SINGAPORE – Yemeni restaurant Hadramawt Kitchen officially opened on Sept 6 at Hotel Boss, after moving out of its Lavender Street premises at the end of its lease as the property is up for redevelopment. 

Owner Alwee Ahmad Bakhamees, 63, who is Singaporean, started Hadramawt Kitchen as a catering company in 2022 and reworked its former premises to include a 40-seat restaurant.

Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers, who hailed from Yemen, settled in Singapore in the early 1900s, and Mr Alwee hopes to preserve and share the flavours of his family recipes at his eatery.  

The relocated Muslim-owned restaurant, which now seats 50 diners, is marking its new chapter with several new dishes, available from Oct 3.

The star is the Mandhi Brinjal ($13.90+), a vegetarian dish power-packed with flavour and texture. A brinjal is sliced lengthwise into a thick slab and grilled until tender, then topped with cubed eggplant oven-roasted in a luscious mix of bell pepper, onion, garlic, fresh coriander and dried mint. 

The grilled brinjal comes on a bed of Mandhi rice with coral lettuce and cucumber slices. The fluffy, orange-accented long-grain basmati rice is redolent with a host of spices, including black peppercorns, cloves, fennel and cumin.

The rice is served with sahawiq – a spicy Yemeni chutney that resembles salsa, made with diced tomato and green and red finger chillies. There is also housemade garlic sauce, blended from fresh garlic, olive oil, milk and dried mint.