May's restaurant openings in Singapore include a rooftop debut at the National Gallery, a Tokyo hamburg steak spot at VivoCity, a Japanese-French pop-up on Orchard Road, and new menus from Dumpling Darlings and Merci Marcel. Highlights: Dumpling Darlings' largest flagship at New Bahru with izakaya vibe and small plates; Merci Marcel's two-storey Serangoon Gardens outpost with modern French sharing plates, wine focus, and retail corner.
This month’s roundup of new restaurants and notable menus spans rooftop debuts above the National Gallery, a Tokyo hamburg steak specialist setting up at VivoCity, a Japanese-French pop-up taking over an Orchard Road kappo on its rest days, and a samgyetang follow-up on Amoy Street.
There are new menus worth knowing about too, from a Latin brunch in Telok Ayer to a Sunday prime rib tradition at Jewel. Here’s what’s just opened in Singapore this May, and the spots we’ve added to our own list of places to check out. Dumpling Darlings opens its third and largest flagship at New Bahru, swapping the city-centre footprint for the creative enclave on Kim Yam Road.
The new space takes cues from a Japanese izakaya: Warm lighting, buzzing tables, and a menu built for lingering. The dumplings you know are still here, but there’s a new lineup of small plates developed in collaboration with Mustard Seed, designed to round out the table beyond the pleats. The cocktail programme has had a refresh too, leaning into highballs for an easy-drinking, second-round kind of evening.
It’s a bigger, slightly louder version of the Darlings, and the same cheeky energy with more room to play. The Merci Marcel family has planted its latest outpost in Serangoon Gardens, and it’s a two-storey affair built to carry you through the day. Downstairs, there’s a bistro setup with both alfresco seats and air-conditioned corners; upstairs opens onto a breezy terrace with a slightly more elevated feel.
The menu, overseen by chef Bruno Menard, leans into modern French sharing plates, with a noticeable focus on French wine culture, including regular wine-focused experiences and community wine club gatherings. There’s also a retail corner stocked with artisanal cheeses, cold cuts, pastries, and gourmet bits to take home, alongside a new Merci Marcel merchandise collection of mugs, plates, caps, T-shirts, and fans in the brand’s signature colours.
The latest opening from the Les Amis Group, Jiin Omakase debuted on May 8 at Shaw Centre with a clear focus: Premium Japanese seafood and the unhurried hospitality of omotenashi. Head Chef Sakamoto Mitsutaka, whose career was shaped by 18 years at Hyakurakuso Ryokan, helms the 12-seat counter under the mentorship of Group Head Chef Saito Makoto, while Sous Chef Matsuda Koichi anchors the hot kitchen and its signature Ise Ebi hot pot.
A spring sashimi course features six seasonal fish, and the Monaka, a wafer shell filled with monkfish liver paste and topped with caviar, uni and truffle, is served on hand-collected boards. Founded in 2020 in Kichijoji by chef Shohei Yamamoto, Hikiniku To Come is built around a single signature set : three hamburg steaks made from 100 per cent Japanese beef, served one at a time and eaten differently with each round.
The first is enjoyed as is to take in the charcoal aroma; the second with grated radish and homemade ponzu; the third dipped into egg yolk or turned into tamago kake gohan. Rice cooked in Hagama pots gets unlimited refills. Walk-in only during opening phase. Opening May 31 atop the National Gallery Singapore, Milli is a two-storey rooftop venture from the team behind Bae’s Cocktail Club, chef LG Han of Labyrinth, and Vijay Mudaliar of Native.
The upper floor, Milli: Sky Dining & Bar, is the intimate room where Han and Mudaliar present a forward-looking take on Singaporean cuisine and cocktails against the skyline. Han’s Chilli Crab Ice Cream makes a return as a shared starter, and there’s an Oyster Omelette Souffle made with Japanese eggs and French oysters. Downstairs, Milli: Lounge is the high-energy space, anchored by a 20-metre HD screen and running till as late as 4am. Lunch sets start at $38.
The team behind Modu, Singapore’s first samgyetang specialty restaurant on Mandarin Gallery, has opened a larger follow-up on Amoy Street. Modu High leans further into the slow-comfort side of Korean dining, built around 21-day-old organic spring chicken and a broth simmered for 12 hours.
The signature collection centres on two interpretations: the Beauty Collagen Samgyetang, a lighter, herb-forward broth designed for clarity and balance, and the Uiseong Black Garlic Samgyetang, a darker, richer version with smoky depth from naturally fermented black garlic. The extended menu runs through versions with abalone and octopus, scorched rice, wild neungi mushrooms, and truffle. Cudo on Stanley Street has rolled out a new Saturday brunch with a modern Latin tilt, running from 11.30am to 3.30pm.
The menu moves through small plates like Padron peppers with toasted almond Ajo Blanco, and a sundried tomato and artichoke dip blended with sour cream, green olives, basil and chipotle oil. Eggs get the Cudo treatment too: Rancheros baked eggs in an Adobo tomato stew, or chilli scrambled eggs with tomatillo salsa and feta. For drinkers, there’s a two-hour free-flow at $48++ per person covering prosecco, wines, beer and Aperol Spritz.
The Coach Restaurant at Jewel Changi Airport is starting a new weekly ritual: Sunday Prime Rib, kicking off the first Sunday of June. It’s a nod to the tableside theatre of classic New York steakhouses, with the prime rib wheeled out and carved from a rolling trolley.
The beef is sourced through local purveyor Butcher Box Singapore and dry-aged in-house for 20 to 25 days, with rendered fat infused with smoked corn husks and Woodford Reserve bourbon, then brushed back over the meat. At $68++ per person, it comes with two sides: the baked russet potato cooked in beef fat is a standout, served in a silver-service style for tableside customising.
It’s a Japanese-French pop-up by Chef Tan Kian Hong, running every Sunday and Monday for lunch and dinner at the Claymore Connect space until July 31. Chef Tan, formerly Sous Chef at Ichigo Ichie under Chef Akane Eno, draws on years at Beni and his own fascination with Japanese cuisine.
Highlights include a mochi-shaped bread with seasonal flavoured butters, a chilled chawanmushi layered with sweet corn and coffee oil, and Awabi: Abalone encased in puff pastry, pithivier-style, served with both liver and red wine sauces. For three months from May to July, Ocean Financial Centre’s covered plaza is hosting Gourmet Park OFC, a curated food truck park assembled by the team behind The Goodburger.
The lineup brings four chef-led brands to Raffles Place: Carnaby Burger Bar by chef Adam Penney ; Jamaica Jerk Chicken Co. by chef Ricardo Allen of Camp Caribbean, where the Jerk Chicken Meal goes for $14.90; Super Loco with tacos including a Baja Fish version at $15; and cult favourite Park Bench Deli, slinging the Bourdain’s Mortadella and a Tuna Melt . Pasarfish, the seafood education initiative run by Kenny Lek and Elliott James Ong, is taking its first turn in a dining format with a two-month pop-up at Chef X, running May 27 to July 27.
The space is set up like a living fish exhibit, with local specimens such as starry triggerfish and John’s snapper alongside heritage tools like bubu traps. The 16-dish menu follows a whole-fish philosophy, putting skin, bones, fats, and roe to use. Highlights include the U-yummy , a kaya toast riff with tee poh butter and fish sauce; the Menboyu , brioche stuffed with wolf herring paste; and the Tobimisu , tiramisu with honey whiskey, mascarpone and tobiko.
That’s the May edition wrapped. As always, this is a running list of places we’re keen to visit ourselves, so consider it less a verdict and more a shared notebook. And if there’s a new opening we’ve missed or a menu we should know about, we’d love to hear it. Until next month, happy eating.
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