SINGAPORE — Call it a natural progression but more restaurants are headed to the heartlands. Some come in search of lower rents in a less-chaotic neighbourhood, while others see opportunity in the varied neighbourhoods to grow their business. These would help explain why stalwart New Ubin Seafood will be relocating across the island, from its current location in Sin Ming industrial estate to Lam Soon Industrial Building on Hillview Avenue, or why the people behind casual Italian restaurant PocoLoco in Ang Mo Kio decided to open a second diner — this time with a microbrewery — in Jurong.

“There is definitely something to like about a neighbourhood where people come home from work, change into something more comfortable, then go (somewhere) nearby for dinner,” said Artichoke chef-owner Bjorn Shen. He, too, will be relocating Bird Bird — his pop-up concept-turned-full-time-eatery along Ann Siang Road — to a decidedly quieter and less rock-n-roll commune on Frankel Avenue by the end of the month. Rent, he explained, was not one of the motivations behind the decision, adding that the rates for both the Ann Siang outlet and its new location are “very fair”.

From Thai to American

While size clearly matters to Shen, as this is a larger Bird Bird, it will also sport a very different look and feel. The bright and chirpy new premises is quite different from the “trashy” decor of the original Ann Siang restaurant. “With every new location comes a new climate,” Shen explained. “This whole ghetto, Thai chicken dive-bar thing blends in well in Ann Siang, alongside the other bars on the street. But when we move to Frankel, we can’t just cut and paste.

“Frankel is a residential area, with lots of families. Along with the move comes a change in concept; this must happen.”

With that comes a change in its menu and target consumers. For a start, it will just be fried buttermilk chicken, which are more familiar to consumers, he shared. He stressed that he and his team are particularly excited about being closer to people in their comfort zones. “And we’ll hopefully see better delivery (UberEats, Deliveroo) numbers, given the proximity to residences.”

GO WEST

Of course, Shen is not the first to embrace this evolving market. Lee brothers Keith, Don and Ryan, and Alvin Chew, the owners of PocoLoco — an affordable Italian eatery in Ang Mo Kio — opened a second PocoLoco diner in the Jurong heartlands in June, but this time with its own microbrewery.

“Jurong is another up-and-coming CBD area like Raffles Places,” said Chew, pointing out the large number of offices in the area and the lack of a microbrewery. Here, diners can choose from five beers, ranging from a light lager to a rich Dunkel to green lager made with “seaweed barley malt”, brewed by a brew master from Indonesia using German technology, he explained. He also affirmed that high traffic does not automatically equal more customers, which is likely why they make it a point to introduce new concepts with each new outlet.

Staying out of the city helps the eatery lower its overheads and reduce the prices of the dishes while still being able to use imported ingredients, such as burrata cheese, Parma ham and sea urchin from Hokkaido. “If we do open near (or in the city), our costs will increase by 80 per cent to 120 per cent, depending on the rental,” Chew posited, adding that it is currently brainstorming ideas for new concepts and considering a venture in the east.

Also headed west is stalwart New Ubin Seafood, which is not unaccustomed to moving house. It has had to relocate at least five times since its first restaurant on Pulau Ubin, which opened in 1986 on the island’s north shore. It will be vacating its home of nine years at Sin Ming, located within a largely industrial estate, by the end of October for a space on the sixth floor of Lam Soon Industrial Building at Hillview Avenue. It will be the canteen’s main tenant and cze char kitchen.

But the plan was not to move out in the first place. “Initially, Hillview was meant to be our second outlet; so the western location made sense,” said marketing manager Joline Lim, who runs the business with her husband Alex Pang, a full-time lawyer, and her in-laws Michelle Nicholas and Pang Seng Meng.

They thought they had the Sin Ming location until next year, but were informed by the Housing Development Board in the middle of the year that the lease could only be extended until December. “With that timeline, we wouldn’t have sufficient time to find a replacement for Sin Ming — so we decided to move to Hillview first and focus on finding a replacement for the Sin Ming location next year.”

Lim described the canteen space at Lam Soon Industrial Building as quite a gem. “It is within a residential area and it is pretty accessible,” she added, pointing out that the size and rental rates were what they were looking for.

They are confident that the restaurant’s new home will enjoy better footfall, and are looking forward to introducing lunch specials such as bak kut teh and prawn noodles for tenants of the building as well as visiting residents. These are in addition to an already-wide range of “truly Singaporean” dishes and inspired offerings that were introduced along the way, such as the US Black Angus rib-eye with wok-fried beef rice, and the garlic-baked Sri 
Lanka crab.

“I suppose with each move, there will always be the worry of losing customers, as convenience is top priority for Singaporeans when dining out,” Lim said. “However, we do believe a larger number will travel to Hillview to visit us — and, of course, those living in the west will come more often now,” she said. And, she pointed out, the restaurant has recently launched an online food-ordering service (http://order.newubinseafood.com/) that delivers island-wide.

Well, this is, after all, about bringing good food closer to home.