Araya (*) – Singapore – 15/09/2025

TL;DR – interesting flavours and textures, soft product was great but could be better, 8/10 would come again in a different season.

Part of a uni friends' trip to Singapore was a visit to a Michelin star resto, the pick being Araya, a Chilean place. For fair context and warning, this was all our first real fine dining experience, and our backgrounds are all South East Asian, which may inform our thoughts on the food.

Food and Drink

As pictured on the second panel, I got the Andes menu, with 11 courses in all. Alongside this, I got the Estaciones wine pairing, the basic tier which consisted of one Champagne (a Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve), one white (Jeremy Arnaud Chablis) , and one red (Don Melchor Cab Sauv). The champagne was over the snacks and bread, the white over the starters and half the mains, and the red for the beef. I also got a cup of the last non-alc pairing (a brown butter oat milk) from FOH as my friends were having the NA pairing instead.

1. The starters/snacks were a great way to ease into the atmosphere of things. The amaebi bite (unfortunately unpictured) came on a metal tree – resting a shrimp on a tomato meringue gave the whole thing a more gummy texture than I might've loved. The corn flan reminded me of a chawanmushi in its simplicity, and the light sweetness and crunch of the corn kernels helped lift it. Last but not least, the fermented chicha was… a decent drink? The flavour was great but the mouthfeel felt a bit thin in my opinion.
2. The bread course (which was free-flow for the rest of the dinner) was quite good. Of the three breads, my favourite was the marraqueta – the crustiness helped give a nice chewy crunch to things; A+ bread. The chapalele had a nice airy crumb. The bocado de dama was infused with nori and wagyu fat – while I could taste the nori, I can't say I particularly tasted beefiness. (As an aside on this point, the Hindu member of our group was given a house loaf bread in its stead, which was also a gluten-free option and looked fairly quality.) The true star of the show was the merken butter and the cochayuyo spread – the merkén had a nice smoky kick, while the cochayuyo had a unique briney umami that worked amazingly with each other. The more sour, yeasty notes of the Champagne worked nicely with this, adding to the savoury freshness of things.
3. The ceviche was a nice refresher start for the mains – was instructed to stir it up well before eating. The scallops were nice and tender, the leche de tigre and ginger jelly adding a nice layer of herby freshness to the whole thing. Easily one of the top three things I ate that whole trip.
4. On to my favourite course of the night, Coral – a lovely seaweed and quinoa salad dressed with huacatay salsa and topped with a nice mashua cracker. The textural exploration in this dish was amazing, from the chewy and salty seaweed, the lovely pop and nuttiness of the quinoa, the snap and light earthiness of the mashua cracker, the creamy umami freshness of the salsa… if there ever was a dish I would've asked for seconds for, this would be it.
5. Heading ono the mains, first is the moqueca – kinki fish in a palm oil sauce with amaranth. The fish was nice and lightly sweet, while the sauce had a nice tang and creaminess to it. The amarantth helped add pop. I was a good course, but I was still coming off of the coral, so it didn't hit as hard as I think they'd like. I recall this working nicely with the white, adding a nice fruity counterpoint to the meal.
6. The gazpacho – a lovely, pretty palate cleanser with that gorgeous table setting. I do feel this looked a lot more beautiful than it tasted. It was a competent gazpacho, with the flowers and tomato paste helping lighten it ever so slightly. Refreshing!
7. Empanada. This one might be where my regional bias shows slightly – as a beef puff, it was pretty well done. You can't really go wrong with fried parcels! It's just that especially with its structure, it wasn't particularly mind-blowing: if anything, it mainly reminded me of a curry puff sans curry or a round popiah, which dulled its impact. Again, competent but nothing too exciting.
8. The wagyu picaña accompanied by chimichurri and beef tongue. The beef tongue was nice and toothsome, the charred flakes of meat being a nice textural contrast in comparison to the relatively tender picaña. The chimichurri was well-executed, tangy as a foil to the rich beef. Going back to the pairing, the red paired nicely with this one, amplifying the mineral notes of the beef.
9. Onto desserts with the pre-dessert uva-granada. The pomegranate sorbet and tuile were nice and sweet as a palate cleanser, while the grapes helped add freshness. A good change of pace.
10. The star dessert, Antártica. This really appealed to me – the presentation of the milk crunchies from a dry ice chamber was interesting, an Insta post for sure. The textural contrast from the ice cream, white chocolate penguins and the crunchy milk granules was nice. A true textural and flavour experience.
11. Last but certainly not least, the carrito de dulces. This was a 13 piece collection of sweets and chocolates bearing South American motifs, from the moais, to the gummies that had aji amarillo in them. Most of my party had different pieces and enjoyed them (the aji gummy being a key surprise) – as for my picks, I loved the banana ganache chocolate the most, its gooey banana-ness being a nice counter to the dark chocolate and the oat milk in the NA pairing. As a whole, this felt nicely done, and a good meal ender.

In summary, it was a well-balanced course, with some stand-outs and a great pace. Perhaps some dishes (the empanada and moqueca) won't be too exciting to an Asian palate, but everything is done competently, with care. As a whole though, I felt the dessert area was a lot more flashy and interesting than the main courses.

As an aside, I do feel I perhaps squandered the pairing by choosing the cheapest option. It wasn't bad per se, but as I was trying my friends' NA flights, I think there was a better value pairing in that than the Estaciones pairing. Should I have went YOLO and went for a higher pairing? Perhaps – the idea of regional wines or Dom Perignon does sound appealing – but then again, this was my first wine pairing experience; so erring on the safe side might've been better.

Hospitality

As an overview, I have mixed feelings about the hospitality. I'll start with the good and then taper off:

• The hospitality from (the head of FOH? sommelier?) was great – he has a lovely personality and speaks with clear knowledge on the pairings and dishes served. Alongside this, the (sous chef? pastry chef?) on the night, Geneva, provided cultural and explanatory details on the ingredients that helped give it a strong sense of place. Which leads me to…
• The general setting and atmosphere has a nice mix of casual and formal elements that definitely helped with some of my apprehensions toward fine dining. While the table setting and general architecture/furnishing were nice and classily subdued, the service was generally attentive enough that it was never particularly awkward or demanding. The more upbeat background music really helped too, leading to an experience that helped me ease into the thick of it.
• Accomodations for my party were done well – vegetarian options were settled and Halal considerations were also taken into account for the relevant members of our party without much in the way of differentiation in courses. However, that does bring me to the start of some issues…
• A few marring points would be that their reservation inquiries could be handled a little bit better – it did take us some time and follow-ups to get confirmations on our dietary constraints before we could proceed with booking, as some of the answers were a bit confusing. The limitations in the SevenRooms system also made it a bit difficult for us to know if we could work with our party's dietary restrictions and wants at the same time.
• One of the sous chefs addressing our party was a little bit quiet and curt with explanations, which meant that some of our party had to get dish info from each other or go with assumptions. Not a real biggie but definitely wasn't as bulletproof as one would like.
• We were there on a busy night, which meant that the five servers/sous chefs/FOH would be rotating quite often between different guests at the main bar and the private room and the booth. While I appreciate the flexibility this offers (especially for diners who may have alternative plans), it did mean that at points, service felt a bit disjointed.

In summary, I do think Araya is a great place – a lot of great ideas, surrounded by a small team that is clearly committed to their vision of food, drinks and hospitality. That does, of course, bring about the issues that having a small team entails – but all things considered, I would consider this whole experience a good, worthwhile experience for the time and money, especially for someone who probably won't be making it to SA anytime soon. As most of the produce is sourced from South America, I do wonder how much this changes over time – I would definitely head back to SG to try it for a different season's ideas; maybe to see how this more spring-themed menu changes in winter or depths of summer.

Looking to the future, I'm interested how my thoughts on this experience will change – I'm heading off to Japan in a few weeks with a few interesting venues lined up; one of which (Milpa @ Osaka) feels like it'll be a counterpoint to Araya's Latin American vibes. I do also feel that I might want to explore MY/SG's fine dining scene more with the quality and price-performance this gave, especially considering how closely I live to KUL and SIN – but let's leave ideas to future me to deal with!