Restaurant set up by late Singaporean chef Tariq Helou, who died suddenly at 29, to shutter on June 15

The restaurant of late Singaporean chef Tariq Helou is set to shutter on June 15 after he died unexpectedly, according to a post on their Instagram page on Friday (May 17).

Helou, who was a rising star in the culinary world, was a chef of Japanese, Chinese and Lebanese parentage.

He died on April 25 at age 29.

His restaurant, Fleurette, is an 18-seat establishment in Rangoon Road that he opened in 2020.

Although his mother previously confirmed with The Straits Times that staff had temporarily agreed to keep the lights on in the restaurant, that has now come to an end.

"Fleurette is synonymous with Tariq," the Instagram post reads. "One cannot exist without the other. As much as we want to further his dream, we realise that we must carry his legacy in our hearts and in our own personal ways.

"It feels right that those who loved Tariq remember Fleurette for what it is: the embodiment of everything he wanted the world to taste through his cuisine."

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The restaurant will be serving Helou's Spring menu at Fleurette until the restaurant permanently closes on June 15.

The Spring menu consists an $88 three-course meal for lunch and a $198 five-course meal for dinner.

Highlights of the meal include octopus with chickpea and bell pepper veloute, wagyu short rib with carrot and kai lan (available for both lunch and dinner), and signature Hokkaido milk ice cream with olive oil, The Straits Times reported.

Fleurette opens from 12pm to 3pm on Thursdays to Saturdays and 7pm to 11pm on Tuesdays to Saturdays. The restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Ranked 7th in the world

Helou began his journey in the culinary arts with scrambled eggs at the age of three—"without permission", he told The Straits Times in an interview in 2020.

He grew up watching his mother cook, and furthered his studies abroad in Switzerland, France and Japan.

Describing his food, Helou told The Straits Times: "It's like a pie. The crust is French, the cream topping is Japanese and the filling is local."

Named Asia's "most Googled chef" in 2024 by travel platform Explore worldwide, Helou was also ranked number seven in the world, with British chefs Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver taking the first and second spots.

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