From the team behind The Coconut Club comes Belimbing, a New-Gen Singaporean restaurant led by Magic Square and Naked Finn alum, Marcus Leow. The restaurant takes its name from an often overlooked indigenous fruit—a metaphor for the hidden potential of Singaporean cuisine.
“Singapore is celebrated as a global food capital, yet our own cuisine feels at a standstill, often equated solely with hawker fare—a national treasure and a source of pride, but not the full picture. We hope Belimbing can help to shape the next chapter of local cuisine—not by clinging to age-old traditions or depending on luxury ingredients, but by celebrating the flavours and ingredients that reflect who we are today. The food is comforting and unmistakably Singaporean—just not quite how our grandparents would remember it,” says Leow, Head Chef of Belimbing and Head of R&D at The Coconut Club. THE MENU
Belimbing will offer a 4-course menu ($88) for dinner, with a 2-course menu ($58) and limited à la carte selection offered exclusively at lunch. Designed for sharing, the menu explores the potential of local cuisine in a modern context, reimagining native flavours in ways that are both familiar and unexpected. Leow has also made a concerted effort to reuse and repurpose ingredient scraps across the menu to demonstrate the versatility of the ingredients we grew up with.
Despite the ubiquity of local fruits, they remain underrated, often limited to juices or eaten as a post-meal refresher. Leow spotlights them in the three cold starters, using fermentation and pickling—techniques more commonly associated with other cuisines—to intensify their tropical flavours and add complexity. Pickled pink guava is the starting point for the Aged Kanpachi, which is aged on the bone for five days and brushed with a soy sauce made from fish bones and trimmings. A ‘cold curry’ made by combining The Coconut Club’s cold-pressed ‘White Sutera’ coconut milk—a blend of Kampong and Mawa coconuts, extracted daily using a proprietary temperature-controlled machine custom-built by a former Formula 1 engineer—with mussel jus and galangal to complete the dish.
The Grilled Firefly Squid builds on the classic pairing of jambu and dark soy sauce, expanding it into an elegant rojak. Argentinian prawn shells, slow-cooked over 2 hours, are transformed into a savoury haegor caramel. Firefly squid carries layers of umami from soy, pickled young ginger, and house-made squid powder, while bright pickled jambu and the floral lift of young torch ginger round out a dish that feels unconventional yet intuitive.
Clam Custard is a dish that doesn’t just reinterpret; it provokes thought on how tradition, modern technique, and sustainability intersect. Leow reworks asam pedas with careful intent—enriching it with butter for a rounder mouthfeel, replacing fish with clams, and layering in aromatics like mint and sawtooth coriander. Leftover clam jus is made into a delicate dashi, serving multiple roles: forming the base of a smooth chawanmushi that tempers the sauce’s intensity and blending with white pepper to create an emulsion.
Belimbing’s main courses are centred around rice—a mainstay in every Singaporean household. The Wok-Fried Nasi Ulam, the defiant love child of a guilty-pleasure supper staple and a revered heritage dish, argues that tradition should inspire, not dictate. Japanese rice undergoes a three-step transformation—first steamed in fish bone dashi, then wok-fried with sambal belado and belacan, and finally grilled in banana leaves for a sweet, earthy aroma. Ulam raja, ginger flower, and laksa leaves are folded in for subtle freshness and herbaceousness. The fish is cured, its skin is air-dried for two days to achieve a crackling crispness when seared, and its trimming is rendered into a floss for garnishing. The Grilled Short Rib layers familiar flavours through a contemporary lens featuring grilled Angus short rib brushed with beef garum alongside a Wagyu rib finger satay glazed in buah keluak. The dish is accompanied by a percik sauce—customarily reserved for chicken, now laced with black garlic—and a bright green “curry” of fermented garlic scapes and confit garlic. It is served with The Coconut Club’s signature coconut rice, made using a two-step steaming process with White Sutera coconut milk and rempah paste, and adorned with puffed beef tendons and serundeng.
Desserts, only available on the à la carte menu, reflect Leow’s Peranakan upbringing, reinterpreted in a way that feels personal and relevant for today. His signature Corn Salat, made with every part of the corn, is brushed with brown butter and salt for a subtly savoury finish and served with a tea brewed from its leaves and silk. The Pumpkin Bingka puts pumpkin front and center—its flesh is used two ways: blended with tapioca into a rich, chewy kueh and transformed into a smoky purée. Its seeds form the base of a silky anglaise, while a tempeh and white miso ice cream adds a savoury contrast.
Complementing the dining experience is a selection of cocktails that spotlight local ingredients in unexpected expressions. Side Door’s Bannie Kang (Winner of Diageo World Class 2019 and Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ Mancino Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2021) has crafted three exclusive drinks for Belimbing: the Pandan Colada, Tomato, and the Sambal Marg — a twist on the classic margarita, infused with house-made chili relish. For zero-proof alternatives, diners may opt for the Bandung, a clarified rose-infused milk punch, or the eponymous Belimbing, inflected with touches of galangal and green apple.
SPACE & FORM
Belimbing is tucked away on the second floor of a beautifully restored shophouse above The Coconut Club Beach Road. As guests ascend the narrow staircase, they enter an open space designed to reflect elements of classic Singapore interiors, accented with touches of rattan and marble. The focal point is a striking charcoal mural by artist Dawn Ang, also known as Aeropalmics, painstakingly etched over several weeks. Inspired by the notion of “bringing together,” the piece draws from the humble origins of local cuisine and the simplicity of kampong life. In a surreal monochrome landscape, compressed rocks and lakes intertwine with banana and coconut trees, alongside floral and fauna motifs, creating a visual tapestry that bridges heritage and artistry.
“Opening Belimbing is a natural next step for The Coconut Club. While The Coconut Club has relentlessly pursued authenticity and quality to help Singaporean cuisine put its best foot forward, Belimbing looks ahead—exploring its possibilities, and proving that it can and should evolve for today,” says Daniel Sia, Managing Partner of The Coconut Club and Belimbing. “We hope to inspire a renewed appreciation for what we have—encouraging our own people to embrace the value of local food and showing that a career in cooking Singaporean cuisine can be both meaningful and fulfilling.”
