Singapore’s appetite for farm-to-table dining remain unabated, but Forage at Mandai Rainforest Resort raises a different question: are diners willing to travel all the way to the edge of the rainforest for sustainability-centric cuisine?
There’s something faintly absurd about the idea of travelling all the way to Mandai Wildlife Reserve for a meal. In a city where good food abound, expecting diners to venture to Singapore’s northern fringes in the middle of a nature reserve for an evening — even a great one built around rooftop herbs, sustainably farmed fish, and the poetry of seasonality — can be a tough ask.
I am, of course, talking about Forage, the signature contemporary restaurant within Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree. Here Chef Marcus Tan, who cut his teeth at multiple Michelin-starred venues such as Ma Cuisine, Lerouy and 28Wilkie, leans heavily into harvest-to-table dining, shaping menus around ingredients sourced from the resort’s rooftop edible garden as well as local producers including Ah Hua Kelong and Toh Thye San Farm.
This isn’t a new idea, of course. Singapore restaurants have spent the better part of a decade flirting with sustainable and organic dining, even if they often treat local produce less as an ethos and more as a useful talking point between courses. Some do it better than others, and I am glad to report Forage is among the better ones.
The menu itself arrives as either a two-course Sense Menu (S$48++) for lunch, or the five-course Discovery Menu (S$138++) and eight-course Experience Menu (S$198++) during evenings.
We dropped in at Forage for lunch, mostly because we didn’t trust ourselves to drive on unfamiliar roads in wilder country especially in the dark. We needn’t have worried — this is Singapore, after all.
Our meal begins conventionally enough with house-made bread, butter and amuse-bouche, before progressing to dishes that truly showcase the restaurant’s raison d’etre.
The Katsuo arrives with little more than soy and coriander, a measured restraint that allows the line-caught skipjack tuna’s deep, almost ferrous umami to come through. The White Asparagus follows a similar philosophy, lightly dressed as it is with nori and tonburi — those curious, caviar-like seeds of the summer cypress — the latter’s gentle sweetness and faint nuttiness underscoring rather than overwhelming the fleeting delicacy of the seasonal spear.
Then comes the King Salmon, resting atop a bed of petit pois and assorted greens. The prized New Zealand fish arrives cooked just beyond the point we might have preferred, its centre having surrendered some of the translucent pink blush that gives salmon its real seduction. The peas — improbably sweet, tender and full of spring vitality — turned out to be the quiet star of the dish, reminding one that vegetables when superbly fresh often have a way of stealing attention when least expected.
More assured is the Poulet Farci, where Chef Marcus’ classical French training reveals itself with greater confidence. The stuffed chicken breast is deftly cooked and enriched by a glossy jus, accompanied by wild mushrooms sautéed with enough precision to retain both earthiness and structure. This is the sort of dish that does not seek applause, merely satisfaction — and yet earns both.
It’s clear Chef Marcus has resisted the temptation here to embellish excessively, trusting to let the ingredients to do the talking. We like the use of oils, pickles and garnishes that are purposed from the restaurant’s edible garden — thyme, rosemary, pandan, ginger flower and lemon basil — that come to the fore across various dishes. There is also admirable discipline in the kitchen’s commitment to waste reduction too: stems, skins and overlooked scraps reportedly repurposed into stocks and sauces rather than discarded. Sustainability here appears embedded operationally, not merely printed on menus in tasteful serif fonts.
Yet one suspects the central question surrounding Forage will have little to do with cooking. It is this: will Singaporeans make the trip?
Because geography remains one of this city’s least discussed dining filters. Restaurants in inaccessible locations often become destinations for visitors and special occasions, but struggle to establish regularity among locals spoiled for choice downtown. Dining at Mandai requires intention. It requires effort. You do not accidentally end up here after work. No one pops by spontaneously for a Tuesday tasting menu because they happened to be nearby.
The setting undoubtedly does some heavy lifting.
Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows overlook Upper Seletar Reservoir, while interiors borrow liberally from the rainforest outside: stone carvings of native wildlife, biophilic textures, and the sort of hushed lighting come evening that luxury resorts favour when they wish guests to feel cosy and intimate. Arriving at dusk, with the reservoir reflecting the last light, sounds undeniably lovely.
Then again, perhaps that is exactly the appeal.
The journey becomes part of the ritual. Dinner ceases to be mere consumption. It becomes excursion, a call from the wild that requires a small migration from glass towers towards reservoir and forest. You leave the city’s usual rhythms behind. For some, that’s totally worth the journey.
The irony here, naturally, is potentially spending hundreds of dollars to reconnect with nature through exquisitely plated herbs. But us humans have paid stranger prices for perspective.
Forage
Address 60 Mandai Lake Rd, Level 4 Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree, Singapore 729979 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 7.30-10.30am (breakfast), 12-2.30pm (lunch), 12-4pm (tea) and 6-10pm (dinner) daily
Tel (65) 8218 6534
Web www.banyantree.com/singapore/mandai-rainforest-resort-by-banyan-tree/dining/forage
Facebook MandaiRainforestResortByBanyanTree
Instagram forage.sg
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