Where It Started
The formative influence was his grandfather, Gilmore, who saw food as inseparable from the history behind it. He introduced Damian to ingredients most children would have turned away from—congealed pig’s blood, tripe—and made a point of explaining the significance behind what they were eating.
“His persuasiveness in introducing the different cuisines and educating me on the history of the dishes is something that has shaped who I am today,” Damian says. The effect was less about acquiring a broad palate than about learning to approach unfamiliar food with curiosity rather than refusal.
What Eurasian Cuisine Is
Eurasian cuisine in Singapore is rooted in the Kristang community, which emerged from Portuguese settlement in Malacca from 1511 onwards. It brought its cooking traditions to Singapore when families relocated here in the 19th century. Those traditions had already absorbed Malay, Indian and later Dutch and British influences over several centuries. What became of it was a cuisine that is specific in its techniques and flavours but has no simple shorthand.
Damian describes it as bearing some resemblance to Peranakan cooking while remaining distinct in the way European, Indian and Malay influences come together within it. The use of vinegar, mustard, semolina and brandy appear with enough regularity to be considered defining rather than incidental. Because the cuisine was transmitted domestically instead of through culinary institutions, through handwritten recipe books and home kitchens, not restaurants—it remained largely outside public view for much of the 20th century. That insularity protected it from commercialisation. It also meant recipes disappeared when the families who held them dispersed.
In view of this, in his own words, Damian’s mission is straightforward: “We preserve a cuisine steeped in tradition that encompasses Singapore’s heritage.”
The Restaurant
Gilmore & Damian D’Silva sits within National Gallery Singapore. The name honours his grandfather, who spent years as caretaker of Singapore’s Supreme Court, the civic building that now houses the restaurant. Damian considers it as the culmination of his work as a chef, mentor and storyteller, a place that reflects his development from early in his career to what he calls, straightforwardly, “the grandfather of heritage cuisine.”
The storyteller description is one he returns to when asked what preservation means to him. “I see myself as a storyteller,” he says, “with free information available to anyone that has the skill and willingness to learn.” The knowledge is not being held back. The question, rather, is whether people will do the work to receive it.
Keeping It Relevant
Adjusting to the tastes of his diners where he has to, Damian, for the most part, relies on education to do the rest. “Slowly but surely,” he says, “diners will understand and appreciate the time and effort put into a cuisine for their benefit.”
In the kitchen, technique comes before everything else. “Technique will always rule, and memory comes with practice.” The two are, in his view, what make it possible to honour a tradition. Anyone can approximate it.
On the question of whether heritage food risks being lost, he is not especially worried. “Heritage food will always return if it ever gets lost,” he says. “As it is forever evolving, there will come a time where it will evolve to what it once was. It’s kind of like fashion.” It is this cyclical belief that underpins his patience with the work.
What He Is Working Towards
Damian does not measure success in terms the industry would typically recognise. There are no cover targets, no awards being chased, no external measure he is beholden to. “Success is something that cannot be measured in cooking,” he reflects. “As long as I continue to cook and preserve what I love, it will always be in the diners’ hearts.”
He knows full well he will not reach everyone. However, unlike those who might find that a dispiriting thought, he does not.
“I will never be able to feed everyone, but I have made many people happy by bringing them back to a time where sharing food on the dining table was more important than filling their stomachs.” That, for him, is what the work is for.
The food that Damian has spent his career preserving is available, right now, in the building where much of its history unfolded. Reserve your table at gilmore.sg.
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The Best Way to Experience Gilmore & Damian D’Silva on Your First Visit
For decades, Gilmore D’Silva rose each morning to tend to the Supreme Court, and each evening he cooked. The recipes were his own—Eurasian heirlooms, some over two centuries old, carried entirely in memory, alongside dishes gathered from the Chinese, Malay and Sri Lankan friends who entrusted him with their family traditions. His grandson Chef Damian watched from close quarters, and in time, stepped into the kitchen beside him. The menu at Gilmore & Damian D’Silva is what that familial apprenticeship produced.