Singapore (CNN) – No one wants to be stranded in a foreign country during a global pandemic.
But after his own admission, 25-year-old American software engineer Jon Lu chose to stay in Singapore when the world’s borders began to close last year.
“I arrived in Singapore for the first time in August 2019, although my time was spent mostly abroad for work,” says the New York native. “I didn’t really start living in Singapore until March 2020.”
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) degree says he chose where he wanted to be during his one-year project in Asia.
Fluent in both English and Mandarin, Lu – a recreational skater who used to compete in intercollegiate competitions – eventually decided on Singapore.
He worked hard for the most part, skating about four to five times a week. But he also did what Singaporeans do best – eat.
As of today, the American has visited a total of 255 food and beverage outlets, including cafes and stalls, covering 30 Michelin restaurants with 37 Michelin stars collectively (55 Michelin stars, including repeated visits).
An impressive feat, given that the city’s restaurants were closed to the table in person for more than two months, not to mention the fact that he was temporarily excluded due to health.
When the city entered a partial blockade nationwide – also known as the Circuit Breaker – between April 7 and June 1, 2020, restaurants were forced to offer only dining. This did not stop Lu, who continued to eat well by ordering food deliveries, not once, but twice a day, in the first half of the period.
But these were not ordinary meals. He chose to focus on the city’s many gastronomic offerings, including Michelin-starred places, which often take weeks, if not months, to secure meals.
“It was such a difficult time for the F&B industry – I wanted to do everything I could to support local businesses,” says Lu, adding that some of Circuit Breaker’s most memorable meals were home-tasting menus. where he should put the last vessels himself.
“Such a meal was from Odette at home,” says Lu, who even managed to procure a table cloth and a small potted plant from the staff at the hotel where he had been staying for a month to recreate the chair. French restaurant stand his room.
Jon Lu, American software engineer
But in early May, Lu began to have problems with his vision.
Doctors diagnosed him with retinal vein occlusion, caused by extremely high levels of LDL cholesterol – probably a result of eating habits during the previous seven months of intense travel and food before the blockage.
It didn’t help that the gyms and skating rinks were closed.
“I worked with local specialists to treat the symptoms of vision and I started running every day,” says Lu. “I also followed a low-cholesterol, heart-healthy diet for two months, during which time I avoided moderate to high-sugar foods.”
After two months of dieting and running, Lu’s health problems were resolved. In July, just weeks after meals were allowed in the second phase of the city’s reopening, he began populating his calendar with reservations again.
Lu’s best choices
American software engineer Jon Lu ate at Michelin-starred Odette four times, led by chef Julien Royer.
Jon Lu
After trying the cream of Singapore’s top restaurants, a feat that even food critics would need a year or two to accomplish, Lu is well positioned to offer advice on where to find the city’s best food. .
Next to his rows of Michelin-starred favorite restaurants are three Michelin-starred Odettes, chef Julien Royer, where Lu dined four times. He especially appreciates the contemporary French restaurant for its “incredibly refined and technically well-executed” cuisine, with the title of the course signed by Royer Pigeon’s “Beak to Tail”, which “tastes amazing”.
In the Japanese category, Lu selects the one who has visited Sushi Kimura twice with a Michelin star. He says chef Tomo-o Kimura’s owner offers “thicker” and “more exotic” pieces of fish – such as sujiko (salmon roe sac), oki aji (white tongue fish jack) and usubu hagi (unicorn skin). skin). Not to mention Kimura’s shari (sushi rice), which is “amazingly firm and airy” and served at “the perfect temperature.”
When it comes to Singapore cuisine, the Michelin-starred maze of chef Han Li Guang is the one that draws the strings of Lu’s heart.
The restaurant is famous for presenting high versions of local dishes – such as Crab Signature Chilli – which have an unmistakable origin of Singaporean origin, with ingredients mostly from local sources. Lu says his November trip to Labyrinth is his second as one of his favorite post-Circuit Breaker meals.
Among the top Japanese elections in Singapore is Sushi Kimura.
Jon Lu
Menus include Ang Moh Chicken Rice and An Ode to Cairnhill Steakhouse, both of which pay homage to Han’s grandmother and grandfather, respectively.
In addition to Michelin-rated restaurants, Lu aims to check out new restaurants. His new favorite opening, Euphoria, serves the “gastro-botanical” cuisine created by Singaporean chef Jason Tan during his one-star Corner House.
“At the heart of the euphoria are four botanical essences made entirely from vegetables,” says Lu. “I was extremely impressed by how tasty each dish was and, in particular, by the complexity of the flavor in the vegetable components.”
Despite his impressive coverage of reputable restaurants, Lu says he doesn’t believe in “star tracking” – that is, eating at a restaurant just because Michelin has been awarded stars. There are still 13 star restaurants in Singapore that he has not visited.
Its most visited place in Singapore, the avant-garde restaurant Preludio, two years old, has no stars.
Led by Colombian chef Fernando Arevalo, Preludio serves the “author’s kitchen” that revolves around a theme that changes annually, called the “chapter.” From his debut chapter Monochrome, Lu pampers about the course of Pata Negra with “amazing” flavors, Iberico pork shoulder with bread crumbs panko with a “distinctive” mixture of spices – cumin, cayenne and paprika – associated with tomatoes soaked in a two-day marinade.
“Like someone who doesn’t usually like to repeat dishes at fine restaurants, the fact that I’ve already dined at Preludio nine times (in 2020) is proof of their inventiveness,” says Lu.
Inspired by “Chef’s Table”
Lu says eating out and exploring places to eat has been a hobby since 2015, when he was interned in downtown Chicago and surrounded by plenty of food options within walking distance of his office.
Since then, the passionate food lover says he has visited at least 300 different restaurants each year, starting with cafes and casual shops, before graduating to finer places in 2019.
Attributing his interest in refined meals to the Netflix series “Chef’s Table,” Lu says he was fascinated by the way the show described food as a seemingly limitless art form, limited only by the chef’s skill and imagination.
The American says that Singapore has certainly been the “most impressive” dining city to date and that it is “fully possible” to eat every day in a quality place without repeating meals for years.
“The variety of cuisines as well as the range of ingredients available (which really spread to all corners of the world) in Singapore is incredible,” says Lu.