies that shaped him. The tasting menu, structured around the philosophical concept of the circle of life, comprises nine or more courses that narrate the chef’s memories through food. Dishes such as the aged wagyu tartare with oyster inside a fried bao speak to the chef’s street food roots, while caviar-topped potato crisps reimagine his childhood habit of dipping fries into vanilla ice cream. The dining room is a breathtaking space of glowing double arches, a high glass ceiling, and a free-flowing ethereal paper sculpture suspended above the tables. Born debuted at number 36 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 and at number 25 in 2024.