The Coconut Club has made a reputation for itself as a restaurant where diners can enjoy premium plates of nasi lemak.
And now, it has a new sister brand with a new concept.
Belimbing, which opened on April 15, was inspired by an often “overlooked”, oblong, sour indigenous fruit, and its name is a metaphor for the hidden potential of Singaporean cuisine, they shared in a press release on April 16.
It is located on the second floor of The Coconut Club’s Beach Road outlet.
Helmed by head chef Marcus Leow, who was an alumnus at Magic Square and Naked Finn, the restaurant explores local fare in a modern context.
“Singapore is celebrated as a global food capital, yet our own cuisine feels at a standstill, often equated solely with hawker fare a national treasure and a source of pride, but not the full picture,” Marcus shared.
“We hope Belimbing can help to shape the next chapter of local cuisine — not by clinging to age-old traditions or depending on luxury ingredients, but by celebrating the flavours and ingredients that reflect who we are today.
“The food is comforting and unmistakably Singaporean — just not quite how our grandparents would remember it.”
Reimagining native flavours
The curated menus at Belimbing are designed for sharing.
During lunch, there’s a two-course menu ($58) and a limited a la carte selection, while at dinner, there is a four-course menu ($88).
Marcus has also made an effort to reuse and repurpose ingredient scraps across the menu to demonstrate the versatility of the ingredients that Singaporeans grew up with.
Some examples of dishes diners can look forward to is Aged Kanpachi, a starter where the fish is aged on the bone for five days and brushed with a soy sauce made from fish bones and trimmings.
It is enhanced with pickled pink guava and a “cold curry” made from The Coconut Club’s cold-pressed “white sutera” coconut milk with mussel jus and galangal.
Another interesting starter is the Grilled Firefly Squid, where the seafood is cooked with soy, pickled young ginger and house-made squid powder.
For the main courses — which are centred around rice, a mainstay in every Singaporean household — there is the Wok-Fried Nasi Ulam.
Here, cured fish has its skin air-dried for two days to achieve a crackling crispness when seared. It is paired with Japanese rice that has undergone a three-step transformation—steamed in fish bone dashi, wok-fried with sambal belado and belacan, and grilled in banana leaves.
There is also the Grilled Short Rib, which features grilled Angus short ribs brushed with beef garum, alongside a Wagyu rib finger satay glazed in buah keluak. It is served with a side of percik sauce and The Coconut Club’s coconut rice.
The dessert selection, which is only available on the a la carte menu, reflects Marcus’ Peranakan upbringing.
Some menu examples include the Pumpkin Bingka, where the fruit’s flesh is blended with tapioca into kueh and also transformed into a smoky puree.
There is also Marcus’ signature Corn Salat, which is made with every part of the corn.
Diners who want a tipple can enjoy a selection of cocktails that spotlight local ingredients in unexpected expressions, including concoctions from Side Door’s Bannie Kang, who was the winner of Diageo World Class 2019 and Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ Mancino Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2021.
Address: 269 Beach Rd, Singapore 199546
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