But based on what I’ve read online, Goh’s guests have raved about his bakwan kepiting, ayam buah keluak and ngoh hiang – dishes that are easy to find in most Peranakan restaurants in Singapore.
Priced from S$120 to S$150 (US$88 to US$110) per guest, equivalent to the cost of a dinner tasting menu at one Michelin-starred Candlenut, the twice-weekly dinners hosted in Goh’s home cater to from eight to 10 guests each night.
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In the home-dining sphere, make-up artist Goh is anything but alone. Over the past two years, Singapore has witnessed a vogue for private chefs, who range from a moonlighting food writer, violinist, shoe business operator and former banker to a clutch of professionally trained chefs, all operating from private residences and, in some cases, government-subsidised flats.
Apart from Peranakan fare, which is trending among home chefs, guests can expect to savour anything from artisanal Italian pastas and pizzas, to homespun Cantonese fare, hearty European classics and modern American fare.
In a city where everything, including restaurant operations, is tightly regulated, this boom in supper clubs hosted in private homes is an anomalous situation.
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“Home dining is a good way to start for young chefs,” says John Loh (not his real name), a restaurant and bar owner. “But while hawkers and restaurants are regulated by the Singapore Food Agency, they are not.”
According to the Singapore Food Agency website, all food retail establishments must be licensed to operate. As part of the application process, food operators are required to submit a host of documents including food hygiene certificate, pest control contract, Food Safety Management Plan and tenancy agreement, among others.
Once the shop space is approved for restaurant use, Loh says, the planning work starts. Space planning, he emphasises, “not construction”, for the location of kitchen exhaust, grease trap, sewerage, fire safety (sprinklers, fireproof doors and ceiling), gas installation, costs around S$10,000.
That doesn’t include the cost of submissions to the various authorities for all the licences, plus the actual construction costs.
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“It costs at least S$5,000 to construct grease trap; about S$12,000 to S$60,000 for exhaust and hood; and a minimum of S$5,000 for gas installation,” he adds. “On an ongoing basis, there are also the added costs of pest control, grease trap and exhaust maintenance amounting to several thousand dollars a year.”
Home eateries are not subject to licensing, hygiene inspection, pest control and grease trap, a practice that Loh deems “unfair to restaurant and bar operators in Singapore”.
To add insult to injury, he says most home-based eateries charge S$1,000 to S$2,000 upfront per night for group bookings, with full payment due at the time of booking and often with a minimum of three months advance reservation.
While some restaurants are understandably not pleased about private dining disrupting the dining scene, diners are lapping it up.
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“When I dine with private chefs, I am fully aware that it’s not regulated,” says Hayashi Shinryo, a Singapore-based fund manager who has visited four different home-based dining venues. “I also know that I am paying almost as much or sometimes more than what a restaurant charges.”
“I am aware of the risks – including hygiene, pricing, etc – with no avenue for legal or financial recourse, I treat it like I am eating at a friend’s home,” he says, adding that he only goes to private dining spots that have been recommended by trusted foodies. “I leave it to the home chefs to deal with their neighbours and fire hazard, etc.”
Having said that, Shinryo says that he only picks venues that offer something unique that no restaurants can offer – small batch, artisanal, home-made or unique produce, where the food is “cooked five feet away and served piping hot”.
In August, Shinryo visited Mustard Seed, a modern Peranakan eatery with Japanese inflections that started life as a home-based pop-up in June 2017 before becoming a fully-fledged restaurant this June.
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“We heard so much about the Mustard Seed private dining, but could never book,” he says, relieved that he had finally tried its “heart-warming, genuine, humble and super-delicious” fare.
Despite the success of its low-cost, home-based set-up, Mustard Seed proceeded to join the restaurant fray recently.
“I want to create a business sustainable enough for my business partner and I to work together,” says chef-owner Gan, who was previously at Peranakan eatery Candlenut and the now-defunct kaiseki restaurant Goto. Gan was operating the pop-up from his parents’ home.
“But the main reason for the change is for personal growth, both in terms of my cooking and also as a person – I enjoy a good challenge!”
Home-dining options in Singapore:
BenFatto_95 for artisan pastas
Casa Nostra for artisanal pizzas
Dearborn Supper Club for modern American
FatFuku for Peranakan
Lucky House Cantonese Private Kitchen for classical Cantonese
Lynnette’s Kitchen for Peranakan
Ownself Make Chef for meat-based dinners and Peranakan
Pasir Panjang Boy for Peranakan
The Ampang Kitchen for Peranakan
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