Tembusu, a new pet-friendly Straits dining house, takes root in Singapore Botanic Gardens

For 25 years, The Halia was the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ best-kept secret hiding in plain sight — a hush of full-height glass and ginger-scented air, where celebrations and long lunches were the standard.

When it closed its doors this April, it left behind one of Singapore’s trickiest dining addresses: A restaurant embedded inside the country’s only Unesco World Heritage Site, with all the reverence — and restriction — that comes with the label.

Taking its root

Walking into Tembusu felt almost like a homecoming; it’s a refreshed take on garden dining that complements the area’s thick, lush foliage seamlessly.

It’s currently in its soft-launch phase and will open officially on September 3.

This is Fleursophy Group founder Nicole Chen’s newest concept, and by her own admission, her most personal one yet — a “borderless Straits” dining house that trades Halia’s restraint for what the team is calling Straits maximalism. Think illustrated ceilings, sculptural timber columns, and a crimson-and-cream passage guests walk through.

The now-closed Cafe de Nicole’s Flower at Telok Kurau was the first bloom of what’s now Fleursophy Group, a Singapore hospitality collective that’s since grown to include Le Jardin, Under Der Linden, Ce Soir, Ember, and Yanhuo.

The name itself isn’t just decorative. The tembusu is a native tree featured on the reverse of Singapore’s five-dollar note, and the specimen growing in Singapore Botanic Gardens is estimated to be over 200 years old.

In the kitchen is executive chef Dome Lim, who oversees culinary direction across Fleursophy Group, trained at two-Michelin-starred Les Amis under Sebastien Lepinoy before rising through Under Der Linden and Ember.

The main man running Tembusu’s kitchen day-to-day is head chef Lime Koh, a Singaporean chef with over a decade across kitchens including Les Amis and Capella Singapore. While the two first cooked together at Les Amis, Tembusu brings them back to the same pass.

On paper, the menu brims with mouth-watering signature dishes: Homemade kaya brown toast (S$14) and Tembusu nasi lemak (S$26), before it segues to an Asian-fusion twist of udon laksa (S$28) and Andaman prawn risotto (S$34).

To complement the savouries, the dessert menu also includes a dedicated tong shui (traditional Chinese dessert) section, and shaved-ice, too. Coffee here is brewed from Gia Lai Highlands beans that are roasted locally.

Dining that’s made for unwinding

We started, as one does at a place with such a sprawling menu, by grazing. The Dirty fries (S$16) — piled with miso aioli, nacho cream, and a dusting of furikake — were a solid opener. Be sure to dig into this quickly, as the fries did turn a little soggy once we were done taking photos.

Most of the savoury flavours came from the miso aioli, which might prove to be little more than a crutch, but hey, it’s fries. We’re not really expecting miracles here.

Granted, we did wish we could have tried something from Tembusu’s local section instead; many of the other sides were unavailable when we visited (including the signature dishes mentioned earlier).

The ice plant salad (S$18), by contrast, was the surprise of the meal — an unlikely win, with yuzu vinaigrette, macerated pear, sweet white corn, and strawberries coming together for something bright and genuinely refreshing.

It was crisp, crunchy, and lightly dressed, exactly the kind of dish you want on a sweltering Singapore afternoon when everything else on the table skews heavy.

For something more shareable, the Andaman prawn risotto (S$34) arrived rich with lobster bisque and sakura ebi. It’s definitely on the other end of the textural spectrum, by comparison with the salad — lush, creamy, and umami.

If we had to nitpick the execution, we would say a touch more acid would do the trick. Besides that, it’s a comforting, generous dish.

Simply hungry and don’t want to battle through decision paralysis? The Joggers Big Breakfast (S$28) is the answer, with rustic sourdough, kombu mushrooms, scrambled eggs, avocado, pork sausage, streaky bacon, lemon creme, and blistered tomatoes on one plate.

Yes, it’s a generous portion; a worthy option if you prefer a plate with different elements, whether for the variation in flavour or the fun of mixing and matching your brunch. It also happens to be, refreshingly, one of the more wallet-friendly brunch spreads in this genre; we’ve seen similarly loaded plates elsewhere in Singapore go for as much as S$35.

To close, the fresh mango pomelo snow ice (S$14.90) stood out, with the fruits’ natural sweetness and mild tartness doing most of the work. The finely shaved ice held its texture rather impressively, rather than melting into slush.

Finally, the kaya matcha (S$11.90) rounded things off: A rich, milky drink with pandan notes pushed to the fore, though on the sweeter side. We reckon this is best treated as dessert in a glass rather than something to sip alongside a savoury dish.

Still a garden restaurant, at heart

For all its busy aesthetics, Tembusu’s better moments were the subtle observations and moments of appreciation — the ice plant salad eaten slowly in the heat, a shaved ice dessert stretched out over an unhurried catch-up, the measured pacing that works simply because of its locale.

That’s arguably the throughline Halia left behind, whether Tembusu meant to inherit it or not: This is still a restaurant made for lingering.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, check out Naocha, a home-based matcha spot in Aljunied run by a 21-year-old university student, and Gepuk Guys, Malaysia’s viral ayam gepuk by a former Masterchef Singapore winner.