If there’s one thing Singaporeans can all rally around, it’s food. Each time nasi lemak or laksa makes international news, we’re quick to band together in the quibble with our neighbours up north and down south over who “owns” the dish. And while the debate on traditional fare could swing either way, here in the little red dot, chefs have been busy creating new-age meals no other country can lay claim to.
Restaurant Labyrinth, led by chef Han Li Guang, is among the restaurants taking the lead in mod-Sin cuisine. The term — short for “modern Singaporean” — was coined in 2005 by chef Willin Low at Wild Rocket, which made waves in the local culinary scene before closing in 2018; since then, mod-Sin has become a mainstay in Singapore’s food lexicon.
Over the past decade, Labyrinth has found fame with its unique takes on Singaporean classics with an emphasis on local ingredients. It recently retained its star in this year’s Michelin Guide and placed 30th in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Now, Han has launched a new dinner menu ($298++), with dishes extending his signature style. “This menu really encompasses old-school ways of doing things,” says the chef. “No molecular, nothing fancy. We cook and finish a-la-minute.”
Our meal here starts with a “bak kut teh” consomme — without the “bak”. Instead of the traditional pork-based soup, Han uses a kombu infused with dried shiitake mushrooms, garlic and spices, creating a light broth that eases us into the meal. Slivers of matsutake mushrooms imbue a delicate aromaticity and uniquely savoury note.
Then comes a series of small bites: a miniature “Ramly Burger”, an oyster cake, and a tiny puff filled with Hainanese-style curry. We particularly like the burger, which comes with “buns” made of tomato meringue, and a beef flank patty with seasoning to match the original inspiration.
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Skewers inspired by the Satay Club follow. This is perhaps the most removed dish as far as a direct Singaporean inspiration goes, but it’s good eating nonetheless. There’s tsukune, complete with those iconic, delightfully crunchy bits of cartilage and pork, comprising both jowl and loin. Where one would normally find a traditional peanut sauce, we get a gravy inspired by Filipino kare-kare, featuring toasted rice and fermented shrimp paste.
Those who recall Rotiboy’s classic coffee buns will love the bread course. A rich brioche dough is baked with a slab of seaweed compound butter within, forming a savoury, salty centre. The bread is topped with a coffee-flavoured craquelin, and though the final creation expectedly leans on the oily side, we’re happy to take on the extra calories.
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Taking us to lighter territory is a bowl of rojak, taking after a recipe Han found in a book of wartime food in Singapore. This instantly becomes one of our favourites of the evening, with a medley of greens lifted by pineapple, a cucumber-lettuce granita, and beetroot two ways: a salt-baked rosette and a sweet, deep purple-red sorbet.
The menu from here moves into two noodle (ish) dishes. First, char kway teow is reinvented with a house-made oyster sauce and a smoky char-grilled South African abalone. Playing with the old-school trick of frying kway teow in egg batter to emulate fish maw, here the “noodles” are made of maw from New Zealand barramundi. Playful and inventive as this dish is, it retains the deep umami flavour and wok hey that define char kway teow.
The second (actual) noodle dish is a take on laksa Siglap, a less-known version of its curry- and assam-based cousins. The noodles — which are extra bouncy, thanks to a combination of rice and tapioca flours — are rolled into spirals around powdered laksa leaves, making them intensely aromatic all on their own. Oil-poached fish slices are extra silky thanks to a velveting technique, for which we’re told the team consulted Edward Chong, executive chef at Peach Blossoms. Over top, a mackerel-based spicy broth gets both assam and coconut milk, along with a shredded coconut salad.
Capping off the savoury dishes is chicken rice donabe-style. This latest version of the Labyrinth classic comes with various accoutrements, including an achar-filled miniature “taco”, a skewer of chicken heart, a fragrant chicken soup and a chilli sauce made from a recipe by Han’s grandmother. The chicken is delicately poached and layered with a tender farce. But the true star of this dish is the rice, a mix of jasmine and Koshihikari, which is fried with shallot oil and aromatics before being cooked, so we get deep toasty notes complementing the savoury.
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We’re then served two desserts: an adzuki-filled tangyuan with jiuniang (sweet fermented rice) and a sweet iteration of cereal prawn. The latter comes with a quenelle of oatmeal ice cream and salted egg foam over warabimochi and Shaoxing wine-soaked goji berries; on the side is an adorable custom cereal box filled with curry leaves, puffed rice and sakura shrimp. We love the play of textures and contrast of flavours, plus the box makes a cute keepsake to bring home.
A final piece of kaya “toast” — made of teh tarik meringue — ends the meal. And just like that, Han has brought us through an encyclopedia of Singaporean food with a contemporary twist. We’re stuffed, for sure, but certainly not fatigued. Safe to say, Labyrinth is keeping us excited for what’s to come in the world of mod-Sin.
