Chef Zor Tan Opens Nine-Course Michelin-Starred Menu at Historic Depot

Dinner at Born is meant to feel less like a meal and more like a story-one told in nine courses, each tied to a guiding principle: Birth, Roots, Memories, Craft, Relationship, Vicissitudes, Time, Progress and Legacy. That is the framework chef Zor Tan uses at his Michelin-starred restaurant inside the historic Jinrikisha Station at 1 Neil Rd, a 1903 rickshaw depot that now houses one of Asia's most talked-about dining rooms.

Tan, a Malaysian-Chinese protégé of André Chiang, opened Born in July 2022. By 2026 it ranked #23 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list and earned a Bib Gourmand as well as a Michelin star. The restaurant's nine-course tasting menu, priced at S$368++, runs Tuesday through Saturday from 6:00 to 11:00 PM. It is closed Mondays and Sundays.

A kitchen built on memory and craft

The nine principles that structure the menu are not abstract branding. Each course is supposed to correspond to a phase in Tan's own life or a broader idea about cooking. “Birth” might reference ingredients from his childhood; “Roots” draws on Malaysian-Chinese culinary traditions; “Craft” showcases technique honed during years working under Chiang at Restaurant André in Singapore and later at the three-Michelin-starred Odette.

Tan describes his cooking as a blend of French gastronomy with Chinese and Sichuan cooking, inspired by what he calls the “circle of life.” That means plates can move from delicate French-style consommé to punchy Sichuan peppercorn heat within the same sequence. The restaurant’s location inside the Jinrikisha Station-a building originally constructed in 1903 to house rickshaws-adds another layer of history to the experience.

Where time and price meet

At S$368++ per person, Born is not a casual Tuesday-night reservation. But for diners willing to invest in a multi-hour tasting menu, the cost reflects the precision required to execute a nine-course narrative. Tan’s team plates each course with the kind of detail that earned the restaurant its Michelin star and a spot on the Asia’s 50 Best list.

The restaurant seats about 40 guests in a dining room that retains original architectural features from the rickshaw depot era-high ceilings, arched windows, exposed brick. Reservations are recommended well in advance; the limited schedule leaves only 30 service slots per week.

For anyone looking to try a chef who trained under one of Singapore’s most famous culinary figures, Born offers a direct line to that lineage. Tan worked for several years with Chiang before striking out on his own, and the influence shows in the discipline of the menu structure. But the cooking itself is distinctly Tan’s-more spice-forward, more personal, more rooted in the Chinese and Sichuan traditions he grew up with.

Born has become a fixture in Singapore’s fine-dining scene not because it is flashy, but because it sticks to a clear idea: that dinner can follow the shape of a life, from birth to legacy, course by course.