The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2022 - Issue 32

bitedesign Maxwell’s vision was to make the dining room feel like a precious jewel box.“Precious in the sense of its high-value components and the unexpected sur- prises the diner uncovers. Like a naturally occurring pattern on the chef’s counter that looks just like the panels on a dress in a Klimt painting.” Historical references influence the tasting room, a gallery-like space Maxwell conceived with her high school best friend and theatre designer, Marc McIntyre, paying homage to the old Cairo Museum and London’sVictoria & Albert Museum.The repro- duction 19th-century scientific cabinets and fin de siècle (end of the century) glass-topped display cases are stocked with old locks, compasses, glass pipettes and anatomy charts. The bespoke wallpa- per captures fantastical creatures like sharks with sea waves, deer with dragons and geese inlaid with a Bavarian castle drawn by Dutch artist Jan Leven. The bar adjoining the tasting room is a beautiful classic cabinet de curiosité (cabinet of curiosities), a playful interpretation of 19th-century furniture and its association with science and discovery.You will see chain netting curtains above the clerestory windows and columns wrapped with tall cabinets that ascend towards the ceiling. On the shelves are a deliberately eccentric collection of jars, seashells, hand models, drain pipes, small buff of Venus de Milo and varied shaped antique bottles. Other features in this incredible tour de force include the elongated copper submarine and pulley lamps in the wine cellar.The washroom sinks carved out of 10 million-year-old petrified wood, and a hefty front door with a thick bronze-cast handle shaped like a tree, is engraved with the first stanza of T. S. Eliot’s prelude, “The winter evening settles down,With smells of steaks in passageways. Six o’clock;The burnt-out ends of smoky days.” The copper runner on the bar counter is embossed with a portrait of the goddess Victory, her shield sporting a blazing skull. Not forgetting the Burnt Ends Bakery, which adjoins the main restaurant, its bijou volume is demonstrated by double-height raftered ceilings and a minimalist L-shaped counter made from unpolished distressed concrete. “I’m a massive fan of Brutalism and functionalism, which is very much evident in the main restaurant, but you really see that in this space,” Maxwell explained. “I wanted to create an amazing space for Dave, and one that incorporated his philosophy on cooking and life.” She added, “Every element in the design of the restaurant and bakery relates to this, whether the charred wood in the private dining room or the transformative quality of fire and heat - but without being literal about it. It’s been such a lovely journey.” Chef Dave Pynt is effusive in his praise of the impressive space and Maxwell herself.“We had a lot of dialogue about how I wanted to push what I’m doing personally and with my food and reposi- tion myself as a chef in this restaurant. I wanted to tell a new story, and Emma nailed it.” Burnt Ends Bar & Grill is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 pm to 11 pm, Thursday to Saturday from 11.45 am to 11 pm and closed on Monday and Sunday. Burnt Ends  7 Dempsey Road  #01-04  Singapore 249671  Tel: +65 224 3933  https://burntends.com.sg www.emmamaxwelldesign.com