This Pop-Up With Michelin-Starred Nordic-Japanese Dishes & Cocktails Is The ‘Vacation’ To Japan & Scandinavia Your Tastebuds Need
No Sleep Club plays host to the two-Michelin-starred Zén in the third installment of the Gastrobar pop-ups.
The gorgeous minimalist aesthetic of both Japanese and Nordic culture make for a natural pairing, and now, you don’t even need two separate trips to experience each one. The third installment of the Gastrobar series on Mar 16 to 18 will see No Sleep Club, the super hip Keong Saik Road cocktail bar beloved for its laid back coffee-and-cocktail vibes, collaborating with Zén, the Singapore outpost of one of the world’s most garlanded Nordic restaurants: Stockholm’s three-Michelin-starred Frantzén.
The month-long Gastrobar series brings together Michelin-starred restaurants and some of Singapore’s best cocktail bars for pop-up dinner events, and is brought to you by the Singapore Tourism Board and MICHELIN Guide Singapore.
The collaboration
The new Nordic cuisine at Zén is ingredient-led, taking exquisite produce and crafting light, inspired hints of fermentation and unusual flavour pairings to yield beguiling results. Its inspiration blossoms from the seasonality and artfulness of Japanese Kaiseki, so the name Zén is both a fragment of the Stockholm original but also a nod to its Japanese influences.
Occupying a three-story Bukit Pasoh town-house, Zén is famously one of the most lavish tickets in town. You’re treated to exquisite service the minute you step in, which continues as you traverse the levels, gently unfolding a unique dining experience.
No Sleep Club, even with its more laid back vibe, is very much a kindred spirit. It’s one of the city’s most innovative bars and applies experimental culinary techniques to craft cocktails.
No Sleep Club’s artistically intimate industrial interiors make for a cool and exciting change of scenery for these elegant Japanese-Nordic offerings from Zén’s Executive Head Chef Tristin Farmer, who will work closely with No Sleep Club’s co-founders Jessica Hutchinson and Juan Yi Jun. In fact, the Zén head chef is relishing the change of environment. “It’s cool to get to do service in T-shirts once in a while,” he jokes, adding that the new environment gives the kitchen team a chance “to bring flavour profiles and ingredients that our guests know and recognize, but in a very different format.”
Just as psyched are the team from No Sleep Club, who’ve visited Frantzén’s Hong Kong post before. “Their level of food is impeccable, and being able to peek behind the curtain and work with the team behind it is amazing. I’ve always loved working with chefs and it takes drinks out of the usual classic cycle and forces us to think beyond our own experience.”
The third Gastrobar pop-up runs from Mar 16 to 18 with two seatings each day at 6pm–8pm and 8.30pm–10.30pm. For $180++ per pax you get five courses featuring a blend of Japanese and Nordic flavours. Each course comes paired with a specialty drink that inventively riffs off the flavours on the plate. Book directly with Zén or No Sleep Club, or at http://bit.ly/MICHELINSGGastrobar. Here’s what to expect from the menu:
Foie Gras Malt Brioche & Island Tea
The meal kicks off with a rich, buttery brioche loaded with indulgent foie gras and chicken skin. It’s all undercut with a tart red beet and cherry conserve and a rich barley miso dulce de leche. This comes paired with a punchy Island Tea mixed up with Tequila and whisky, salted Cointreau, home-made cola, and citrus, all infused with a beguiling chicken skin fat wash for added complexity.
Ebi Tempura & Uni-Corn
The complex umami flavours continue with this pairing of Ebi Tempura with deliriously sweet Muscade pumpkin and an uni-infused hot sauce, spruce shoots, and XO sauce. These distinct flavourful nodes are mirrored in the accompanying Uni-corn cocktail which features corn and creamed uni in Remy Martin Cognac, livened up with passion fruit vinegar, orange wine, and charcoal oil.
French Toast & Mushroom Manhattan
This super luxe French Toast features a Parmesan custard, caramelised onions and indulgent jamon de bellota, all brought together with a 25 years aged balsamic vinegar. Playing off the cocktail brunch vibes, this is coupled with a vegetal Mushroom Manhattan. Rye and Cognac are given extra depth with a mushroom-infused vermouth, fresh red beets, roasted cacao nibs, and a redolent hit of truffle.
BBQ Quail & Kvass
A smoky barbecued quail is served up with fermented white asparagus and a wild garlic sabayon. These rich, meaty flavours are paired with the bar’s take on Kvass, a traditional Slavic drink made from rye bread. Here, it’s made from a house sourdough, and brightened up with charcoal honey, curry leaf, and mint.
Sea Buckthorn & Sweet on Sweet
These perfectly crafted food and drink pairings will be celebrated with a sweet finish — a dessert that comprises of herbal sea buckthorn, TieGuanyin Oolong, and salted cashew brittle. On the booze side of things is Sweet on Sweet, a cocktail of roasted pineapple gin, caramelised white chocolate, and tarragon for a final tickle to the tastebud.
The Michelin Guide Gastrobar Singapore Pop-ups are on from Mar 2-24 (select dates). Buy tickets for any of the pop-ups in the event series at http://bit.ly/MICHELINSGGastrobar.
The Zén X No Sleep Club pop-up is on Mar 16-18, 6-8pm and 8.30-10pm at No Sleep Club at 20 Keong Saik Road, Singapore 089127. Reserve directly with Zén or No Sleep Club, or visit http://bit.ly/MICHELINSGGastrobar. Menu subject to change depending on availability of ingredients.
