SINGAPORE – Looking at the

emaciated list of one-Michelin-starred restaurants in Singapore

These are restaurants most people cannot dine at often because the meals do not run cheap. When they do dine at one of these establishments, they sit through hours-long, multi-course meals that are at odds with the way people like to eat these days.

This scenario is played out across the world – in China, the United States and Europe.

The South China Morning Post reports that China’s fine-dining scene has taken a hit, with diners holding back amid economic uncertainties.

Multinational finance and business news website Business Insider reported in 2025 that fine-dining restaurants in the US have been hit by skyrocketing costs, labour shortages and potential tariffs. Chefs and owners there, like the ones here, are countering the headwinds by injecting fun into meals, changing concepts and working to seek new groups of diners.

Chefs and restaurateurs in Britain have been hit by the same problems, with the BBC reporting on the spate of Michelin-starred restaurant closures there.

Despite the doom and gloom, chefs and owners of fine-dining restaurants here say they are holding their own. Some have

further invested in their restaurants

Three-Michelin-starred Odette at the National Gallery Singapore recently reopened after extensive renovations that took three months and cost about $2 million.

In 2025, Les Amis at Shaw Centre, also with three stars, overhauled its kitchen to the tune o...