A new Violet Oon restaurant is opening at the upscale Dempsey Hill lifestyle enclave next year, and it will have a cooking studio.

The Singapore Land Authority announced on Aug 29 that the Peranakan food doyenne’s namesake restaurant is the “latest lifestyle addition at Dempsey”.

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According to SLA, the restaurant was awarded the tender for a historical former British military barrack at #01-05, 7 Dempsey Road, and will offer a “Singapore dining concept, a mobile cooking studio for an immersive Singapore culinary experience and indoor and outdoor dining spaces set amongst lush greenery”.

When contacted by 8days.sg, Violet Oon shared that “it is still early days”, and plans for the new restaurant are still in the works.

Top rental bid reportedly $52.6k a month

Violet Oon’s subsidiary company, Halo Concept, submitted the winning rental bid. It outbid seven other bidders to clinch the tender, property news portal EdgeProp reported.

At $52,615 a month, the bid for Violet Oon restaurant was the highest among the other offers, which reportedly ranged from $20,000 to $33,295.

Two other parties submitted the second-highest bid amount, at $33,295 a month. They are reportedly local F&B group Culinary Arts, which runs concepts like popular Indian fine-diner Revolver, and Urban Group, which currently operates restaurant-bar Contemporary Melting Pot & Bar at the same spot at 7 Dempsey Road.

In a separate social media post, Contemporary Melting Pot & Bar announced its closure on Sept 11, 2024, after 15 years in business.

In an Instagram post dated Aug 16, the restaurant shared that “the closure [was] driven by circumstances beyond our control rather than a voluntary decision to leave, as we were compelled to vacate our premises under unforeseen pressures”, though it did not elaborate further on details.

According to SLA’s website, state properties available for commercial rental are listed online, and let out via an open tender to “ensure that the process is fair and transparent”.

Tenure periods for state properties that are rented out are also detailed on the website. EdgeProp reported that the Violet Oon restaurant at Dempsey was approved for a 5+4 year tenure, with an initial tenure of five years and an option to renew for a further four years.

Photos: Facebook/ Singapore Land Authority