If your desire to love everything Singaporean outweighs your money-saving kiasu inclinations, look no further than Labyrinth, where you can lose yourself in highly upscale versions of local humble classics.
The revamped one Michelin-starred restaurant at the Esplanade has embarked in a new chapter that sees Chef Han Li Guang flying the Singapore flag high. Like really high. Astronomical heights high.
A wall of the restaurant is a shrine to ingredients and local produce that most of us would be able to identify immediately — classic building blocks of Singaporean cuisine. Another wall pays homage to Chef Han’s grandmother by way of suspended old-school kitchenware used during weekly family dinners at home. Tunes from local musicians such as Charlie Lim and The Observatory pipe down from the ceiling. A small map is positioned on each table, showcasing exactly where the ingredients are obtained from the various local growers and farmers. Printed postcards featuring gorgeous illustrations by a local artist explains the motivations and stories behind each entrée.
A dining experience at Labyrinth will shove the concept of “Singapore” down your throat.
And yet, it’s all classy and done tastefully. The intimate 30-seater space is dimly lit with the only spotlights available shining down on each table to provide that whole “just me and my food” vibe. The seriousness of Labyrinth’s refreshed dedication to the nation seeps into its food as well, with 80 percent of its new menu’s offerings utilizing homegrown produce, meats, and seafood from a roster of curated suppliers.
From Nippon Koi Farm in Sungei Tengah comes a basted slice of silver perch swimming in a Singapore version of dashi, topped with Ulam rajah flower by local urban farming social enterprise Edible Garden City. Nasi lemak is condensed into a single bite-sized form as a dainty cheong fun skin (infused with coconut milk, pandan leaves, and garlic) wrapped around sambal and a sous vide egg, topped with deep-fried chicken skin, ikan bilis and cucumber.
The atas-ness goes on. Chicken rice is turned into a dumpling made of ground rice flour, cooked in chicken rice stock and filled with diced chicken from Toh Thye San Farm. Lala clams from Ah Kua Kelong get meticulously arranged in a jelly made from in its own juices, and served on top of a deep fried wonton shell with house-made XO sauce.
Even things you don’t expect to be classy are made classy. Waffles available at heartland confectionaries get a canapé spin with local duck liver pate and goji berry jam. The standard toasted kaya bread and soft-boiled eggs transform into the Cristal De Chine Caviar — basically a dessert with house-made kaya ice-cream sandwiched with toasts from Sin Hon Loong bakery, with egg yolk sauce and caviar in lieu of salted butter. Rojak is messy by its very nature, but Chef Han manages to make it supremely stylish with an array of flowers and leaves from Edible Garden City accompanying a chunk of sorbet made from chempedak from Geylang Serai, and jackfruit from Tekka market.
The fact that the culinary theater is hosted in a performing arts center will not be lost on anyone who dines at Labyrinth. Sure, we can open up a debate about how the unpretentious essence of these humble Singaporean classics may be lost — but Labyrinth does it with such a great love for local food culture and people that you’d forgive them for it. It helps that the entrées are actually pretty damn fine, of course.
With posh food comes posh prices, and it’ll set you back $178 for their Experience Tasting Menu with 10 dinner courses, pre-appetizer snacks and petits fours — an extra $80 if you want some wine paired. A smaller lunch tasting menu (or a pre-theater nosh) with four courses will have you forking out $68.
FIND IT:
Labyrinth is at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, 8 Raffles Avenue, #02-23. Open Tuesday to Friday 12pm-3pm, 6:30pm-11.30pm; Saturdays and Sundays 6:30pm-11:30pm; closed Mondays
