Chef Dave Pynt believes there is magic that comes from cooking with wood. Burnt Ends is his modern barbecue joint in the heart of Singapore’s Chinatown, where all the action centres around a 4 ton, dual-cavity wood-burning oven powered by sustainably sourced Jarrah wood. Born in Perth, Western Australia, Pynt studied commercial cooking at the TAFE West Coast Institute of Training before travelling overseas to cook alongside and learn from some of the world’s best chefs including Rene Redzepi at Noma, Tetsuya Wakuda in Sydney and Fergus Henderson of St John in London. However, his time at Asador Etxebarri in Spain remains perhaps his most formative cooking experience.

After Etxebarri, he set up a pop-up restaurant at the courtyard of East London coffee roaster Climpson & Sons. He designed and built an outdoor wood-fired oven and Burnt Enz was born. After opening Burnt Ends in Singapore in 2013 with restaurateur Andre Chiang and businessman Loh Lik Peng, he has gone on to open two casual contemporary American smokehouses in Telok Ayer and Little India under casual eatery brand Meatsmith. In December 2018, he launched hawker stall Meatsmith Western BBQ at the revamped Makansutra Gluttons Bay, turning out localised Western barbecue dishes from a wood-fired brick grill.

“Hospitality is, making sure that your guests have a great time. From the design to the service and everything in between, we must control these details to give the best experience possible! Now, in the new normal, we must make them feel safe as well!”