With 10 one-Michelin-starred restaurants out, is there coming back from this?

Going up on stage to collect a Michelin star plaque on the night of July 24 must have been bittersweet for the representative of one restaurant.

- Tan Hsueh Yun

That restaurant is closing soon.

Before the glitzy ceremony at Marina Bay Sands, where the 2025 Michelin Guide Singapore's starred restaurants were revealed, I looked at the one-, two- and three-starred lists of restaurants going back to 2022, just so I'd have the information handy.

The lists of two- and three-starred restaurants have been pretty stable. The same cannot be said of the one-starred list. It looks like a restaurant graveyard, I remarked to a colleague.

In 2024, the Singapore edition of the French tyre company's gourmet restaurant guide listed 42 one-starred establishments. After Thursday's reveal, the city is down to 32.

Eight restaurants have closed: Art di Daniele Sperindio, Chef Kang's, Matera, Oshino, Poise, Shinji at Carlton Hotel, Sommer and Sushi Kimura - although Art is set to re-open.

Ten-year-old Rhubarb in Duxton Hill has rebranded itself and is now the more casual Encore by Rhubarb. That takes it off the 2025 list. Terra Tokyo Italian in Tras Street dropped off the list. One-starred Sushi Sakuta at The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore was promoted to two stars.

Omakase@Stevens was the only addition to the one-starred list.

Out of more than 3,790 restaurants that opened in 2024, Michelin did not find one that was worthy of a star. Fancy that.

Restaurants here had a tough 2024. Some 3,047 food businesses died, an almost 20-year high surpassed only in 2005, which saw 3,352 closures.

The outlook for 2025 looks similarly bleak. Diners are cutting back on spending in Singapore because of global economic uncertainty and the strong Singapore dollar making holidays abroad cheaper. Competition is rife - about 300 new restaurants open every month and about the same number close each month too.

Restaurants are essentially eating themselves.

They are not the only ones grappling with higher operating costs, manpower shortages and diner apathy either.