‘Countryside house’: Michelin-starred Restaurant JAG moves to bigger, brighter space at Robertson Quay

From a cosy 16-seater with mood lighting at Duxton Road, Restaurant JAG has transformed into a bigger, brighter and fuller form at Robertson Quay.

The one-Michelin-starred restaurant is now situated on the second floor of STPI, a space previously occupied by Sprmrkt. JAG can now seat up to 40 people and also boasts a private room.

While the Duxton Road restaurant took inspiration from an “alpine chalet” in line with chef Jeremy Gillon’s cooking philosophy of exploring mountain herbs, the new space, with its airy ceiling and light-flooded windows, couldn’t be more different. Instead, “This is a bright countryside house,” said co-owner and managing director Anant Tyagi, who’s also a familiar face in the dining room.

JAG, which stands for “Jeremy and Anant Gastronomy”, was founded in 2018 after the two friends, who met at a previous workplace, talked about what their ideal restaurant would look like over many rounds of drinks. The restaurant opened and earned its Michelin star within its first year.

When they were looking for a new place due to tenancy issues and a desire to expand, Gillon came across a picture of the space at STPI. “I saw that the windows were beautiful”, and was sold, he said.

“He found it on CommercialGuru, and it was very poorly advertised,” Tyagi laughed. “There were four pictures that didn’t say anything about the venue, except he saw a window that had a view, and he was like, ‘We must go see this venue.’”

Tyagi had his doubts about a second-floor restaurant, but “we walked in and saw the space, and we looked at each other, and I was like, ‘This is our offer.’ And they accepted it within a day.” There was a celebration that night that involved more than a few drinks.

The new space achieves an important mission that goes beyond functionality or even aesthetics. Now, the restaurant’s ambience can better support its cuisine and ideologies, the duo said. “To showcase vegetables, it makes more sense to be in a light-filled space with more green (elements). And we can finally have our green plants survive!” Gillon said.

At the previous space, “I think we killed over 50 plants there – there was just no light,” Tyagi lamented.

Although they can take justifiable pride in what they achieved at the Duxton Road location, it left them with "checkboxes that remained unchecked,” Tyagi said.

He brought up examples of restaurants in other parts of the world where “you walk in and you can immediately tell what that person is doing – it’s the universe you walk into. You know this place celebrates kinki, or you walk in and know that this place celebrates aubergine. For us, at Duxton Road, that was lacking.”

With the chance to reinvent the dining room, “We wanted to create the experience, before a person has a single item of food, that they are in a world of vegetables.”

Gillon, whose passion is in bringing out a huge range of flavours and textures from vegetables and considers proteins supporting players in his plant theatre, changes up the menus with every season to reflect the best produce from his native France as well as from closer to home, like Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

In addition to the artwork on the walls that features plants, there are plans for pressed flower decorations by a Singapore artist, and small crystals with suspended 3D vegetables engraved in them on the tables, Tyagi said.

Gone are the starched tablecloths and upholstered chairs – the new JAG is a much homier space. “To celebrate vegetables, we wanted to build something that feels like a garden house – wood, rattan, greenery, natural light, with a touch of elegance,” like the feeling you get when you visit houses in the countryside two hours’ drive out of Paris, Gillon said.

Gillon himself was born in Normandy and in his fond recollections of his grandmother’s traditional dishes, it’s always the vegetables that stand out. In her pot-au-feu, for instance, the carrots, onions, celeriac, parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes hold the most memories for him. “I have the recipe, but I can never make it the same,” he said.

As a chef, “I find excitement in whatever flavour I can bring out from that vegetable that will make the overall dish fuller.” After all, a steak will always taste like a steak; a pigeon, like pigeon. “You can be surprised by the technique of the chef… but you are not surprised by the pigeon. It’s what’s served beside it that will surprise you,” he said.

And so, in his current Autumn menu, Challan duck is an (un-careless) aside to celeriac pickled, pureed and served cooked in bread dough, with Chinese celery and melisse meat juice. Mind you, as in all the dishes served at JAG, the protein could change according to what Gillon has the best of that day – venison, beef, veal or chicken.

Chestnut takes centre stage, as it does in all his Autumn menus in various forms – this time with different textures, accompanied by halibut in green coffee stock, with coffee and aubepine oil. “As you know, we change our menu every season, so if you come next Autumn, you will have the chestnut; but where that chestnut will be – in your canape, in your second course, third course – you never know,” Gillon said.

Scottish blue lobster plays second fiddle to Gillon’s pet, Jerusalem artichoke, served raw, braised, pickled, tuile and sand.

Salsify gets its day in the sun, with a salsify sorbet served atop braised salsify sticks and served with a with a yuzu and nettle gel, accompanied by scallop. This is one of the dishes that Gillon is proudest of, as the vegetal sorbet lends an unexpected surprise.

And a parsley root tea with parsley oil and a touch of curry powder is so intense in flavour that you could swear it was made with beef stock. “The tea this season, I feel, is amazing, because it’s just a root vegetable but it feels like pot-au-feu – beefy and meaty.”

While a lot may be new at JAG, what hasn’t changed is the emphasis on hospitality, flexibility and going out of the way to make sure guests enjoy their time there – all of which is encapsulated in the handwritten menu that each diner gets to take home, along with a sweet bake for the next day’s teatime.

“I love handwritten menus because because I feel a little bit of personality has been lost  with the injection of technology over a number of years,” said Tyagi, who proclaims himself an old-school kind of guy. “Everything is at the press of a button, and I feel that is not who we are.” If a product doesn’t arrive in time, for example, or a diner has a particular dietary restriction or preference, the kitchen adapts readily.

In addition, there are any number of restaurants a diner could choose to eat at, “but you came here… I feel a handwritten thank you note from Jeremy and I is the least we can do.”

Restaurant JAG is at 41 Robertson Quay #02-02.