Guess those coveted Michelin stars didn’t work their magic on Joel Robuchon Restaurant, since it’s closing for good at the end of June, according to The Business Times. Sure, F&B establishments in Singapore shutter on the regular – usually thanks to a toxic cocktail of fickle diners, exorbitant rentals and high labor costs – but the fact that it’s the only three Michelin-starred restaurant in the country makes the business’s closure a little harder to swallow.
However, a small silver lining. Its sister outlet, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon – which has two stars to its name – could reopen at another location after its closure. (Word around town is that a spot on Orchard Road seems to be in the cards.) Perhaps the crowds at Sentosa weren’t enticed enough.
Yoshi, the Robuchon group’s Japanese restaurant from Monaco, could possibly make its debut in Orchard as well, said the publication.
For those in the dark, these two high-end restaurants were among the fine-dining places at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) to receive those shiny stars when the Michelin Guide Singapore launched here in 2016. But even though they bore the name of the famous French chef, people weren’t too convinced that they deserved it — noting, in particular, that Joel Robuchon Restaurant was the only place in town to get three stars, which seems suspicious, seeing as how RWS has been a prominent sponsor of the guide’s local edition.
RWS also said that a joint statement between them and the chef will be released soon, although BT reported that an insider source revealed that contract issues were likely the cause for Robuchon’s departure from its Sentosa location.
Industry politics aside, both outlets will feed diners for the last time on June 30, less than a month before the Michelin Guide Singapore’s 2018 line-up is revealed on July 25. Will this mean local restaurants or places not owned by an international celebrity chef now stand a chance at getting three stars? Guess we’ll find out next month.
And if you still haven’t experienced what a three Michelin-starred meal tastes like in Singapore, you’ve got just a couple weeks left. Although, let’s hope – for the sake of our wallets – they don’t pull a Restaurant Andre and come up with a menu that costs more than a good chunk of your salary.
