Homegrown smokehouse South & East turns one this November. To celebrate, the restaurant at Shaw Foundation Alumni House on the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus has refreshed its dine-in menu, and it now puts smoke somewhere few people would think to: inside a cake. The Smoked Butter Cake with Pink Guava and Kaffir Lime Jam costs S$9, a low-stakes price for settling whether smoke belongs in dessert.
According to the restaurant, the butter is smoked before it goes into the batter, so the smokiness comes through softly without taking over the cake. Pink guava adds fruity sweetness, and the kaffir lime jam brings a citrusy tang that cuts through all that butter. It’s the kind of dish that ends up screenshotted and dropped into the group chat with a firm we have to try this!
From Home Takeaway to Kent Ridge
South & East is run by husband-and-wife duo Shane Gan and Eve Wibawa. Their story started in 2020 as a home-based takeaway business, which grew into an intimate private-dining concept before the couple found a permanent home at NUS. The restaurant credits Shane’s passion for barbecue and Eve’s Indonesian culinary heritage for its signature move: Western smoking and charcoal grilling paired with the flavours of Southeast Asia.
For the anniversary menu, the kitchen is applying smoke to individual ingredients instead of saving it for big cuts of meat, so the smoky notes support each dish without flattening it. Every rempah (the pounded spice paste behind many Malay and Indonesian dishes) is made in-house from scratch. The restaurant says the new line-up includes lighter, fresher plates with more measured chilli heat, which is welcome news for anyone whose spice tolerance taps out early.
Satay, Minus the Skewer
The brand-new Smoked Pork Ribs with Satay Sauce (S$37) take satay, the grilled meat skewers with peanut sauce that anchor many a supper run in Singapore, and turn the rib bone into the stick. You’re meant to pick the ribs up and eat straight off the bone, which might be the most honest serving suggestion on the whole menu!
The restaurant says its St. Louis-style pork ribs are marinated for two days in a house-made satay marinade, smoked for six hours and finished over charcoal before being coated in a peanut and tamarind sauce. Pineapple pickles cooked in spiced vinegar sit on the side to cut through the richness of the pork.
Manado Sambal, Turned Down a Notch
For the Smoked Octopus with Tomato and Green Mango Sambal (S$36), the kitchen drew on the spicy tomato sambal (chilli relish) that is traditionally served with seafood in Manado, Indonesia. The Australian octopus is smoked, then slow-cooked for another three hours until tender, and it arrives with an avocado and lemongrass purée.
The sambal is made by pouring hot oil over chillies, tomatoes and shallots, then adding Thai basil for a herbal lift. South & East has deliberately tamed the fire of the Manado original, turning it into something lighter and closer to a salad, so this is the plate to point at if you want the tang of sambal without the sweat.
Gado-Gado Meets Burrata
The Burrata with Peanut Sauce (S$16) is the vegetarian pick, and it comes from somewhere personal. It’s inspired by Eve’s favourite gado-gado, the Indonesian vegetable salad dressed in peanut sauce, from a small eatery near her home in Jakarta. Here, creamy Italian burrata gets a house-made peanut sauce built on a rempah that is slow-cooked with peanuts and seasoned with tamarind.
The dish is served chilled with crispy keropok (crackers) for crunch.
The Nine-Hour Ribs Stay Put
The refresh keeps the restaurant’s mainstay, the Signature Five Spice Smoked Beef Short Ribs (from S$67). South & East coats Australian barley-fed short ribs in a house blend of five-spice, salt and Sarawak black pepper, then smokes them for nine hours over hickory and cherry wood. The ribs are finished with kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) barbecue sauce and served with cucumber pickles.
If you’d rather eat at home, the Five Spice Smoked Beef Short Ribs Set (S$168) feeds three to four people and is available for delivery or self-collection. According to the restaurant, it includes two bones with 700g of meat. The ribs come with Brussels sprouts in fish sauce caramel, an avocado and coconut salad, house-made sambal bawang, a grilled cabbage side, seasonal pickles and the house kecap manis BBQ sauce.
For the festive period from 15 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, two takeaway bundles join the line-up: the Ribs Set (S$228) and the Complete Festive Set (S$388). Both are built around the short ribs.
What to Order First
The cake is the reason this menu is getting talked about, and at S$9 it’s the obvious first order. The satay pork ribs come next, because they’re the newest idea on the menu. The burrata rounds out the table for vegetarian friends.
The restaurant pitches itself as a place for bringing people together over food, so bring a group and share.
🗓️ Date: Refreshed dine-in menu from November 2026
📍 Location: South & East, 11 Kent Ridge Drive, #01-03, Shaw Foundation Alumni House, Singapore 119244
🍰 New dishes: Smoked Butter Cake with Pink Guava and Kaffir Lime Jam (S$9), Burrata with Peanut Sauce (S$16), Smoked Octopus with Tomato and Green Mango Sambal (S$36), Smoked Pork Ribs with Satay Sauce (S$37)
🥩 Signature: Signature Five Spice Smoked Beef Short Ribs from S$67
🎄 Festive takeaway: Ribs Set (S$228) and Complete Festive Set (S$388), 15 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
You can book a table and browse the full dine-in menu on South & East’s website, or head to its delivery and self-collection menu if the short ribs are headed home instead. A smokehouse that started as a home takeaway in 2020 has now put smoke in its birthday cake, and at S$9 it’d be a shame not to find out how it tastes!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of South & East.
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