In the Supreme Court wing of the National Gallery Singapore, in a room of pink terrazzo and grey velvet that designer Sacha Leong described as a respite from the outside world, Julien Royer has been serving French cuisine with a zest of Asia since 2015. Three Michelin stars. Asia's best restaurant in 2020. Named Odette, after the woman from Cantal who showed him that food is love.

The Name & The Room


A Supreme Court wing converted into the most beautiful dining room in Singapore.


The National Gallery Singapore occupies the former Supreme Court and City Hall buildings — two landmark colonial structures on Saint Andrew's Road that were the administrative heart of the British settlement for over a century. The conversion of these buildings into a gallery holding the world's largest public collection of Southeast Asian art is one of Singapore's most ambitious cultural achievements. Within the Supreme Court wing, Odette occupies a 3,100-square-foot space that designer Sacha Leong of Universal Design Studio transformed into something that has no precedent in the city: a room of white and pink tones, pink terrazzo, grey velvet, touches of nickel and marble, lit with a lightness that makes it feel simultaneously intimate and expansive.


At the centre of the main dining area, Singaporean artist Dawn Ng created a hanging installation called A Theory of Everything — printed photographs of ingredients, folded and mounted onto oak panels. The installation, inspired by Royer's philosophy of simplicity in the kitchen, is one of the most considered pieces of restaurant art in Asia. The room seats up to 38 guests in the main area, with an additional eight-person private room.


The restaurant opened in 2015. Julien Royer named it Odette after his grandmother, a fourth-generation farmer from Cantal in Auvergne, central France. She taught him about respecting produce, about approaching cooking in a simple fashion, and how to elevate each ingredient like a piece of art. She is, in the most literal sense, why the restaurant exists and why it cooks the way it does.

The Chef & His Decade


From Cantal to Singapore via Michel Bras and JAAN to the restaurant he opened for her.


Julien Royer was born in 1982 in Cantal, in central France, to fourth-generation farmers. His first job in food was at Restaurant Bras in Laguiole — Michel Bras's three-star restaurant in the Aubrac highlands, one of the defining kitchens of French terroir cooking, where local plants, seasonal ingredients and respect for the landscape were the foundation of everything. It was exactly the right formation for someone who would eventually cook in Singapore: Bras's approach to ingredient and place is transferable; the specific ingredients are not.


He moved to Singapore in 2008, worked at the St Regis hotel, then spent four years as head chef at JAAN at Swissôtel The Stamford — the 70th-floor restaurant where his successor Kirk Westaway now holds two Michelin stars. While working at JAAN, a regular customer — Chong Siak Ching, CEO of the National Gallery — asked if he would be interested in occupying a space at the museum being developed for opening. He agreed. Construction began in the summer of 2015. Odette opened that year.


As I become more mature as a chef, I tend to remove more things from the plate and focus on the produce, sourcing, seasoning and sauces, which are very important to French cuisine. My cuisine has become more simplified and focused on taste, taste and taste.

JULIEN ROYER


The first Michelin recognition came in 2016 — two stars, awarded in the Guide's inaugural Singapore edition. Royer wept when he called his family with the news. The third star arrived in 2019, and Odette was named Asia's best restaurant by Asia's 50 Best in 2020, retaining a top-ten position for several subsequent years. In 2025, the Michelin Guide Singapore confirmed the three-star retention; Ines Carrière Bega of Odette received the Service Award. The restaurant celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2025 with a temporary closure for interior renovation, reopening in December with a refreshed design and a shortened prix-fixe menu.


Beyond Odette, Royer has opened Louise in Hong Kong — a one-Michelin-star restaurant in PMQ Central that extends his cooking approach to a second city. His commitment to Singapore remains primary. He is, in the most complete sense, a Singapore chef who happens to be French.

The Food & Its Signatures


French technique. Asian produce and aesthetics. The DNA Royer describes as his own.


Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg


A signature across many years — an organic egg, smoked with rosemary, served in a preparation that uses restraint and precision to make something humble feel luxurious without artifice. One of the dishes most consistently mentioned by guests as the meal's opening statement of intent.


Heirloom Beetroot Variations


A dish built around a single vegetable in multiple preparations — a demonstration of the kitchen's philosophical commitment to produce, seasoning and technique over complexity. Royer's description of his cooking — removing things from the plate to focus on the ingredient — is most clearly visible here.


Mushroom Tea


A savoury preparation that uses the umami depth of mushrooms in a broth-based course. One of the restaurant's most delicate and most specifically Asian-influenced moments — the tea format borrowed from the region's own traditions, the flavour profile unmistakably of the Odette kitchen.


Shima Aji, Citrus Cure, Dill Snow


Shima aji cured with lemon, lime and satsuma orange, arranged in a flower shape with pickled kohlrabi, finished with a snow made from buttermilk, cider vinegar and horseradish. The Japanese ingredient in a Nordic-adjacent preparation through a French sensibility: the Odette approach made tangible in a single course.


Seasonal Main Courses


The main courses at Odette change with the season, sourced from small producers in Australia, Japan and Europe alongside local Singapore suppliers. Royer's Cantal farming roots inform how he thinks about produce — not as raw material but as the reason for cooking. The sourcing is primary; the technique follows.


A Theory of Everything (the room)


Dawn Ng's hanging installation of folded ingredient photographs is part of the meal's experience as much as any course. The decision to commission a work that reflects Royer's ingredient philosophy rather than serving as generic restaurant decoration is a statement about what kind of place Odette is.

Before You Go


Everything practical, plainly told


  • Address: 1 St Andrew's Road, #01-04, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore 178957


  • Phone: +65 6385 0498


  • Website: odetterestaurant.com


  • Hours: Lunch Tuesday to Saturday. Dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Check odetterestaurant.com for current hours following the 2025 renovation and menu changes.


  • Getting There: City Hall MRT station (East-West and North-South lines) is a 5-minute walk from the National Gallery. The gallery is directly opposite St Andrew's Cathedral and beside the Padang. Taxi from Changi Airport takes approximately 30 minutes. The restaurant entrance is on St Andrew's Road.


  • Bookings: Via odetterestaurant.com. The restaurant seats 38 guests in the main room plus 8 in the private room — more accessible than some three-star restaurants, but still requiring advance planning. Weeknight bookings are easier to secure than weekend tables. Book 4–8 weeks ahead for most dates.


  • Price: The tasting menu is approximately SGD 498 per person for food only (current pricing — verify at odetterestaurant.com). Wine pairing ranges from approximately SGD 295 to SGD 565 depending on the option. Service charge and GST additional. A full experience with wine pairing runs approximately SGD 800–1,000 per person.


  • The Room: The interior was renovated and reopened in December 2025 following the restaurant's tenth-anniversary closure. The signature pink terrazzo and grey velvet remain; the specific configuration may have changed. The room is one of the finest dining environments in Singapore and worth arriving early to appreciate.



  • Dietary Needs: Communicate restrictions at the time of booking. Royer's philosophy of waste minimisation and thoughtful sourcing means the kitchen approaches dietary requirements seriously rather than treating them as inconveniences.
Things Worth Knowing


Before you sit down in the National Gallery


  • Spend time in the National Gallery before dinner — The gallery houses the world's largest public collection of Southeast Asian art — a genuinely significant collection that rewards serious attention. Arriving an hour or two before your reservation and moving through the permanent collection provides both cultural context and the specific pleasure of transitioning from art to food in a building that contains both.


  • The wine pairing options vary significantly in price — At SGD 295 to SGD 565 per person, the pairing tiers at Odette span a meaningful range. The sommelier team is considered one of the strongest in Singapore — Ines Carrière Bega received the Michelin Guide Singapore Service Award in 2025. If the higher pairing is within budget, it is worth it; if not, the lower tier is also excellent.


  • The menu has changed following the 2025 renovation — The tenth-anniversary closure and December 2025 reopening introduced a refreshed interior and a shortened prix-fixe menu. Dishes described in reviews from before September 2025 may not reflect the current offering. Check odetterestaurant.com for the most current menu information before arriving with specific expectations.



  • This is a romantic restaurant in the finest sense of the world — The room is beautiful in a way that is both sophisticated and intimate — pink and white and soft — and the service is attentive without being formal. Odette is consistently described as one of Singapore's best special-occasion restaurants. If you are celebrating something, the team should know — they will do something about it.


  • Royer describes the cuisine as French with a zest of Asia — take this literally — The Asian influence is not decorative. It appears in ingredients, techniques, and aesthetic choices throughout the meal. Guests who expect pure classical French and guests who expect Asian fusion are both slightly wrong. The cuisine is its own thing: French in DNA, Singaporean in its second language.
Why This Restaurant


What Odette actually represents


There are three-star restaurants built around a concept, a technique, or a chef's biography. Odette is built around a relationship — between a fourth-generation farmer's grandson and the woman who taught him, before he knew what cooking would become for him, that food is the most direct form of love. The grandmother the restaurant is named after is not a marketing device. She is the reason for everything: for the farm-sourced ingredients, for the simplicity that Royer has been removing things from plates toward for a decade, for the specific orientation of care that the kitchen and the room both embody.


Singapore has three-star restaurants. Odette is the one that feels most like a personal statement rather than a professional achievement, though it is both. The room is as considered as the food. The art on the ceiling is made of photographs of ingredients. The service has received the Michelin Award. The food has been Asia's best. The chef named it after the person who most influenced him and then proceeded, for a decade, to cook in her honour.


Restaurant obsessives consider Odette one of the best dining experiences in the world.

ANNETTE TAN, CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER


A tenth anniversary was marked in 2025 with a renovation and a renewed menu. The next decade will be defined by whatever Royer decides to grow toward now that the foundational work — the stars, the rankings, the industry recognition — is complete. That development, visible in real time over the coming years, is another reason to go now: to understand what Odette is becoming, not only what it has been.