Air is Dempsey Hill’s newest tenant, occupying a massive 40,000 square feet of space. The compound is home to a two-storey restaurant, an expansive lawn area, a research and development space, and even its own working garden with fresh produce. The brainchild of renowned chefs Matthew Orlando and Will Goldfarb from Noma and Room4Desserts respectively, the restaurant plates up contemporary Southeast Asian and European dishes with freshly farmed ingredients from its edible garden.
With food, Orlando insists that deliciousness and accessibility is key, and sustainability comes closely after. Which is why you can get a five-course Chef’s Choice meal with desserts at a relatively reasonable price of $88 per person. The fermented cassava flatbread is a great starter, and comes with a generous serving of savoury whipped mushroom XO butter for you to lather onto the slices. Be expectant for the crispy oyster mushrooms too – the batter is light and airy, giving way to firm, fleshy mushrooms beneath. As Air opens up in phases, there are plans for the lawn to become a picnic space, where diners can grab picnic baskets from the restaurant and order food items from the lawn menu.