It’s never just a meal at Nouri, Chef Ivan Brehm’s one Michelin-starred restaurant at Amoy Street. A meal here is an educational, eye-opening experience that urges you to forget everything you thought you knew about food. Instead, allow yourself to let go and completely submit to the creations of the chef and his capable team.
Chef Brehm’s interdisciplinary approach to food breathes life to the refreshed space, as well as the new 9-course dinner menu, fearlessly traversing countries, continents, and flavor combinations. It is immediately apparent with the array of beautifully plated snacks inspired by the tradition of mezzes, antipasti, and xiao cai. Then there is the Narezushi dish, comprised of cultured rice cake, prahok (fermented Cambodian fish pates), pickled iwashi, wasabi, and ginger flower.
While the flavor and textures are Japanese, the components hint at Southeast Asian roots. Meanwhile, Barbarians’ Head is a delicious exploration of the origins of dumplings, where the final dish – bite-sized manti dumplings filled with confit chicken skin in a spiced beef consommé – is greatly inspired by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia.
As you work through the menu, the Chocolate Fish Ball dessert is sure to catch your attention. Here, the ancestral origin of chocolate in Central and South America is juxtaposed with an unmistakable Southeast Asian twist, resulting in chocolate sorbet coated in chocolate crumbs with candied chili, wild pepper leaf, and topped with candied ikan bilis.