Two-Michelin-starred Thevar moves to Mohamed Sultan shophouse with modern South Indian-inspired touches

With Thevar’s move to a new home at Mohamed Sultan Road, chef Manogren Thevar, better known as Mano, finally has a space that really feels like his own.

When he first opened Thevar at Keong Saik Road in 2018, the modern Indian restaurant took over the space previously occupied by Meta, helmed by close friend and business partner Sun Kim. Minimal changes were made and 90 per cent of the kitchen equipment had been handed down.

“I always felt like it was Meta. I didn’t feel like it was my own restaurant,” Mano said. This, on the other hand, “is a restaurant that I really built for myself”.

Occupying a heritage shophouse, the new Thevar’s interiors are modern while incorporating subtle South Indian touches in a nod to the Penang-born 35-year-old’s ancestral heritage.

Design elements include homages to traditional Chettinad architecture as well as temples and meeting places built by the kings of southern India’s ancient Chola empire.

Meanwhile, the exterior retains the shophouse’s original Peranakan elements and bold Chinese characters.

“I grew up in a multi-racial community with Chinese, Peranakan, Malay and Indian culture, and I moved to Singapore when I was 20 years old,” Mano said. “Penang and Singapore are quite similar, including the architectural ideas. I want to keep that tradition. But, once you come inside, it goes back to my heritage and where my grandparents are from”, namely, Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu.

With more than double the space, the new Thevar, which was nearly two years in the making, can seat at least 28 people in the main dining room, and also features a three-person chef’s table in the kitchen area. The private dining room can accommodate 10 and has its own kitchen and restroom that even comes equipped with a shower. Mano plans to use this space as an R&D kitchen as well as to offer special, one-time menus with no rules or boundaries.

As for the main cooking space, he had the opportunity to design his dream kitchen from scratch.

“Here, everything is new. Now, we have a proper walk-in chiller. We never had a walk-in chiller. We just had a four-door chiller,” he shared. There’s also a custom Acuarinox grill from Barcelona, which he’s the first in Singapore to have after spotting it in a restaurant while on holiday in Spain last year.

While the reopening menu features a couple of new dishes, Thevar’s DNA won’t change, and nor will the prices, Mano said. The tasting menu remains at S$298++ per person. However, now, the restaurant will have just one seating a night instead of two, which allows for dining at a more leisurely pace.

“I just want to cook tasty food for sharing,” said Mano, who has earned accolades such as ranking at No 70 on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best list for his elevated plates incorporating European techniques with Indian flavours.

“There’s no show. There’s no story in my food. There’s no grandmother’s recipe or mum’s recipe. I just cook whatever I like,” he insisted. Growing up in Malaysia and living in Singapore, “there’s a lot of good food. Those flavours are always in my mind. Travelling, I learn something new. You just wake up and come up with new ideas, new dishes. I think that’s what it’s all about. But still keeping the flavours, taste and temperature the way they are supposed to be: Hot is hot, cold is cold. At the end of the day, people remember the taste and the whole idea of a dish.”

With time, as the restaurant settles in, the menus will “adapt and grow with the place”, he said. “I still remember that when I started Thevar, to be honest, I didn’t have a direction. We grew every day. We learned from our mistakes and never repeated them. I think the same thing is going to happen here.”

With the move, he’s now just a few doors down from Meta, something he and Sun have been hoping for ever since Meta moved to 9 Mohamed Sultan Road two years ago.

And, at the same time, there is space to develop in different directions.

“I always wanted to have a restaurant that I built for myself. It also shows my team that we didn’t have to have a brand new, luxury kitchen to achieve all this. Even with everything secondhand, you still can do it, as long as your food is cooked from your heart.”

Thevar reopens June 24 at 16 Mohamed Sultan Road.