{"id":25618,"date":"2014-04-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/?p=25618"},"modified":"2017-03-24T05:47:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T21:47:27","slug":"labyrinth-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/2014\/04\/01\/labyrinth-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Labyrinth, Esplanade"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOVED: Labyrinth Restaurant has moved to 8 Raffles Avenue #02-23,
\nEsplanade Mall Singapore 039802.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Labyrinth
\nAutodidactic\u00a029 year-old Han Li Guang<\/strong> serves molecular<\/strong>\u00a0mod Sin<\/strong> (modern Singapore) cuisine<\/a>, combining Western cooking methods with Singaporean favorites. Because the food was delicious and confident, it was a shock to learn that Han, former banker, doesn’t have much culinary experience; he worked only 6 months at Garibaldi<\/a> and studied another 3 at At-Sunrise Globalchef Academy.<\/p>\n

There is no a la carte<\/strong>. Set lunch<\/strong> is targeted to start in Apr and 5-course prix fixe dinner\u00a0at $78+.\u00a0<\/strong>Even the free bread was impressive. Came with balsamic vinaigrette jam, olive oil powder, and garlic foam<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Labyrinth
\nThe first course was a salad, a\u00a0vegetarian play on steak tartar<\/strong>: the acidity of\u00a0tomato “steak” tartar<\/strong> was counterbalanced by sweetness of\u00a0mango “yolk”<\/strong>. Cloud-like fluffs of dehydrated tomato beautified the dish. A nice start.<\/p>\n

\"Restaurant
\nSecond course of deconstructed Singapore<\/strong> chili crab<\/strong>, designed to look like a beach. A lone softshell crab was accompanied by a sweet chili crab ice cream and crab mousse, on “sands” of mantou<\/em> (bread). Some call this the signature<\/strong> of the restaurant, and fair enough, it was as tasty and fun as it looked. When you eat the crab and ice cream together, the hot crab melts the ice cream–complex, contrasting, and delightful.<\/p>\n

\"Restaurant
\nFor the mains<\/strong>, there was a choice between a deconstructed Hainanese curry rice<\/strong> (potato puree, coriander sponge, chicken balls mimicking chicken cutlet, and curry quinoa risotto pretending to be the gravy-laden rice) OR siew yoke fan<\/strong>, 12-hour slow-cooked roasted pork belly with risotto cooked in ramen broth and sous vide quail egg, acting both as an egg in ramen and siew yoke fan.<\/p>\n

\"Labyrinth
\nThe Ex preferred the rather spicy Hainanese curry rice<\/strong>, decorated as a forest, “more textures, more complex, more things going on, more exciting.” But it was too spicy for me. I liked the\u00a0siew yoke fan<\/strong> more. You have to eat the salty risotto with pork belly to bring out the flavours of fats. When I bit into the crackling skin, it was a mini earthquake crunch\u00a0of bliss. But the Ex found it too salty.<\/p>\n

\"Labyrinth
\nThere were 2 courses of desserts:\u00a0chendol xiao long bao<\/strong> (red bean wrapped in pandan<\/em> skin, drizzled with gula melaka) and deconstructed\u00a0apple crumble<\/strong>, which was similar to, but not as good as the deconstructed blackforest at Petite Menu<\/a>. I’d suggest getting rid of the apple crumble on the menu, and give 3 chendol soup dumplings, instead of 1.<\/p>\n

There are many things to love about Labyrinth: (1) Extremely innovative: This is the first time that somebody has combined molecular gastronomy\u00a0with local hawker fare to such great success, everything was delicious; (2) while Han worked at Garibaldi<\/a>, his style is closer to Restaurant Andre<\/a>\u00a0(#6 Restaurant in Asia<\/a>), but Labyrinth’s food was way<\/em> more delectable\u00a0and memorable and cheaper than Andre at $400\/pax; and\u00a0(3) the food was unpretentious and uncompromising. For examples, the Hainanese curry rice\u00a0<\/strong>tasted exactly like what it should be, the spiciness wasn’t lowered\u00a0to suit non-locals’ palates.\u00a0Siew yoke fan<\/strong> retained its original hawker name on the menu, instead of anglicizing it to\u00a0pork belly rice. Xiao long bao<\/strong> on menu, not soup dumplings.<\/p>\n

\"Labyrinth
\nApple Crumble<\/em><\/p>\n

There are, however, two issues to\u00a0giam<\/em> (critique): (1) the obvious one is there weren’t\u00a0food choices, and (2) the decor<\/strong>\u00a0affects the\u00a0service<\/strong>. Because food is served over the bar, customers have to receive plates from chefs. In a good restaurant, customers should never<\/em>\u00a0serve themselves. That’s what\u00a0the service charge<\/strong> is for. In all other areas, the service was tentative\u00a0but good. (This is the same complaint I had for Izy<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I have great esteem and regards for\u00a0the intimate and personal\u00a0haven\u00a0that Han has created. I have a sense he works for passion, not for profits. Among new local chefs under 40, I’d list him as one of my top 3 favorites. Highly recommended. By far\u00a0the most interesting and original restaurant this year.<\/strong>\u00a0Including an inexpensive and easy bottle of wine ($45), we spent about $220 for two<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Restaurant Labyrinth Singapore<\/a><\/h1>\n

5 Neil Road Singapore 088806
\n6223 4098
\nT-Sun: 7-11pm
\nLabyrinth Singapore Menu<\/a>
\nfacebook<\/a>
\nRating: 3.781\/5 stars<\/strong>
\n\"chope-reservations\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by\u00a0A. Nathanael Ho.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most innovative and interesting food of the year, molecular gastronomy meets Singapore hawker cuisine.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":263488,"featured_media":25872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NEW POST: Most innovative food of 2014, molecular gastronomy meets #Singapore hawker. 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