After closing his intimate 25-seat fine dining restaurant Asu at Labrador Park last year, Chef Ace Tan has returned with a new venture—Asin, now located in the heart of Singapore at 38 Carpenter Street. Pronounced “Ace-in” and playing on the word “Asian,” the restaurant also nods to the Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia word for “salt.” Asin aims to bring Tan’s progressive Asian cuisine closer to a wider audience while retaining the core philosophy of shi liao (Chinese food therapy) that defined its predecessor.
New Location, Same Philosophy
Some design elements from Asu carry over: a sweeping curved counter remains the room’s centerpiece, framing the open kitchen like a stage. But the space feels less esoteric. The medicinal cabinets that once lined Asu’s kitchen wall have been replaced by a striking painting, and the menu now emphasizes seasonal Southeast Asian ingredients over overtly herbal, healing-focused dishes. The TCM message is more subtle, integrated into the cooking rather than forced onto the plate.
Seasonal Summer Menu
At launch, Asin offers an eight-course tasting menu priced at $188 per person, with four optional supplements. The debut menu is dedicated to summer—the defining season of Southeast Asia—and highlights ingredients and techniques traditionally used to counter the heat. While the food therapy underpins every dish, the focus here is squarely on flavor.
Standout Dishes
The meal opens with an oyster course that reimagines a classic hawker staple: a plump Hyogo oyster paired with Thai basil chili sauce, encased in an impossibly delicate crystal wrapper—an ode to oyster omelette. The tori luffa bao features braised chicken in yellow wine and luffa gourd (a summer-friendly ingredient) packed into a steamed bao made extra fluffy with Japanese milk. The assam tomato hamo is equally impressive: tender pike conger eel, marinated and gently fried, served over a tamarind-assam and perilla oil sauce, with cooling Amela tomatoes filled with clear dashi jelly.
The evening’s best dish, according to our review, is the cold Yum Pu Ma noodles. A nod to Thai raw marinated crabs, it combines fern and rice noodles with hanasaki crab in a Teochew-style marinade. Fermented white beancurd dressing, Thai fish sauce, Chinese wine, and a dizzying array of Southeast Asian herbs and vegetables (Ceylon spinach, hanaho flowers) create a complex interplay of textures—silky, crunchy, springy, and occasionally slimy in a pleasant way.
Optional supplements include the Ngor Hiang 6.0 ($18) and FTQ Dumpling ($35). The dumpling reimagines Buddha Jumps Over the Wall with Korean abalone, but the Ngor Hiang—a tribute to Tan’s late grandmother—wins on nostalgia. Wild-caught Malaysian tiger prawn and Jeju pork belly are wrapped in yuba, with a fried prawn head dusted in Korean gamtae seaweed for a deep, heady finish.
Later courses mellow out. The Black Beauty dish debones black emperor fish, wrapping it in velveted belly meat and skin, served with three sauces (fish bone and hua diao reduction, green moroheiya and clam jus, garlic caramel). A poached Hokkigai surf clam on the side is the star. The Irish duck course avoids being cloying thanks to a trio of ginger that harmonizes with seared celtuce, yam rice, and a lightly seasoned broth. For those with room to splurge, a Hanwoo tenderloin supplement ($55) comes with Sarawak pepper sauce, lily bulbs, and house-made citrus kosho.
Dessert and Final Thoughts
The biwa honey sago dessert earns praise for its refreshing qualities: a whole loquat, peeled and poached in chrysanthemum, served with bird’s nest and fermented coconut glutinous rice. It’s an odd combination that works surprisingly well.
Time Out’s rating: 4/5. Chef Tan’s food philosophy can sometimes feel dense, mixing Chinese food therapy, the Five Elements, and Southeast Asian produce. But at Asin, theory translates to taste. This iteration feels more focused than Asu, retaining dishes that have stood the test of time while introducing new ones that genuinely succeed. It’s easily one of the most interesting Asian tasting menus in Singapore right now.
Practical Information
Asin is open Wednesday to Sunday, 6pm to 11pm, at 38 Carpenter Street, Singapore 059917. Reservations are recommended for this intimate dining experience.
For more on Singapore’s evolving fine dining scene, see our reviews of Labyrinth’s 2026 Spring menu and the city’s only Wenzhou cuisine restaurant.