dining here is an art form

One of the most refreshing and sophisticated dining concepts to have emerged in Singapore this year is Senang Supperclub, a regionally focused dining series that involves two outliers of the F&B scene. The main architect is botanical design studio This Humid House while its first guest chef has been the baker, cookbook author and Southeast Asian food researcher Bryan Koh. Just what do these cultural mavericks think would give this glorious food city of ours even more bite? Noelle Loh gets Koh and This Humid House founder John Lim to chew on this.

- Noelle Loh

Step inside a Senang Supperclub session and the first thing that gets you is likely the decor. On the far end of the room is a floor‑to‑ceiling oil painting of a lush forested landscape that we’re told used to hang in the cafe at what used to be known as Hyatt Regency Singapore (now Grand Hyatt Singapore and undergoing renovation). There are display cabinets filled with vessels, objects and other curios with a distinctively East Asian or Southeast Asian touch. The main event, however, is without doubt the long central table that’s festooned with equally exotic, thoroughly mesmerising botanical arrangements composed mostly of flora also native to the region.

The venue is the headquarters of This Humid House (or THHHQ, as displayed on the sign on the door) – the luxury botanical design studio founded by the architecture‑trained John Lim five years ago that’s known for its artful, unorthodox arrangements that spotlight plants from this part of the world. What guests have also gathered here for, though, is the food.

Started four months ago and held ad hoc (keep track via its namesake Instagram account), Senang Supperclub – or SSC for short – is This Humid House’s first foray into dining. It gets its name from Jalan Senang in Kembangan – the road THHHQ is located on – and was born more out of happenstance than anything, says Lim. “We moved into this new office space this January and have this big table. I’ve always loved food and we had a few weekends open in August because it was the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival, and I’ve also always wanted to work with Bryan in a meaningful way, so I called him up and luckily, he said yes!”