At Pangium, the act of dining is as much about preservation as it is about discovery.

Since opening in 2022 within the Gallop Extension of the UNESCO-listed Singapore Botanic Gardens, Pangium has grown into a distinctive dining destination dedicated to the region’s rich culinary traditions spanning Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Eurasian influences. Its Michelin stars in 2024 and 2025 marked a milestone in chef-owner Malcolm Lee’s continued exploration of heritage-driven cuisine.

As the restaurant enters its third year, Lee unveils a new tasting format that signals a thoughtful shift in direction. The menu, shaped by years of research and quiet experimentation, continues Lee’s exploration of Straits cuisine—reviving recipes long absent from public view, while offering new interpretations that honour their origins without replicating them.

The new tasting experience is offered in three formats: The Discovery, a seven-course introduction to the breadth of Lee’s research; The Journey, an eight-course menu that delves deeper into regional expressions of flavour; and The Experience, a nine-course dinner that presents the most complete narrative of Pangium’s culinary work to date. Each menu is structured as a living record, shaped by continued study, evolving techniques and the stories carried within each dish.

The refreshed tasting format opens with a sequence of small plates that revives dishes seldom seen outside home kitchens.

One of the opening courses is ‘Otak Blangah’, a reimagined version of a fish dish once prepared by the Chitty community of Melaka. Traditionally cooked in clay pots with wolf herring, rempah and coconut milk, Lee’s interpretation layers multiple techniques to build complexity. The fish paste is first gently poached, then marinated in a punchy rempah intensified with tempoyak (a fermented durian paste aged for several days) and shredded smoked fish. Grilled over binchōtan for a subtle char, it is served with a Burmese-style citron relish that cuts through the richness with citrusy lift.

While researching rendang — the iconic slow-cooked dish most often associated with beef — Lee discovered seafood variants such as ‘Rendang Lokan’, an interpretation by the West Sumatra’s Minangkabau people that features mud clams. A mistranslation of lokan to oyster inspired Pangium’s version: ‘Rendang Tiram’, where dried Korean oysters are braised in spiced coconut milk until glossy and deeply savoury.

‘Pig’s Brain Gado Gado’ is a disappearing Peranakan delicacy once served during special occasions. Lee coats tender pig’s brain in egg batter before deep-frying it à la tahu telur, an Indonesian dish of egg and tofu fried until golden. The result is a crisp exterior that yields to a custard-like centre. Served with tofu to echo its texture, it is dressed in a sweet-spicy peanut sauce laced with tamarind and chilli, an homage to Indonesian gado gado.

‘Nasi Ulam’, an herbaceous rice salad known as the Queen of Peranakan rice dishes, continues to anchor both The Journey and The Experience menus. This dish holds a special meaning for Lee, as it’s one of the reasons he created Pangium — a space where he can dedicate time to research and develop rare dishes like this. While there are many variations across the region, Lee’s iteration features a blend of herbs and spices like lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, and ginger flower, combined with roasted coconut, dried shrimp, and Wuchang rice for added texture.

As Pangium enters its third year, it continues to build on Lee’s vision, one that respects the past while allowing room for reinterpretation.

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