Árō (pronounced Ah-roh), the debut restaurant by Chef Johanne Siy, opens at 15 Mohamed Sultan Road in September 2026, marking a new chapter in a bold culinary journey.
Born in Pangasinan and later shaped by kitchens including Le Bernardin, Café Boulud, Restaurant André, Noma, Relæ and Fäviken, Johanne Siy has spent years exploring the relationship between ingredients, producers, craft and culture.
Árō is the crystallisation of a lifetime of experiences, seen through the singular lens of the person who lived them. Its name draws from two words — in Latin, arō means to plough, till, or cultivate; while in Johanne’s hometown dialect, áro means love. Together, they form what Johanne describes as a “labour of love, which is what this whole endeavour is.”
This is Johanne’s most personal chapter yet: as a restaurant and concept, Árō is not anchored to a particular nationality, cuisine, or geography. It expresses the full arc of Johanne’s lived experience — an unbounded collection of people, places, ideas and encounters that have shaped her values and sensibilities. Aptly, Johanne calls the food she serves “Creator’s cuisine.”
Uniquely for a restaurant, it is not a cuisine or fixed format that dictates the menu. Ingredient is the seed-idea and the orchestrator. To Johanne, “a thread exists between what grows in the ground, the hands that made it possible, and the people who sit at the table.” She describes her role as less a chef in the traditional mode, and more “an agent who tells the stories of the communities behind the produce we use.”
Through her years in the trade, Johanne forged profound relationships with many producers and artisans. Her travels have brought her to oyster farmers in Cancale and Mont-Saint-Michel, a third-generation affineur in Roanne, and artisanal producers throughout the Basque region. Across the Philippines, she revisited her hometown hand-worked terracotta salt beds and reconnected with the coastal produce of her Pangasinan upbringing. She also spent time with ube farmers, salt-makers, stingless bee farmers, and craftspeople preserving generations-old traditions.
The menu changes, but not solely according to seasonality. The same ingredient may resurface with different treatments over time — roasted on one menu, cured or fermented on the next. Meanwhile, sourcing shifts as new producers and discoveries emerge. The menu thus remains fluid, fresh, and perennially surprising. Underlying this approach is Johanne’s conviction that many of Southeast Asia’s most extraordinary ingredients remain criminally unsung.
With Árō, Johanne’s “labour of love” extends beyond the plate. Believing that true artistry emerges when hand, mind and heart work together, the dining room is designed with Keiji Ashizawa Design around natural materials to feel more like a home than a restaurant. Featured throughout are artwork and objects from Johanne’s own personal collection — they are not so much decoration as an extension of her being. As she puts it, “I want guests to feel like they are dining in my home.”
At the heart of the restaurant is a desire to bridge a gap she believes exists within modern dining: the growing distance between diners and the people responsible for producing what is on their plates. For Johanne, sourcing is about relationships where the stories become part of the meal.
Even the restaurant itself was built this way. Founded by Johanne and her husband alongside a close circle of friends who believed in the vision from the onset, Árō is rooted in relationships long before it welcomed its first guest. Placing counter seating at the heart of the restaurant underscores the focus on forging connections. Guests leave with not simply a good meal, but a fuller picture of who and what made it possible.
Through ingredients, craftsmanship and community, Árō seeks to create those moments of learning, understanding and connection. Above all, it is a labour of love — one built on the belief that meaningful dining begins not only with what is on the plate, but with the people behind it.
