Singapore's Michelin-starred Burnt Ends will host four international kitchen takeover events throughout 2026, bringing together chefs from Chile, Australia, India and Brazil to mark the modern Australian barbecue restaurant's 13 anniversary. Organised around a shared ingredient-led cooking philosophy, the series will see each visiting expert cook for one exclusive evening using Burnt Ends's custom-built four-tonne wood-fired ovens and grills at the Dempsey Hill location.

The series opens on 4 May with Rodolfo Guzmán of Borago in Santiago, Chile. Tickets for this particular event have already sold out, setting a strong tone for the series. Borago currently holds the No 23 position on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and received the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2021. Guzmán works with more than 200 foragers across Chile's 4,000km stretch of terrain, and his menus incorporate over 700 varieties of seaweed, rock plants and fungi. The team also operate their own farm, producing vegetables, milk and duck.

Australia India and Brazil

The second takeover takes place on 8 June, led by Hugh Allen of Vue de Monde and co-owned restaurant Yiaga, both based in Melbourne, Australia. Allen became the youngest chef in three decades to receive Three Hats in The Age Good Food Guide - an accolade awarded to both Vue de Monde and Yiaga. His cooking draws on produce sourced directly from farmers, fishers and growers across the country, including beef from retired breeding cows at Blackmore Wagyu, Queensland coral trout and wakame seaweed foraged along Victoria's coastline.

On 27 July, Varun Totlani of Masque in Mumbai will commandeer the kitchen. Masque is currently ranked No 19 in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and No 68 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Totlani's menus highlight the breadth of Indian produce, drawing ingredients from regions as distinct as the forests of Kashmir and the coast of Tamil Nadu. He also leads Masque Lab, a 1,250 square foot research facility dedicated to exploring new applications for ingredients and connections between food cultures.

Age Good Food Guide

The final event is scheduled for 7 December with Janaína Torres of A Casa do Porco in São Paulo, Brazil. Torres was named World's Best Female Chef 2024 by the World's 50 Best Restaurants, and hers appears at No 83 on the extended list. She maintains full control over A Casa do Porco's supply chain, raising heritage-bred pigs exclusively for the kitchen, and cultivates her own vegetable farm to support the restaurant's seasonally driven, pork-led menus.

Chef-owner Dave Pynt established Burnt Ends in a heritage shophouse in Singapore's Chinatown in 2013. The team relocated in 2022 to their current, larger premises, where there's an open kitchen, a wine cellar holding over 2,000 Australian bottles, a private dining room, a cocktail bar and a bakery. The restaurant has held a Michelin star and operates on a daily-changing menu shaped by seasonal availability.

Borago currently holds the No 23 position on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and received the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2021.

Reading the wider picture

Menus are the clearest record of what diners actually wanted, since every change reflects something that did or did not sell.

The short version

  • Singapore's Michelin-starred Burnt Ends will host four international kitchen takeover events throughout 2026, bringing together chefs from Chile, Australia, India and Brazil to mark the modern Australian barbecue restaurant's 13 anniversary
  • The series opens on 4 May with Rodolfo Guzmán of Borago in Santiago, Chile
  • The second takeover takes place on 8 June, led by Hugh Allen of Vue de Monde and co-owned restaurant Yiaga, both based in Melbourne, Australia
  • On 27 July, Varun Totlani of Masque in Mumbai will commandeer the kitchen
  • The final event is scheduled for 7 December with Janaína Torres of A Casa do Porco in São Paulo, Brazil

By the numbers

  • Borago currently holds the No 23 position on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and received the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2021
  • Torres was named World's Best Female Chef 2024 by the World's 50 Best Restaurants, and hers appears at No 83 on the extended list
  • Chef-owner Dave Pynt established Burnt Ends in a heritage shophouse in Singapore's Chinatown in 2013
  • The team relocated in 2022 to their current, larger premises, where there's an open kitchen, a wine cellar

The bottom line

The details will firm up over the coming months. What is already clear is that this is unlikely to be the last we hear of it.