At His Award-Winning Restaurant in Singapore, Julien Royer Brings Together French Techniques and Asian Flavors
The esteemed chef serves cuisine as artistically inspired as the restaurant’s home, which brings together French techniques and Asian flavors as detailed in his debut cookbook
There’s an exciting alchemy that happens at the world’s best museum restaurants. Art and cuisine come together in unexpectedly creative ways, and what is presented on the plate can be as breathtakingly beautiful as what appears on the canvas. As proven by its impressive three Michelin stars, Odette at the National Gallery in Singapore undeniably sits at the top of the global list of culturally adjacent fine dining.
Named after chef and co-owner Julien Royer’s grandmother, the restaurant draws influence from the cuisine of his childhood in Cantal, France. From a family with multiple generations of farmers, he was exposed at an early age to the freshest ingredients and most respectful ways to prepare them. “We didn’t have the fanciest sneakers at school, but we always ate very well,” he says.
Royer’s take on French classics is rooted in that knowledge, yet he prepares lighter and more contemporary fare reimagined through the lens of Asian gastronomy. In 2008, he moved to Singapore to work at a hotel restaurant, and his culinary odyssey includes stints in Hong Kong and London. These experiences deepened his knowledge of Asian cooking styles—with their unique techniques, flavor combinations, and reverence for texture. “We have this backbone of French cuisine that is our DNA, but we have seasoned those dishes with a lot of Asian sensibilities,” says Royer.
To commemorate Odette’s tenth anniversary, Royer has penned Odette:
Terroir to Table, Heart to Plate (Phaidon). Every page exemplifies the
artistry, warmth, and soul that set the restaurant apart. Taking cues from its ethereal design and the menu’s elegant precision, the photography and graphics echo the feminine space conceived by interior designer Sacha Leong and inspired by artist Dawn Ng’s site-specific mobile titled The Theory of Everything.
In creating the cookbook, Royer gathered and organized the recipes that keep his kitchen humming. Along with the history behind the chef’s culinary philosophy, the edition offers step-by-step directions that make his extraordinary dishes fairly straightforward for the home cook to execute—along the way, revealing the techniques behind achieving the crispiest skin on kinmedai fish, assembling a pork dish that’s almost too pretty to eat, and whipping up a strawberry verbena dessert that’s as light as air.
This book serves as a remembrance of Odette’s first decade in more ways than one. In December, after a three-month renovation, Royer unveiled the space’s revamped interiors. The pastels have been replaced with warmer colors; a new site-specific artwork by Ng, Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, now greets guests; and dishes such as a three-way preparation of Norwegian king crab have been added to the menu alongside Odette signatures, most notably the Kampot pepper-crusted pigeon.
But gourmands can be certain one thing will never change. As Royer says, “Odette is based on the goal of the pleasure and happiness you can give to people through food, and it’s really my tribute to my grandmother and the values she taught me.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Summer Issue under the headline “Museum Quality.” Subscribe to the magazine.