The kitchen · 4 min read
A Michelin star, and what comes after
Chef Mural on haute Indian cooking, and why the star was the beginning of the difficult part.

First in Southeast Asia
In 2016 The Song of India took a Michelin star, and Chef Manjunath Mural became the first Indian executive chef in Southeast Asia to hold one for an Indian restaurant. He kept it four consecutive years.
He remains the only one.
The part nobody photographs
A star is awarded on consistency, which means it is really awarded to a system rather than to a dish. The interesting work is not the plate that wins it. It is the four hundred services afterwards where nothing slips.
That is the discipline he brought to this pass: the same plate on a wet Tuesday as on a full Saturday.
Why a small room
Twenty-eight seats is a constraint most chefs would resist. He asked for it.
A room this size can be cooked for properly. Everything leaves the pass at the moment it should, because there is no queue behind it.
Come and see
Twenty-eight seats in one-north. Spend S$380++ and the room is yours.
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