These Restaurants in Singapore are at the Forefront of Sustainable Dining

It's 2022. We're living in the middle of the climate crisis, a stage of rising temperatures, disasters, food and water insecurity, and environmental degradation. Knowing what we know today, it's almost criminal not to care or do something, no matter how small.

In Singapore (and Hong Kong!), you'll be glad to know that there are several restaurants that do care. Check out these four restaurants in the Lion City that have sustainability and impeccable cuisine at the core of their philosophy.

Kausmo

Kausmo along Scotts Road was cofounded by Lisa Tang and Kuah Chew Shian, two women passionate about culinary innovation and sustainability. Kausmo, derived from the word "cosmos,” is dedicated to promoting "thoughtful living by challenging food norms that bring about unnecessary wastage."

Kausmo prides itself for its lack of a fixed menu, offering instead a "carte blanche" menu that is dependent on the availability of produce. Its dishes make use of imperfect fruits (often overstocked, overripe, and weirdly shaped), fresh secondary cuts of meat, overlooked native greens and florals, and sustainably sourced seafood.

Pink Fish

Pink Fish is a fast-casual seafood concept in Norway and Singapore. In 2019, the restaurant won the Global RLI Award as the most innovative food and beverage concept. It prides itself for choosing Norwegian salmon as the star of its menu, only patronising suppliers known for following the global sustainability standards of the World Wildlife (WWF) and the farming industry. Its salmon is ASC-certified and fed with antibiotic-, GMO-, and palm oil-free feed.

Pink Fish also has its ordering and delivery routines down to a science to ensure its produce do not expire. All its food is made to order, meaning the restaurant does not have prepared food in its premises that would otherwise go to waste. Lastly, Pink Fish only uses biodegradable packaging.

The Summerhouse’s French Dining Room

One of the places you shouldn't miss when you're in the Seletar countryside is The Summerhouse, particularly its farm-to-table restaurant, the French Dining Room.

The French Dining Room has sustainability at the core of its menu, focusing on fresh seasonal produce from local growers and producers, as well as its in-house edible garden. It has partnered with organic farm Kin Yan Mushroom Farm specifically for the farm's high nutritional content mushrooms, which the restaurant uses for its own Risotto D'epeautre.

It also sources its seafood from Seafood Culture, a zero waste, high-tech farm known for its quality and sustainable catch, and eggs from Johor-based Freedom Range Eggs.

Salted & Hung

Chef Drew Nocente, owner of Salted & Hung, walks the talk when it comes to sustainability. The Brisbane-born chef is driven by his personal philosophy of "minimal wastage," curating a tasting menu that "revolves around the creative use of forgotten parts, from skin to bones, protein to innards." This philosophy is inspired by Nocente's upbringing in his family farm, where nothing went to waste.

Just some of the innovative ways Nocente's Salted & Hung minimises its waste is by recycling or reusing byproducts, from making whipped lard from pork fat trimmings and broth from charcuterie trimmings to hanging turbot bones to use for dashi tea and making carrot ketchup from carrot peels, among others. Check out Salted & Hung’s full guide to its cuisine philosophy here and be just as amazed as we are.