Restaurant Fiz, Singapore: restaurant review. "It makes me want to walk the Earth."
Chef Hafizzul's refined plating of Nusantaran dining thoughtfully presents this region's heritage plate by plate.
If you like or love this review, why not drop a like, share with a friend and subscribe!
Fiz, in its own words, is “a tribute to Nusantara’s heritage of food preservation … reimagining techniques like smoking, fermenting, pickling and curing through a modern culinary lens, we seek to capture the essence of both survival and exquisite flavour.”
None of that is new news in contemporary fine dining. Still, there is both heart and ability at Fiz, as our fellow diners—mostly local—each nod appreciatively; some speak with wistful affection about family or childhood, conjured by the puff, a sauce or something else.
Chef-owner Hafizzul Hashim toys with the elasticity of Nusantaran cuisine while planting nostalgic culinary markers with enough ceremony and tidy plating to feel special.
Nusantara is an Old Javanese term where “nusa” means island and “antarā” refers “between” the archipelago of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and East Timor, amidst the seas.
Raised in the coastal town of Lumut in Malaysia, Hafizzul later worked in the UK at Marco Pierre White’s Mirabelle and Michelin-starred Chez Bruce followed by Jean-Georges’ JG in Japan, Hafizzul plays with the liminal—the space not just between places, but ideas. His cooking asks questions of the familiar, rhetorically answering without walloping you over the head with arrogance and existentialism. Candidly, sometimes, I found some high-end restaurants in this region can be too clever, labouring creativity as a thief of joy.
Speaking to Michelin, Hafizzul described the moment his path brought him home:
“Here I was, working in a French restaurant with ingredients from my Southeast Asian heritage. I asked myself, ‘What am I doing?… It prompted me to start thinking about my oldest vision of food, to dive into Southeast Asian cuisine and present a version that speaks to the diners of today.”
Nestled in a heritage shophouse on Tanjong Pagar Road — once a fishing village, now an artery of eating — Fiz is among the smarter rooms on this lively strip. Interiors by ONG&ONG feel calm and grounded: earthy palettes, textured stone walls, warm woods and terracotta tones. Geometric ceiling panels spotlight pale orchids, champagne buckets and sofas that look faintly 3D-printed. A glass feature wall in our private dining room peers directly into the kitchen like a culinary peep show minus the change slot for more straight-laced exoticism.
Fiz offers four menus: lunch, full tasting, a vegetarian tasting and a la carte. Like a few fine dining restaurants I visited in South East Asia, the menu takes a hidang structure, akin to what is known a “family style”.
The structure follows the traditional hidang style, loosely similar to “family-style” dining.
Historically, hidang involves the arrival of multiple shared plates—rendang, curries, vegetables and accompaniments—laid across the table. Diners help themselves and pay only for what is eaten. Fiz translates this tradition into a tasting menu, formalising what was once simply abundance.
Hafizzul told Vogue:
“The idea of serving one dish per diner is a Western tradition, and we’re injecting the fine dining experience with our own culture… our way of dining, full of warmth and community, belongs right up there with the best of fine dining.”
A tasting menu does commit to you everything, but the dramatic cornucopia feels bountiful and generous, all embellished and poncified by fine dining’s sensibilities.
No bother. My West Indian upbringing means I will load a plate with disparate dishes, and with impunity, until the sauces all bleed and merge into one. Maybe our islands are not so far apart after all, Hafizzul?
We opt for the kombucha pairing because this is a business meeting and—as much as I love to have fun—it will be a long day. Rest assured, Fiz offers plenty of the fun stuff.
Lunch begins with intent: a pert epok-epok pusar—an empanada-like parcel of bronzed puff pastry stuffed with lightly curried, smoked wild-caught Tamban fish—perched atop a coin of sambal tumis. The sticky sweetness of caramelised onion adds depth. Epok-epok is hawker-market fare at heart, and I am always charmed when street food migrates into fine-dining’s realms. The combination of heat and buttery pastry nevers grow tiresome.
The next course of wild tiger prawn dabu dabu with Malaysian heirloom tomatoes with a chilli pineapple sorbet and selasih oil is light but served on a high plate with a divot that makes it difficult to eat. I cannot help but think that, from a flow perspective, it suffers coming after the epok-epok, which still lingers in the mouth. Most people won’t care.
Our Hidang courses land with aplomb: glossy lacquered oxtail asam pedas (a sour spicy Nusantaran stew often made with tamarind) with okra and acar mentah (pickled cucumber salad); a lights-out superb blue swimmer and spanner crab gulai lemak steeped in aromatic turmeric, lemongrass, chilli and ginger broth of coconut milk; a bowl of foraged greens, likely fiddlehead, stir-fried; a tender, glistening, whole cage-free chicken percik, quartered a traditionally grilled with chillis, lemongrass, turmeric, and other spices; and a steamed bowl of heirloom rice served inside a terracotta pot.
Dessert is a two-step capitulation to indulgence: vanilla egg flan with coffee granita and gula apong (palm sugar), followed by my favourite — a playful exploration of banana textures featuring banana brûlée and pisang salai ice cream. The latter is inspired by a traditional Indonesian snack of sliced ripe bananas that are sun-dried or smoked to concentrate flavour before being battered and fried into crisp, caramel-sweet nuggets.
Restaurant Fiz, Would I Return?
Definitely. I enjoyed most dishes. The thinking person’s choice is the lunch menu.
Restaurant, Who Should Go?
Locals keen to encounter refined interpretations of deeply familiar classics. Visitors seeking a cultural education through food — particularly those chasing a single, meaningfully local meal while in Singapore. the private room would be perfect for a convivial gathering of friends who roll up their sleeves.
Review information:
Number of visits: 1.
Number of dishes: 13.
Drinks: Non-alcoholic pairing. Restaurant Fiz is licensed.
Total spend, including taxes and tips: My host business partner paid, but the lunch menu is SGD88 per person ex drinks.
Restaurant Fiz, 21 Tanjong Pagar Road, #01-01/02 Next to the Fairfield Methodist Church, Singapore 088444. For the latest information, visit Restaurant Fiz’s Website and Instagram. +6596798021.
Liam is a restaurant critic, food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can find Liam on Substack, Threads, Instagram, BlueSky or Facebook.
I quite like the idea of sharing portions. It feels less like a commitment. Perhaps this can be considered in planning the courses’ sizes and ultimately offering reasonable food portions. Also this pygmalion version of the ubiquitous pisang goreng looks stunning!