Why The Best Restaurants Of 2019 Are Farm-To-Table

Food that looks good, tastes good and does good, too.

Now, though, it’s a term with more clout, one that all the best chefs talk about, alongside hyperlocal and homegrown. Where once they’d have hankered for a kitchen lab, these days it’s a chemical-free veg patch that’s the sine qua non. Techie gizmos have been replaced with composting teas.

This approach isn’t a fad. It’s an ethos born from a genuine love of provenance. While it’d be easy to construe tattooed barfolk lovingly concocting bitters from home-harvested herbs, or devoted chefs manning their beehives as self-indulgent, the result is a worthy one – reducing carbon footprints and being gentler to nature. We diners also benefit, reaping cleaner, lip-smackingly fresh ingredients on our plates. Here are the culinary cultivators leading this shift.

“Our vision is to bring to life, the impact of urban farming in Singapore, and in doing so, strengthen our understanding and respect for food and its origins.” This the opening gambit on Singapore’s Open Farm website. As the name suggests, this place is as much about sharing knowledge, as it is about fine food. The team’s unerring ambition to reconnect the locale with their roots means they have introduced food tours of the orchards, talks, gardening workshops, as well as a chance to dine at the bountiful restaurant.

If you’re going for the latter, Mr Oliver Truesdale-Jutras, a Canadian chef who recently took over the kitchen, uses 80 per cent of ingredients from south-east Asia and Singapore. The hot favourite among locals is the prawn pappardelle laksa reduction, chilli garlic oil, kaffir lime leaf, soft-shell prawn tempura. Another must-order is steamed barramundi, dashi butter, snap peas and shoots, garden manioc, pulut hitam furikake.

Article source: Mr Porter