Not many restaurants can evoke a sense of passion and pride as soon as you step into them. But that’s exactly what the brand new, 30-seater Araya promises (and delivers), complete with flawless service, as the restaurant operations move refreshingly smoothly like a cohesive, well-oiled machine.
Welcome to Araya, Singapore’s first South American fine-dining restaurant, located at the new Mondrian Singapore Duxton in Dempsey Hill.
Helmed by chef Francisco Araya (formerly of Michelin-starred 81 Restaurant in Tokyo) and pastry chef Fernanda Guerrero, the Chilean couple proudly celebrate their native South American flavours and Asian experiences through contemporary seasonal tasting menus, with a focus on Chilean South Pacific cuisine featuring indigenous and Japanese ingredients.
Everything at Araya seems simple and discreet at first glance. But look twice, and you start to see the amount of attention to detail and passion hidden in even the smallest of things. Designed by award-winning, Singapore-based Australian interior designer Emma Maxwell, the space takes inspiration from natural Chilean materials such as Alamo timber and quartz, transporting diners to the motherland with ombre-effect walls that reference the beautiful sunrise and sunsets over Chile’s diverse landscape.
The restaurant’s copper-accented doors open to the bar and the elegant main dining space anchored by a stunning 12-seat rose quartz counter, while the private dining room features a mood-lit mural of the Andes, complemented by a dramatically long table forged from Chilean malachite sourced from the Andes. A customised white ceramic light floats above it like a cloud to complete the landscape.
Fusion has long been key to the food of South America, a beautiful culmination of different techniques and ingredients from different cultures amassed over centuries, with building blocks from Spanish conquistadors to Arabic and Japanese immigrants.
The rose quartz counter offers diners a front-row view of the chefs seamlessly orchestrating the meal in front of their eyes, while explaining the exotic ingredients and inspirations behind each of Araya’s distinct dishes.
“The food in South America is intrinsically inclusive. This is something that Araya will showcase in our seasonal tasting menus,” says chef Araya. “We will also inject our own family traditions and heritage, essential parts of who we are and how we cook.”
The restaurant’s dishes feature everything from native South American crops like corn and Andean potatoes, to fruit like lucuma and Chilean cherries. “These humble ingredients are the heart and soul of Chilean South Pacific cuisine. We will elevate and celebrate them with fine culinary techniques and the addition of beautiful proteins from Japan and beyond,” he continues. “We are committed to showcasing biodiversity, not only in the sense of the ingredients available within South America, but also in how other cultures have had a lasting influence on how we cook and eat.”
And that is exactly what shines through on their menus and plates, as the culinary duo bring together their personal and professional experiences through their elevated food offerings.
Traditional Tepache (fermented pineapple juice), Corn Flan and tomato-water marinated Ama Ebi atop tomato meringue start the evening. Bread is life in Chile, and Guerrero’s hearty La Panera (bread) course serves the fat-free Marraqueta, Chile’s people’s bread, with salted Uruguayan butter; Chapalele with merkén, a sourdough version of the native potato bread (made in house with potatoes from South America) and served with homemade smoked merkén chilli butter; and Chorizo, the soft brioche roll studded with chopped chorizo.
And that’s just the beginning.
Each of the subsequent courses showcase a different aspect of the diverse South American cuisine, such as the quintessential Ceviche, featuring shio koji-cured Hokkaido scallops bathed in a tiger’s milk sorbet tinged with ginger and green apples. The latter flavours are a nod to chef Araya’s time in Japan and the large Japanese diaspora spread throughout South America.
Causa is its fine dining version of the classic Peruvian potatoes and caviar, featuring the Andean tuber oca topped with lightly smoked chutoro, and N25 Oscietra caviar and a gold leaf crowning the crunchy potato nest sitting atop.
Traditional Brazilian Moqueca fish stew is elevated with Japanese kinki, served with homemade moqueca sauce, aceite de dende oil (derived from the kernels of the Brazilian oil palms) and coconut milk. Crunchy amaranth brings the perfect addition of crunch for texture.
The aptly titled Sunday Lunch course features the classic Chilean snack of Empanada de pino, traditionally served on Sundays. Araya’s version comprises wagyu offcuts from its picaña course, topped with a pebre “tomato chimichurri” gel. Likewise, Picaña, the South American ‘people’s cut’ of beef traditionally taken from the top of the rump, is elevated to char-grilled Wagyu Picaña, served with an elegant shallots and raspberry vinegar chimichurri.
Another protein on offer is the smoked, koji-marinated Pyrenees Pigeon instead, served with aged Ecuador cacao (it was 86-days old when we had it).
For the final three dessert courses, Guerrero shines the light on Antarctica, representative of the southernmost part of the Chilean region; as well as a twist on the popular Chilean Chirimoya Alegre (happy custard apple) dessert with tropical fruits from neighbouring Bolivia and Peru. She closes the meal on her exquisite, must-try South American-inspired assorted sweets and South American single-origin chocolate trolley.
Araya is the latest addition to the Culinary Arts Group of restaurants under whose stable sits Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant Hamamoto, feted open-fire grill restaurant Revolver, and Latin Indian izakaya Barood.
Araya is at Mondrian Singapore Duxton, 83 Neil Road. #01-08. Singapore 089813.
