Labyrinth – when satay turns plush

Labyrinth

Near Outram MRT

A bday treat from S, we thought of going to somewhere fun, new, vibrant and Labyrinth was the place that came to our mind. It may be the one of the few restaurants in Sg that have added elements from our daily hawker food into modern cooking and which on the whole managed to hit the right notes. Fusion, molecular gastronomy, daring and creative would be the category that this restaurant can comfortably fall into. There were two menus for dinner that night, you can either choose the five course for $98 or the degustation 8 course menu for $138. And so after much deliberation, we got the degustation menu!

The tomato amuse bouche that is spicy, fragrant and slightly sour. It is chilled and that further accentuates the sourness that whets your appetite!

For your super delicious herbs-infused focaccia bread, three different spreads will be served to you, namely the balsamic jam, cheese olive oil extract and a garlic spread. Very interesting spread I thought as the extract really looks like cheese flakes. As for the focaccia bread, I had 6 that night as it was sooo good. So good that I must take a picture of it. The crust is super crusty while the inside is super soft and fluffy. You could even eat it on its own!

So here comes the first course. Pineapple fried rice that consists of pineapple sorbet, tumeric zabaglione and crispy fried rice. This is definitely not similar to our usual pineapple rice. The fried rice resembles the pao fan I had at Forest. Those brown flakes are the usual pork floss that we have made into crispy thin flakes. Really fragrant and I love the chilled pineapple sorbet that makes this whole dish refreshing! A good interpretation on pineapple fried rice.

Next is the Bacon and ‘eggs’ with hokkaido scallop, sea urchin and Prosciutto Crisp. This was a pretty good dish as well but not too memorable for me.

The signature labyrinth chilli crab that has chilli crab ice cream, soft shell crab and caviar served with it. This was pretty mind-blowing  as the essence of the chilli crab sauce is all in that chilled creamy ice cream. That super savoury and intense ice cream made the crispy soft shell crab super fragrant and delicious. Kudos to the chef for making this really impressive dish.

Next came the artisan garden pizza with summer truffles, chantarelle mushrooms all held in on a spinach tomato crust. A pretty good vegetarian pizza indeed as all the expensive fungi managed to give this dish a very refined taste and I like the overall colour combination!

Another very interesting take on our Cantonese jok as it has carbonara, parmesan cream in it while polenta (cornmeal) is used as the ‘rice’. It was a very ang mor jok I would say and it came across as interesting, memorable but not one of the favourites.

As S doesn’t take steak, she changed one of the mains to Siu yok fan which was intensely flavoured and super delicious. The fat chunk of siu yok has a super crispy skin and I really loved the risotto-like rice. This Can also pass off as a siu yok paella. Fun and Delicious!

Satay marinated steak with creamy soft pan seared foie gras. The satay sauce was intensely fragrant as well and goes so well with the soft, well marbled beef. The small ketupat consists of peanut mochi and that goes well with this dish!

Cucumber sorbet to cleanse the palate. Light and refreshing, it indeed cleansed my palate for the dessert.

Yes, that’s the famous chendol xiao long bao. Not a savoury item and it has the chendol ingredients in it. The coconut milk was very interestingly made as it is encapsulated in a coconut gelatin. Bursts open once you start destroying it in your mouth! And in that vinegar jar, it is actually the sweet gula melaka. Interestingly made.

FInally, the last dessert was Singapore breakfast, like what you usually get from the coffee shop uncle. But there was actually mango and panna cotta in the egg while the cup of ‘coffee’ is teh tarik creme brulee. The condiments are pepper almond flakes and soy sauce dark choc. Interesting indeed!

And that is the ‘soft boiled egg’. Creamy, delicious and interesting.

And then the sneaky S has actually told them it was my bday and I was caught in surprise there. Thank you S for this delicious dinner and planning!

And finally the petite fours.

This really is an epitome of local food being made more upmarket and plush! I like the fusion concept and how every dish was sincerely thought of and nicely executed. This concept sort of reminded me of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (which has a very impressive chicken liver pate made into a mandarin) which requires daring and experimental chefs. Though not all the dishes are a big hit to me, this restaurant is definitely one of the better fine dining restaurants out there and would keep you guessing what’s up next!

Verdict: An excellent restaurant.