Restaurant Labyrinth

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晚餐未正式開始之前，送上一顆入味，蛋黃軟心濃郁的烏龍茶滷鵪鶉蛋和一杯酸酸有氣的烏龍茶清清口腔。然後先三款頭盤，椰漿飯腸粉，自家製蠔油鮑魚配發菜撻，鴨肝班蘭格仔餅。腸粉還好，有一點點椰漿飯感覺。鮑魚很彈牙，自家製的蠔油超好味，發菜炸過也很香很配，就大塊了一點，有點難一口吃掉，咬開又會很狼狽。格仔餅軟扒扒，又冷又乾，鴨肝再好吃也挽回不了。還有一款超鮮蜆肉上湯啫喱配XO森巴醬作前菜，這一道不錯。然後是Rojak 沙律，這個餐廳自做的rojak sauce 不像一般的杰撻撻，多有一股醋香，好好吃！海南雞飯餃，用上很香的自做麵粉作餃皮，雞肉有點乾，配上薑蓉和辣椒醬就還可以。再來一道濃厚的花膠湯，滿滿的骨膠源。魚蛋片軟軟的，魚味很重，反而脆脆的魚肚沾一下湯更好吃。辣椒蟹是我去新加坡必吃的，蟹肉當然鮮，當我懷疑辣椒在那裡的時候，原來辣椒雪糕藏在最底，伴著蛋白麵條就完整了，這道好呀！肉骨茶浸魚，魚肉札實一點，肉骨湯中藥味一點，也挺好的。我好愛這個鵪鶉沙嗲，醃得好，沙嗲好好，很喜歡用麻糬代替糯米飯這個做法，如果鵪鶉再嫩一點就完美。最後的主食是粒粒分明的炒飯，就炸魚仔有點過咸。甜點也有四款之多，黑朱古力那道喜歡用上帶酸味的葉子配合原可可豆碎的酸。紫色的clam leave 做成碎冰，酸甜的蠻好吃。豆腐花配上羊奶酪很配，很新鮮的配搭。Kaya 做成雪糕再用多士做成卷，也不錯。吃完晚飯還送上餸菜做成的postcard和辣椒醬。這晚wine pairing 的酒，只要加80星幣就可了。整個晚餐有些真的很優秀，有些我覺得還可以更進步一點。 continue reading

The restaurant was located at the space formerly occupied by Space by TungLok. The place was decorated in all blacks. Besides offering lunch set and dinner sets, the restaurant also offered pre-theatre dinner set ($48++) on thursday to saturday at 6pm.TINGKATradish cake, rojak, nasi lemakThe radish cake was in a cylinder cone with a stick in the centre. Tasted not bad although felt it was a tab plain and wished one could taste shredded radish and dried shrimp in it.The crispy square puff was packed with rojak sauce in it. Interesting pack of flavours.The coconut flavoured chwee kueh was topped with sambal, and reminded one of nasi lemak.HIROSHIMA OYSTERlaksaThe noodle was created with coconut milk and a fat juicy hiroshima oyster was used to replace cockles which was usually found in laksa. The floss was spicy with flavours of laksa.DUCKbraised duck dumplingThe dumplings were served in a bamboo basket with soup in a glass bowl. The dumplings were covered in a transparent skin made of sweet potato. Somehow felt that the filling was over flavoured and covered the duck's flavour.TIGER PRAWN ($10 SUPPLEMENT)pen cai risottoThe fa cai had a light and crispy texture. The risotto was well flavoured with oyster sauce, shiitake mushrooms , beancurd skin, and dried shrimps .XIAO LONG BAOchendolA greenish xiao long bao served in a bamboo basket with gula melaka syrup in a small jar. The green skin was made to represent the green jelly strips usually found in chendol. The xiao long bao was packed with jelly cubes and red bean. Interesting pack of flavours when ate it in one mouthful.CIGARreese's peanut butter chocolateThe cigar was a chocolate bar with chocolate creme in it, dusted with cocoa powder, with the bottom part dusted with liquid nitrogen to make look like burn part. It was served in a glass ashtray with peanut crumbles as the burnt ashes. It was accompanied with a glass of earl grey tea with a ball of ice to look like a glass of Cognac. The rich chocolate stick was balanced by the light floral tea.PETIT FOURIt was Dehydrated Pandan with Kaya Butter macaron. It was light and not too sweet.I washed down the meal with a glass ofLychee Martinis ($12++)Vodka, Lychee Liqueur, Lychee Extractwhich came with 2 pieces of canned lychee and tasted quite sweet. continue reading

my wife’s close couple friends bought dinner @ labyrinth by han li guang at neil road on 30.4.2014. i knew of the restaurant the day before, started googling, and found the beautiful food photos in bibikgourmand.there was a reference made on willin low of wild rockets fame. i did like wild rockets & the laksa pesto pasta maybe 15 years back. personally i did not see any similarity just looking at bibikgourmand photos or having seen & tasted the food afterwards.  one was fusion in combining “western” & “singaporean” ingredients and most importantly, making the result taste good & not for fusion sake (in that both were similar).in labyrinth’s case, it was going back to the ingredients, reassemble them into something that looked quite different (but very artisan & beautiful) and yet delivering the (excellent!) taste though perhaps not the overall experience eg the chilli crab ice cream combined with deep-fried soft-shell crab tasted like very good chilli crab but it’s not the same as eating a meaty crab, nor was it expected to be. the science of taste? molecular cuisine in its finest form? i am NOT qualified to say… amuse bouche? the lime sorbet was nice, simple, refreshing, nothing special.we were served focaccia bread with a garlic mousse, olive powder, balsamic jam. quite unique & pretty good & fun. could’t say this would match good freshly baked bread in a good restaurant, but they were good anyway & matched the food theme. balsamic jam was good, garlic mousse too, olive powder too refined for my taste buds..tasted nothing. #1 this dish looked very like a beef tartare with the egg yoke even, and the taste was quite exquisite.  the mango sphere sat on a roasted tomatoe, which was very tasty & great with the greens. the mango sphere was, to me, amazing only to wonder how it was done but did not add much taste nor texture. it was a thin liquid & did not have the silky egg yolk texture.#2 the chilli crab looked incredible, a piece of art, so pretty. & excellent flavours, superb dish  the deep-fried soft-shell crab combined very well indeed with the chilli crab ice cream. they were arranged with the crab mousse, ikura, seaweed on mantou (馒头) sand to give a picture of sea (and tropical island?). not sure if the mantou sand added anything, my palate not sophisticated enough to capture all the taste & texture, need more practice..haha. there was a choice of mains – curry chicken or siew yoke fan.#3 the curry chicken was better than what i expected, though my wife did not like the dish so much. deep-fried chicken balls did not sound that great for main course, but these were quite tasty & you could taste the curry. the quinoa (“kin wah”) risotto was tasty too. i am beginning to like quinoa. my son’s friend made a good quinoa salad & my wife too so she was less impressed. as a “deconstructed” or “reconstructed” or “pigeon-holing not important” dish that was plated quite nicely, looked different & yet tasted like curry chicken, the dish was a great success. so it was good & exceeded my expectation but c/w with a good main (fish or meat) in good restaurant, it may or may not measure up after the initial excitement. also, like going back to the excellent chilli crab, it was indeed a “wow” experience, very pleasantly surprised, but not the same as eating a meaty crab. so it’s a different kind of satisfaction & expectation.#4 the siew yoke fan was again superbly executed.  the crackling belly pork was excellent, though our friends said the ones they had at basilico recently were even better. the risotto was very tasty, though i could not really tell if it was a ramen (tonkotsu?) stock.there were 2 desserts in the set – chendol xiaolongbao & a deconstructed apple crumble.#5 the chendol xiaolongbao, with red beans, coconut milk ice shavings inside, had genuine chendol taste, was light & quite refreshing. it was pretty ok, i enjoyed it though it was not a favourite for me.#6 the apple crumble was very good. the stewed apple balls, apple crisp, baked white chocolates & yogurt ice cream all very tasty & combined well. an excellent dessert. the 5-course menu was S$78pax, a reasonable price for the quality of food & overall a very enjoyable fun experience. the food was very artisan (perhaps that would become an industry standard in due course), very creative (to me it felt totally new & had no peers in Singapore as yet). the other “affordable” place where the food presentation is very artisan is jaan (where i had the best degustation dinner on 20.1.2014), recently just got on to pelligrino world’s best 100, at 100th place. andre, iggy, les amis all very costly & i have yet to convince myself it is worth spending the money. it’s all about experience, very subjective, and also depends on expectations and perspectives. continue reading

We were here for the soft launch. The place could sit about 20 pax and it was a bar/open kitchen concept, meaning all the seats were facing the open kitchen where the chefs were working. It was my first time dining at a place with such a concept and I quite liked it as you could interact with the chefs and find out more about the food you are having etc. I learnt from them that they also have a kitchen at the back where they prepare all the hot food, as the open kitchen is more for preparing the cold dishes, appetizers etc.The chef also explained to us that the following dishes are his own take on normal dishes like chilli crab, apple crumble and chicken curry. It's like deconstructed cuisine. He also shared that he takes a holistic view on food, meaning that it's recommended for us to mix up all the ingredients on the plate and taste it as a whole as the flavours and tastes are meant to go together.First up was the Amuse Bouche, which actually kinda means a starter/appetizer that is up to the chef to decide what he wants to serve. We had bread with 3 different 'spreads', the balsamic vinegar jam, olive oil powder and garlic foam. It was recommended to put all 3 together on the bread and eat it. Indeed, on its own I could not really taste anything from the olive oil powder and the garlic taste for the garlic foam was subtle. The balsamic vinegar on its own was good though. It was just like its name - a jam version of balsamic vinegar. It was not too strong in its sourness. Insalata Caprese (Mozzarella balloon, tomato snow, arugula puree)This was interesting. Their sous chef prepared the mozzarella balloon right in front of me, and I liked how I could see everything that the chef was doing to prepare my dish (this probably puts the chef under more pressure since his every action is in full view for the customers!) He first placed some mozzarella in lightly boiled water, then took them out, flattened each of them and wrapped them round a nozzle of a bottle containing tomato consomme. He then pressed a lever and the consomme will be injected into the mozzarella which will slowly grow bigger, much like injecting helium into a balloon! Next to him another chef was making the tomato snow, which involved a blender and a lot of 'smoke' coming out of it (like those coming out from dry ice). When this dish was served, the chefs explained that we should burst the mozzarella balloon so that the tomato consomme flows out onto all the other ingredients. Everything was cold and the flavours were light and extremely refreshing - the perfect dish for cleansing your palate at the start of your meal! Chilli Crab (Chilli crab ice cream, crab mousse, mantou sand)This was my favourite dish! This dish consisted of chilli crab ice cream, deep fried soft shell crab, green & red seaweed and caviar atop mantou sand, made by baking mantous then pounding till you get fine powder. The chilli crab ice cream sounded the strangest to me and I really could not imagine how it'd taste like. Hence I went straight for that and my first thought was 'Wow! This reallyyyy tastes like chilli crab sauce!' It's savoury and spicy yet cold and creamy at the same time. This was truly amazing and tasted really really good. The soft shell crab was good too, it was still hot and crispy and was really meaty. I tried the ice cream and crab in one mouthful and there I was eating chilli crab albeit a very different kind! This dish really opened my eyes on the boundaries of certain dishes and how they can be so different from what you normally have but so similar at the same time. Thumbs up to this dish.Siew Yoke Fan (Roasted Pork Belly, risotto 'ramen', pork scratching)I chose this for my main course, the other option was Chicken Curry (Curry quinoa risotto, chicken balls, coriander sponge). The chef shared that this was the risotto version of Japanese ramen, which typically has half boiled egg, pork belly slices and seaweed. This risotto dish consisted of roasted pork belly, quail egg cooked at a low temperature (it's the little white glob in front of the pork belly), seaweed, and fried pork rind. The risotto was flavourful but personally I would have preferred if the grains were a little softer. The seaweed & pork scratching was nice and crispy and the quail egg was also good, dissolving the moment I put it in my mouth. Apple Crumble (Apple textures, chocolate crumble, yoghurt ice cream) This dessert dish consists of various apple textures - apple chips, dried apple, apple jelly, apple balls - and yoghurt on chocolate crumble. This is once again, an interesting dish and I liked how the chef provided so many different apple textures, some crispy and dry, some crunchy, some moist. I really liked the apply jelly and wished the portion was bigger! Coffee/TeaI had the Earl Grey which was a little different from the ones I normally have. I could not really taste/smell the bergamot, but other than that the tea was nice, thick and smooth. The amount of tea in the pot was a lot and could fill about 4 small cups. It was clear to all that a lot of thought was put into all the dishes, and even though there were some really creative elements, all the flavours still went really well together. It was definitely an experience and the food did not disappoint This is a place to go if you like new experiences...definitely not for those who like things safe and aren't open to new ideas! continue reading