Regent Singapore’s one-star Michelin restaurant loses shine after food poisoning cases

SINGAPORE — Michelin-starred restaurant Summer Palace and Regent Singapore’s banquet kitchen saw their food hygiene grades downgraded from ‘A’ to ‘C’ on Monday (Jan 29), after more than 40 patrons were hit by food poisoning.

In an advisory, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said 43 people had reported having gastroenteritis – or stomach flu – symptoms after consuming food provided by the establishments on Nov 11 last year.

The NEA will keep the premises under surveillance, and review the food hygiene grades in 12 months, it added.

The Summer Palace restaurant, which specialises in Cantonese cuisine, is located in Regent Singapore – a five-star hotel in Cuscaden Road – and received its Michelin star last year.

Regent Singapore clarified that patrons had consumed the food, which was Chinese cuisine, at a banquet lunch event held at a separate room, and not the Summer Palace.

Its spokesperson said that the NEA’s investigations of the hotel’s kitchens in November had led to the downgrading of the food hygiene grade for the establishment, impacting both kitchens, as its chefs tend to shuffle between both locations.

“Ministry of Health investigations were done via phone interviews with the 43 concerned guests. However, no medical reports or tests have been shared, so the findings have been non-conclusive to determine the source and its effect on the guests,” added the spokesperson.

The hotel contacted the affected guests to acknowledge the situation and extended their apologies for the inconvenience caused. They also offered the guests complimentary vouchers to dine at Basilico, an Italian restaurant in Regent Singapore.

Since the incident, the hotel’s management team has conducted weekly kitchen walk-through exercises. This is to “continue enforcement of stricter monitoring of food safety and hygiene practices by all staff in the hotel’s kitchens, including thorough cleaning and maintenance of sanitation of the kitchen, all utensils and equipment,” said the hotel.

All eligible staff have been sent for re-training in the Workforce Skills Qualifications basic food hygiene course. The hotel has also put in place weekly food hygiene meetings and trainings organised by certified food handlers.

Despite the incident, the Summer Palace has not received any last-minute cancellations for Chinese New Year, the spokesperson said in response to TODAY’s queries.

Summer Palace customers whom TODAY spoke to said they were not aware of the downgrading, but they were not unduly worried by it.

“Certainly, I think the cleanliness of the kitchens should be very important, but this seems like an isolated one-off incident,” said businessman Douglas Szabo, 49.

“I’ve been eating here for the past two or three years and have never been ill.”

Mr Samir Pubalan, 35, a financial consultant, said he would be more concerned if there were “more persistent cases” of food poisoning arising from the restaurant.

Retiree Michael Lee, 69, who had lunch at Summer Palace with his wife and daughter, welcomed the improvements that the restaurant was making. “If they keep up the hygiene, I think it isn’t a problem, especially since restaurants like these (that have Michelin stars) go on reputation,” he said.

According to the Michelin Guide Singapore, Michelin inspectors rate their experience according to five publicly acknowledged assessment criteria: Quality of the products, mastery of flavour and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in his cuisine, value for money, and consistency between visits.