SINGAPORE — To stand the test of time in palate-fickle Singapore, fine dining restaurants must continually re-invent themselves or remain flexible to the changes in tastes and budgets.

No restaurant knows this better than Les Amis, the country’s fine dining stalwart that was established in 1994. Recently, it adjusted its prices down to where a five-course dinner is now S$150, while a four-course lunch is an equitable S$45.

With a new and well-known chef at its helm, there’s no better time to rediscover the pioneer that helped put Singapore on the world’s fine dining map almost two decades ago. Chef de cuisine Sebastien Lepinoy, who took the helm at Les Amis in August this year, spent much of his career training under Joel Robuchon, the world’s most celebrated chef, and most recently headed the kitchen at Robuchon’s Hong Kong flagship restaurant.

So we weren’t surprised to find re-interpretations of Robuchon classics on Les Amis’ new tasting menu.

In the early half of our meal, a nugget of sweet langoustine was tucked inside a thin, crisp pastry and served with a chopped salad hit with the irresistible umami of seaweed. Later on, the ketchup and hot sauce-heavy beef tartare, and lavishly rich mashed potatoes in the Hungarian charcoal-grilled pork rack took us right back to a meal at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Tokyo.

There are some new and familiar dishes too. Lepinoy’s rendition of the now ubiquitous sakura ebi pasta serves as a firm reminder of why Les Amis continues to attract an erudite following. Given a splash of a light Parmesan cream and using Japanese somen rather than angel hair pasta, the dish is silky and elegant yet comforting and modern at the same time.

A dish of stuffed baby squid captures the zeitgeist of what’s popular in food today with its Spanish inflections of chopped chorizo and olives that endow it with a deep saltiness. This is tempered by the freshness of rocket leaves and tomatoes that give it bitter and tart accents.

It would be safe to say that Les Amis still has its finger on the fine dining pulse, purveying food that diners today want — familiar and unpretentious, yet modern and fresh. Sure, the setting is still starched and the service a little formal; but Lepinoy’s menu shows that this reliable doyenne knows how to loosen up and roll with the times.

Les Amis

Where: 1 Scotts Road, #02-14/16 Shaw Centre

Telephone: 6733 2225

Opening hours: noon to 2pm, 7pm to 9.30pm, closed on Sundays