Westholme marks 10 years in Singapore with a dinner shaped by fire

Australia's finest Wagyu meets Australia's finest fire, as Firedoor chef Lennox Hastie arrives in Singapore for the first time.

Ten years ago, Westholme entered Singapore quietly, finding its way into the city’s kitchens through chefs who valued consistency, provenance and flavour. On 15 September, the Australian Wagyu producer, renowned for its premium quality and nature-led approach to raising cattle, celebrated its first decade in the market with an intimate anniversary dinner at Ida’s in Gillman Barracks.

At the centre of the evening was Chef Lennox Hastie, the chef and owner of Sydney’s acclaimed, Firedoor, where wood fire is the sole source of heat for cooking.

A longtime Westholme advocate, Hastie has travelled internationally to share a deceptively simple proposition with chefs and diners: exceptional beef, understood through fire. The dinner marked his first visit to Singapore, with travel supported by Qantas, bringing one of Australia’s most distinctive culinary voices to a market that has helped shape Westholme’s international story.

The event came as live-fire cooking continues to move into the global restaurant mainstream. The MICHELIN Guide named “char, smoke and flame” among the defining food trends of 2026, highlighting chefs working with embers, wood, hot stones and charcoal from Stockholm to Buenos Aires and China.

For Hastie, whose kitchen at Firedoor operates without gas or electricity for cooking, “Fire is the ultimate lie detector,” because wood fire is the instrument through which ingredients are tested and revealed.

He continues, “Westholme’s unique flavour becomes more pronounced through live fire, and its even marbling melts and caramelises cleanly. There aren’t any shortcuts in how its cattle are raised or how we cook it. It’s just beef, salt and fire, so the product has to be honest.” 

Westholme is owned and operated by the Australian Agricultural Company, founded in 1824 and Australia’s oldest continuously operating company. That heritage of more than 200 years informs Westholme’s approach to raising Wagyu across the ancient rangelands of northern Australia, combining selective breeding with animal wellbeing and long-term stewardship of the land.

The anniversary dinner brought together approximately 50 chefs, customers, tastemakers and industry partners. The evening explored the relationships between land and flavour, farmer and chef, and Australia and Singapore.

Nowhere is that bond clearer than on the city’s own menus. Over the past decade, Westholme has found its way onto tables with markedly different culinary identities, including Empire Grill at Raffles Sentosa Singapore, Magpie in Tiong Bahru and SUSHISAMBA at Capital Tower - a range that speaks to the product's versatility and the partnerships Westholme has cultivated along the way.

“Singapore’s chefs have been among Westholme’s most discerning advocates since we entered the market,” said Andrew O’Brien, Westholme’s Chief Commercial Officer. “This anniversary is both a thank you and a statement of intent. We want to deepen our relationships with the people who have built the brand alongside us and create a stronger, more direct conversation about what goes into producing exceptional Australian beef.”

For a brand that has spent 10 years earning its place one kitchen at a time, the next decade begins in much the same way: around a table, with the product speaking through the people who know it best.