A new restaurant now occupies the sweeping 10,000 square feet black-and-white colonial bungalow that rests atop a hill in Labrador Park. The historic building was once home to the Thai restaurant Tamarind Hill, but now makes way for Asu, a fine dining outfit led by Singaporean chef Ace Tan.
The past shapes the present and inspires the future—this conviction flows through the veins of ASU, a new fine-dining concept unveiling in October 2024. And if such be the lifeblood of the restaurant, its beating heart has to be Chef Ace Tan.
Drawing inspiration from personal memories and incorporating the culinary discoveries of a life’s work, Ace defines a brand of cuisine that is uniquely his. With research and experimentation, layered with the wisdoms of dietary therapy and global food traditions, Ace gives form to a novel meaning of ‘indulgence’ and ‘health’ in food.
Ace is a chef shaped by a cerebral, highly introspective response to all things gastronomic, and the possibilities they embody. The seeds were sowed in his youth—growing up in a neighbourhood awash in unspoilt tradition, culinary or otherwise. At home, his grandmother’s authentically ethnic cooking ensured his native roots were never far from mind, and an aunt who had worked in Japan acquainted him with the wonders of umami-laden Japanese fare. These forces nurtured a deep appreciation for Asian culinary traditions; a fascination with their flavours, techniques, ingredients, and history that continues to compel his craft today.
Ace’s extended family ran a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) shop. That deepened his mental associations with clean, healthy eating; and the realisation that food could be delicious and at the same time good for the body. In such a stimulating milieu, the naturally thoughtful youngster developed mindsets and perceptions that would later blossom in his professional self—with ASU.
Another profound influence on Chef Ace is his professional experience and travels around the region. When he worked in Korea, he routinely hiked and foraged for fresh ingredients in the company of his peers. He saw the use the locals made of seasonal pickings to strengthen the body and ameliorate the rigours brought on by weather. This fed into his already heightened awareness of health-giving foods, leading Ace to weave dietary therapy into his menu; and make seasonality a touchstone of ASU.
By renewing his menus twice every season, Chef Ace is able to calibrate for peak quality in seasonal ingredients, when flavours are at their finest and health benefits at their most effective. And through his embrace of ‘less is more’, each meticulously selected ingredient shines on the plate, independently and in harmony with other elements in a cuisine of ‘healthy indulgence’.
ASU is the culmination of Ace Tan’s personal journey thus far. Some 16 years of tenures in kitchens from casual to fine, coupled with an analytical mind, a constant openness to learning, and readiness for challenge, has produced a chef of quiet confidence and mature insight.
In establishing ASU, Ace has founded a facility for research and experimentation that plumbs the depths of culinary cultures and generates a library of new flavours and ideas. Within ASU’s kitchen, and from a definitively Asian perspective, Chef Ace brings forth an evolving cuisine embedded in personal memory and fuelled by relentless curiosity. Representing Chef Ace’s story of growth and characterised by his brand of constant reinvention, it is Progressive Asian Cuisine.
ASU’s first episode—its opening menu—is an ode to Ace’s roots, centred on the well-loved flavours and staple dishes of his childhood. He recollects Singapore’s rich culinary heritage, and innovates these impressions into representations of his journey.
With discernment and understanding, leavened by years of thought, endeavour and craft, Chef Ace Tan shares with diners intimate portraits of identity, as told in food he loves. An artful dialogue between past and present brings diners on a discovery of an ever-evolving narrative, in all its richness, nuance, and delicious complexity.
