Insights + interviews

Cedele at Wheelock Place Relaunches with a new facade and a ‘green’ menu

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16 year-old Cedele at Wheelock Place relaunches as an all-day dining outlet, with a remodel of its space to include a separate retail and dining experience.

The new retail section is stocks quality products such as superfoods from local partners and in-house brand. These products are also used in the breads, cakes and foods. Cedele has opened the retail space to share and showcase fellow Singaporean brands who are aligned in the values of honest food and guided by the principles of clean eating. This drive to support local also translates to greater savings for both partners and customers.

Cedele

The renovated premises draw a clear distinction between shopping and eating at the restaurant. The dining section has a new long counter at the cashier and a side bar stocked with labels from nonalcoholic
sparkling wine to organic gluten-free craft beer and natural organic wine, to provide more options for customers in their food journey.

Cedele

The revamped menu now features many more vegan dishes, designed to boost the overall well-being and spur a ‘greener’ lifestyle. Cedele has included plants in its vegetable and root-based breads since 1997.

Newly introduced vegan dishes include the Portobello Pumpkin Risotto (S$19) with a touch of tang from the kaffir lime, Beetroot Avocado Burger (S$17) with a homemade beetroot patty and spinach bap (bread roll)
accompaniment, and Cauliflower 2-Ways (S$22) as a grilled ‘steak’ and crispy almond poppers with cashew sauce.

We speak with Ms. Yeap Cheng Guat , Founder, about the new Cedele at Wheelock Place.

the Active Age (AA): Why the decision to refresh Cedele at Wheelock Place instead of looking for another location in the Orchard Road area?

Ms. Yeap (YCG): As we have occupied this location since 2006, many Cedele customers are very familiar with our store representation in the Orchard area. Furthermore, as Cedele is a “destination brand” for many of our customers, Wheelock Mall has our customer profile besides having easy MRT access and plenty of convenient parking options.

AA: How and why did you decide to integrate ‘local’ into the new space?

YCG: By working with Local suppliers, we get to serve the freshest quality ingredients in our menu by drastically reducing the long supply chain travel time from overseas. Hence we get to serve our salad and seafood at its optimal nutritious best to our customers. For example, the tiger prawns from Ah Hua Kelong will reach our restaurant 3 hours after harvest and our Kale from Sustenir will reach our kitchen in less than 20 hours upon placing an order. Additionally, as a local born brand ourselves, we would like to support and showcase the quality and innovations of our own local Singaporean producers’ capabilities and also be less dependent on foreign imports.

AA: What’s new at the refreshed Cedele at Wheelock Place?

YCG: In the design of our space, we wanted to create a calm and cosy dining space overlooking the bustling Orchard area with a complementary retail shopping section for our customers to eat, drink, relax and shop mindfully.

Simple and clean lines were adopted in space planning, and careful thought given to materials used in the store fit out, furnishing and colour choices. Soft lighting and furnishing with soothing earthy tones were employed.

We created a retail space to showcase and retail ingredients (super foods) used in our menu and our bakes. For example, we retail Blue Pea, Lemongrass Ginger teas used in our Blue Pea Cranberry Sourdough (our sour starter is 22.5 years old), Lemongrass Prawn Pasta, Miso Ginger dressing in our salads, Organic Jasberry Black Rice (2.8 times the antioxidants of Blueberries) Quinoa, Chia Seeds, Oats used in our Wheelock menu dishes, our house brand Vegan Locally made Nut Butters and Fruit Jams and healthy snacks like Kale chips, Raw Nuts and Seeds, Vegan Protein Bars.

Our food and beverage menu communicates healthful combinations of super foods laced with nutritious healing herbs and spices. The food menu has 1/3 Vegan options with Vegan wine, non-alcoholic distilled spirits from Plants, Locally brewed Kombucha beverages for better digestion, Locally distilled Craft Beers for freshness, sustainably grown salad leaves from local urban farmers and super fresh succulent tiger prawns from Singapore’s own Kelong. Our food categories focus on Brunch, Grills & Greens Salads that are Keto friendly featuring low fat Kombucha Dressings, Grain Bowls with Super grains like the Black Jasberry Organic Rice (organically grown in Thailand to sustain and improve the livelihoods of local Thai farmers), Quinoa super protein grain and Lower GI Basmati rice in our Turmeric (anti-inflammatory spice) Sea Bass & Prawn Pilaf dish.

AA: Given that plant-based foods have taken off in recent years, what do you think will be the next trend in serving nutritious foods?

YCG: Given the growing consciousness and awareness towards the goodness of plant-based food to sustain a healthy diet and lifestyle, the next inevitable trend would be towards embracing deeper healthful understanding of nutritionally-dense foods and the Whole Food Plant-based Diet where by Oil, salt and sugar are derived purely from “whole foods” such as nuts, seeds, beets, dates, celery, avocado, Coconut, Olives, etc, unprocessed.

AA: What can we look forward to in 2020 from Cedele?

YCG: Continuous development of more clean bakes (using less/no sugar, high fibre, superfoods bakes), zero oil dressings and high fibre “Green” food in the introduction of our more Whole food Plant-Based menu.

Emphasis on partnerships with local and overseas producers who share our values to promote our “Eat Well Be well” motto, and sustainable farming/production practices towards “Greening Singapore” for its environment and the community.

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