CHEFLAM’S
Forty Years of Flame, One Plate at a Time
The Opening Act
Chef Lam Shan’s restaurant has spent four decades stoking Chengdu’s appetite, its queues a familiar fixture for locals navigating the city’s labyrinthine food streets. Singapore now receives the brand’s first overseas outpost — a declaration of sorts, planted squarely in the CBD corridor of Tanjong Pagar. The timing is calculated: a city increasingly fluent in the grammar of Sichuan heat, hungry for something authoritative rather than approximated.
What arrives at the table is competent, frequently delicious, occasionally revelatory — and sometimes content to rest on its considerable laurels rather than push further. This is food made with discipline and accumulated instinct, which is itself no small thing in a landscape prone to shortcuts.
Ambience & Atmosphere
Stationed at the base of Guoco Tower and directly fed by the Tanjong Pagar MRT, CHEFLAM’S announces itself through an unmissable panda mascot perched atop the exterior — a knowing wink to the restaurant’s Sichuan roots, where giant pandas are provincial symbol and tourist currency alike.
Inside, the space navigates the tension between casual dining and occasion-worthy eating. Surfaces are clean without being sterile; the kitchen’s confidence filters into the dining room through the constant percussion of woks and the warm, complex perfume of dried chillies toasting in oil. A chilli-heavy haze lingers pleasantly — not oppressive, but unmistakably present, conditioning the palate before the first dish arrives.
Outdoor seating extends the footprint and draws the lunch crowd during weekdays, when the surrounding offices empty in near-unison. Arrival at 11:45am is advisable; by 12:15pm, the atmosphere has the productive buzz of a restaurant that knows precisely what it is.
Dish Analysis
An in-depth examination of texture, hue, flavour architecture, and plating intent.
Texture: Tender white meat with a faint external yielding — not crispy-fried, but sealed. Peanuts provide intermittent crunch, breaking the sauce’s density every few bites. The textural contrast is its best quality.
Flavour Arc: Opens with smoke (wok hei, brief but present), transitions into sweetness (brown sugar, likely), then closes on a mild heat that builds slowly rather than striking immediately. The architecture is patient.
Texture: The fish (likely grass carp, sliced to 4–5mm) is velveted — a Chinese technique using egg white and cornstarch to create a surface of extraordinary smoothness. The flesh dissolves under light pressure, a quality that borders on the architectural edge of “too soft” but stays just on the right side. The suan cai retains slight crunch, providing necessary counterpoint.
Flavour Arc: Sharp, fermented, sour foreground. Garlic mid-register. A deep, clean umami base from long-cooked bones. Chilli oil traces at the finish. The balance across these registers is the dish’s chief achievement.
Texture: The chicken leans toward the firmer end of the spectrum — this reviewer would have preferred a crisper exterior giving way to a more yielding interior. The current execution prioritises flavour absorption at the cost of textural drama. Not incorrect, but not its best self.
Flavour Arc: Immediate numbing (huā jiāo, Sichuan pepper) arrives within seconds. Heat follows, building steadily across multiple chilli registers. The base is soy-sweet with sesame depth. This dish absolutely requires rice.
Texture: The wheat noodles are al dente with a springy, elastic pull — they hold the sauce without over-absorbing it. Cucumber julienne adds cool, watery crunch. Chicken is hand-shredded, giving an uneven, fibrous texture that is preferable here to the mechanical uniformity of machine slicing.
Flavour Arc: Acid-forward (Zhenjiang black vinegar likely) with a garlic immediacy. The house-made chilli oil arrives mid-palate and intensifies progressively. Sesame paste adds a nutty, slightly bitter anchor. Even at xiao la, this is assertive — novice heat tolerances should know in advance.
Reconstructing the Gold Medal
A home interpretation of the Kung Pao Chicken — faithful to the principles, adapted for a domestic kitchen without a professional-grade wok burner.
Ingredients — Serves 2–3
Method
Combine chicken with soy sauce, rice wine, egg white, and cornstarch. Massage thoroughly until each piece is fully coated and the mixture feels slightly sticky. Rest at room temperature for 20–30 minutes minimum. The egg white creates a protein barrier that seals moisture during high-heat cooking — this step is non-negotiable for tenderness.
Snip dried chillies into 2cm segments, shaking out seeds for moderated heat (retain for full fire). Toast Sichuan peppercorns in a dry pan over medium heat for 90 seconds until fragrant — they should smell floral and citrusy, not acrid. Set aside separately. Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Heat your largest, heaviest pan (ideally a carbon steel wok) over maximum heat for 3–4 minutes until a drop of water vaporises instantly. Add oil in a spiral. Lay chicken in a single layer — do not crowd. Leave undisturbed for 60–90 seconds to achieve colour; flip once and remove while still slightly undercooked. This two-stage cooking method (called “pass through oil”) is key to restaurant tenderness.
Return pan to high heat. Add fresh oil, then peppercorns — they will crackle and pop immediately. After 20 seconds, add chillies and allow to darken (not blacken). Add garlic and ginger simultaneously; stir-fry 30 seconds until raw smell dissipates. Return chicken to the pan. Pour sauce around the perimeter, not directly onto the chicken — this prevents temperature shock and ensures even distribution as it caramelises.
Toss vigorously for 30–45 seconds until sauce thickens to a glossy, slightly gooey consistency that coats every piece. Add spring onion and peanuts in the final 15 seconds — long enough to warm through, brief enough to retain their textural identity. Serve immediately over steamed jasmine rice. The dish waits for no one.
Delivery Options
CHEFLAM’S is primarily a dine-in experience. As of its soft launch phase in early 2025, delivery availability is subject to confirmation — recommendations below are based on standard platform coverage for Tanjong Pagar CBD restaurants.
Sichuan cuisine is, at its best, a live performance — heat, humidity, and immediacy matter. For delivery, prioritise dishes with structural integrity: the cold noodles (sauce travels well), the kung pao chicken (sauce reheats without degrading), and the cherry tomato dessert (cold, static). Avoid delivery of the pickled fish soup; its nuance dissipates rapidly and the fish over-cooks in retained broth heat. Phone orders direct to the restaurant (+65 8901 6266) may be worth attempting for large group or catering requests.
The Verdict
CHEFLAM’S earns its score not through fireworks but through the more demanding work of sustained excellence in fundamentals. Chef Lam’s forty-year education is legible in every dish — in the precise sizing of chicken pieces, in the colour achieved on a broth, in the vinegar ratio of a noodle sauce. This is a restaurant that has earned its confidence.
Where it falls slightly short is in the translation from Chengdu to Singapore — not in quality, but in novelty. The Singapore diner is sophisticated, and CHEFLAM’S dishes, for all their technical merit, do not yet surprise. The gold medal kung pao is excellent by any measure, but it does not reframe the dish. The pickled fish soup approaches something closer to that reframing — and is, accordingly, the meal’s most memorable moment.
For the Tanjong Pagar office lunch crowd, this is now the most authoritative Sichuan option within immediate reach. For a dinner occasion demanding revelation, keep expectations calibrated — you will eat very well, but you may not be rearranged.
Strengths
- Technically rigorous cooking across the menu
- Competitive pricing for award-winning pedigree
- Pickled fish soup is genuinely exceptional
- Prime location with MRT connectivity
- House-made chilli oil of real distinction
Opportunities
- Laziji chicken texture could be crisper
- Menu lacks a truly novel Sichuan proposition
- Cherry tomato dessert skewed sweet
- Soft launch menu subject to change
Guoco Tower, S078883
+65 8901 6266
Soft opening phase: menu subject to change.