Gilmore & Damian D’Silva unveils The Caretaker’s Room, the restaurant’s new 16-seat private dining room. Tucked steps away from the main dining hall and accessible with its own private entrance, The Caretaker’s Room offers diners a space designed for connection, conversation, and discovery. Here, guests are welcomed to experience the full breadth of Chef Damian’s culinary repertoire — extending beyond Eurasian and Chinese dishes to include Peranakan, Sri Lankan, and other regional culinary traditions.
The space can also be configured into two rooms of eight, making it ideal for intimate gatherings, celebrations, masterclasses, and curated dinners of Chef’s specials. Intended to encourage connection, the setting champions a communal style of dining, where shared plates spark conversation and bring guests together. Various menus are available, such as the Chef Experience Menu, Chef Menu, Peranakan Menu, and Standard Menu. Advanced booking of at least one week is required for all reservations (one month for the Chef Experience Menu), with a minimum of eight pax to dine. Reservations can be made via email or phone.
An Extension of Home
The warmth of the main dining hall extends into The Caretaker’s Room, where a familiar palette of browns and whites creates a sense of visual continuity. Thoughtfully designed, the space features custom-made carpets and acoustic panels in the ceiling that complement the neutral colour scheme — welcoming guests to take a seat and enjoy the same warm hospitality that many have experienced at Gilmore D’Silva’s dining table.
Furnished with original cabinets belonging to Gilmore, The Caretaker’s Room also serves as a custodial space. Pieces from The Gilmore Collection are housed here, with ceramics, heirloom items, and culturally significant memorabilia offering a glimpse into the family’s Eurasian and Peranakan heritage. Together with family photographs and antique tableware from Chef Damian’s personal collection, these time-honoured belongings transform the room into more than just a dining space — part archive, part homage to generations past.
Upon entering the room, diners are greeted by the artwork on the opposite wall: Lim Tze Peng’s ‘Boat Quay’. The artwork is Lim’s poetic remembrance of the hustle and bustle of the Old Singapore Boat Quay — his quick, expressive brushstrokes capture the fluid movement of people transporting goods with pushcarts and a lorry, against the backdrop of shophouses that line the riverfront. Evoking the spirit of a bygone era, the artwork echoes the restaurant’s commitment to keeping memory and heritage alive through food.
A Special Menu for Every Occasion
In The Caretaker’s Room, Chef Damian will personally present dishes across his repertoire, alongside heirloom recipes shaped by memory and tradition — some tracing back over 200 years and once cooked by his grandfather – extending his philosophy of heritage cuisine to showcase the richness of Singapore’s culinary tapestry. Several menus are available, such as the Standard Menu that features a selection of courses from Gilmore & Damian D’Silva’s a la carte menu, with a minimum spend of $80++ per person (lunch) and $120++ per person (dinner).
A specially curated Peranakan Menu ($150++ per person) is also available, comprising dishes beyond the restaurant’s regular offerings. Classic Peranakan ingredients like Buah Keluak and Belimbing are reintroduced from Chef Damian’s earlier establishments, in a nod to his maternal family’s heritage. Diners may also opt for the Chef Menu ($180++ per person), which spotlights a thoughtful selection of multi-ethnic dishes by Chef Damian.
For a truly personalised dining experience, guests can enjoy the Chef Experience Menu ($250++ per person, dinner only), a fully customisable menu that requires an advanced booking of one month. No two menus from this experience are the same, with the ingredients personally sourced by Chef Damian himself. Special requests are welcome, with ingredient-focused menus or menus tailored to specific dietary restrictions among the options.
All dishes in The Caretaker’s Room will be served communal-style, inviting those at the table to discover the true essence of heritage dining. Reminiscent of a meal one would have with loved ones, every menu is crafted to foster connection across the table. Just as Chef Damian puts thought and care into each dish presented, he hopes that every pass of a plate sparks new conversations and brings people closer together.
Emulating Gilmore’s spirit of warm hospitality that welcomes all to the table, the restaurant encourages guests to bring their own bottles. There is no corkage fee for wines, but a glass rental charge of $5++ per glass applies. Spirits are subject to a corkage fee of $100++ per 750ml bottle.
With the arrival of The Caretaker’s Room, private dining becomes a meaningful culinary journey at Gilmore & Damian D’Silva. The experience extends beyond the menu, with thoughtful touches of hospitality that carries on the legacy of Gilmore D’Silva’s generosity. Here, heritage is not only preserved, but experienced.
