Stepping into Restaurant Fiz is almost like entering a religious institution. A monolith stands in the middle of the cavernous dining space, calling to mind the meditative, circular walk around sacred shrines in many Southeast Asian temples. For chef-owner Hafizzul Hashim, this imposing structure, which doubles up as a service station, is symbolic of his Islamic roots with a gentle nod to the Kaaba in Mecca.
A vision of monastic simplicity, every spatial detail shows a connection to the earth and a return to faith, interpreted through natural landscapes and earthy materials of stone, wood, and terracotta. The food is equally spiritually awakening — beautifully presented in earthy tableware and enjoyed at communal-style banquette seats that are well-spaced from each other.
“Restaurants can certainly be more than just about feeding oneself,” says 40-year-old Hafizzul. “It can be about honouring culture and history, where identity is embellished and where diners leave with their appetites satiated and their minds enlightened.”
Born in Kuala Lumpur to a Malay father and a British mother, the soft-spoken Hafizzul spent his childhood in Lumut, a picturesque coastal town in Perak, where he grew up fishing, foraging and hunting with his father. This formed his culinary worldview from a young age, and he learnt that what we eat is what the land provides.
See also: Japan Foods' chief chef to resign
He started working in commercial kitchens in Kuala Lumpur at 18. Over the decades, he has made his career in London, Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh and donned chef whites for several Michelin-starred restaurants like Mirabelle and Chez Bruce in London, as well as Jean Georges Tokyo.
After traversing the globe, he landed in Singapore in 2021 and became a private dining chef in a joint venture with ABR Holdings (the people behind Swensen’s). This period became one of reflection where he could conceive his eponymous restaurant. Fiz opened in June this year, serving contemporary Southeast Asian cuisine where food is cooked with instinct, finesse, and heart — or air tangan, as he refers to it in Malay.
The tasting-only menu is Hafizzul’s opus on the boundless beauty of the region, spotlighting regional dishes, forgotten indigenous ingredients and ancient ways of cooking that showcase the cuisines of Southeast Asia.
The result is a gastronomic oeuvre that draws from the knowledge of societies past and present, experienced through a series of menus that convey the warmth and comfort of communal dining while retaining a contemporary identity.
Fiz will introduce episodic menus every three to six months to honour these geocultural nuances, which will put a different region under the magnifying glass. The current Episode 1 ($288++ for eight courses) pays homage to the coastal town of Lumut where Hafizzul grew up, showcasing Malay cuisine’s vast range of techniques and deep knowledge of local produce.
Predominantly seafood-forward, the menu begins with a trio of snacks centred around the gifts of the sea. Although the Murasaki Uni, served on a mildly piquant jelly made of sinigang fish broth, did not have that bright orange hue of fresh uni, it still tasted extremely sweet and creamy on the tongue and married perfectly with the jelly.
The Firefly Squid is the chef’s ode to nasi lemak encased in a pie tee cup. Here, coconut rice espuma is paired with fried sambal and then topped with aged firefly squid. Of the trio, the Petai dish won me over for its uniqueness. Hafizzul turns kuih loyang (rosette cookie) into a savoury dish by topping it with a miso-marinated petai puree with blended sous vide kampong egg yolk and finishing with a generous dollop of Amur caviar.
Recalling his days netting prawns at Pulau Pangkor, Hafizzul delivers this fond memory in the Botan Prawns, which has all the familiar flavours of assam laksa, and so much else. Freshly sliced botan ebi is served with a sorbet of asam pedas and Rompin pineapple, topped with crunchy rose apple and finished with fried botan prawn head.
I didn’t get a chance to try the Blood Cockle due to unavailability, but it is one of Hafizzul’s favourite creations. Thinly sliced charcoal-grilled akagai from Hokkaido is served with house-made peanut sambal topped with macadamia nut shavings and turmeric oil.
For more lifestyle, arts and fashion trends, click here for Options Section
The meal progresses with the Blue Swimmer Crab that recalls the gulai lemak chilli padi (yellow curry made with coconut milk and turmeric) Hafizzul enjoys at home. Here, the crab is deshelled and poached in coconut milk with aromatics, then served on a luscious, creamy stew made from crab stock and mopped up with crispy mantou.
To aid digestion, we were served a comforting chicken broth infused with jamu herbs and spices like cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, lemongrass, galangal, ginger, fresh turmeric, temu kunci (fingerroot), cekur (aromatic ginger) and coriander.
The meal comes to its peak with the Hidang communal course, a dizzying spread of dishes to be eaten with a choice of jasmine-scented white rice or coconut-infused red rice sourced from the highlands of East Malaysia. From the seas come the Sea Bream from Japan, aged in-house for a week, then grilled and served with Hafizzul’s family heirloom sambal tumis recipe. That is complemented by Young Jackfruit salad, charcoal-grilled Chayote shoots, Ikan Kurau Acar, and Jungle Vegetables loaded with smoked beef tripe and brined tendon.
Dinner ends with palate-cleansing sorbet and super-rich banana ice cream. That is followed by a delightful array of Kuih Muih, which includes some extremely addictive Bahulu sponge cakes; Kuih Serimuka Jagung, a two-layered kuih with steamed glutinous rice and sweetcorn custard; and Badak Berendam (swimming rhino) made of chunky glutinous rice balls stuffed with grated coconut.
Although Muslim-owned, serving no pork or lard, Fiz is not Halal-certified as it serves alcohol. The restaurant offers a strategic list of wines, cocktails, non-alcoholic cocktails and teas to elevate your meal. I had the best non-alcoholic Negroni using the local aperitif brand Melati.
The dining experience at Fiz, from the meditative ambience to the impressive food, definitely left me spiritually cleansed with faith restored in modern Malay cuisine, while my Malaysian friend gave it her thumbs-up for authenticity and presentation. For a sceptic who moans about the exorbitant prices of nasi padang, I am happy for Hafizzul to take my money so that I can revisit this enlightening meal.
Restaurant Fiz
21 Tanjong Pagar Road, #01-01/01-02, Singapore 088444
Contact: 9679 8021 | sevenrooms.com/reservations/fiz
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday | 6pm to 10pm
