Restaurant Labyrinth in 2021

It has been five years since we dined at Restaurant Labyrinth in 2016. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a meal I wanted replicated regularly. While innovative in its presentation and content,  Chef Han's food isn't what the tastebuds fully wanted. The restaurant completely fell off my radar until the pandemic closures hit and Miss Vanda popped up with its solid versions of say, laksa or fish soup. Heh.

Now that dining-in is back in fashion, I made a reservation for the man and I to taste Labyrinth's menu again. I just hope that I don't get froth and foam as a soup. I totally hate that. Chef Han would have improved so much since starting out in 2014, and made many tweaks to suit the local tastebuds. And would have had to deal with many local Karens and Dereks in the pandemic starts and stops. 

It was really fun since we had friends seated at the next table. Wheeee. K was celebrating his birthday tonight. Right on this date. So we didn't want to join tables and crash their date, since we already inadvertently made a booking unknowingly at the same restaurant! These are friends we talk to and see often. Pandemic restrictions meant that after the initial greetings, we had to dial it down. So we swopped to texting one another on the group chat. Oof!

Restaurant Labyrinth offered two menus priced at S$178 and S$238. The difference is an extra main and a dessert. Took antihistamines and ate most items. We skipped the wine pairing and because I'm lacking sleep these two weeks (cannot do wine), we opted for a bottle of sparkling sake instead. I'm too lazy to type out all the items in the menu. I'll just flag the items that I really liked. The storytelling is beautiful. The kitchen has improved so much in terms of layers and textures since they first came onto the food scene as Mod-Sin cuisine. 

Aside from the welcome dish, they offered three Snacks too. They were fun. I really enjoyed '3 Cuts of Local Pork, Nasi Ulam Onigiri'. I love Hainanese pork satay with pineapple and peanut sauce. That nasi ulam 'onigri' was so on point in terms of flavors. Loved it! Glad I popped an antihistamine pill in anticipation of the shellfish in the menu. The restaurant currently isn't able to replace many of the shellfish items on this menu for something else. They could replace one main of beef for lobster though.  

Then it was a parade of Plates (mains). The 'Edible Garden City Rojak' was delicious — 12 types of local herbs, stingless bee honey, jackfruit textures and peanut. I loved it because of the jackfruit. If you give me jackfruit-anything and match it well, you wouldn't go wrong with it. 

I loved the 'Tribute to Ah Hua Kelong' — Local green lip mussels and lala clams, green papaya and laksa broth. I really love Chef Han's laksa broth. He really hates having to do Miss Vanda. 😂 Unfortunately, this dish got me hankering for thick beehoon. No have. Ugh. It didn't even appear in the fish soup that came next as 'Ah Hua Kelong Garoupa' since those 'noodles' were very thin strips of homemade fish paste noodles. The fish soup was fantastic. I almost told them to give me a second bowl. They added a dollop of rum in it. Delicious!

'An Ode to Cairnhill Steakhouse' was a beautiful tribute to Chef Han's grandparents who owned Cairnhill Steakhouse that closed in 1994. I didn't realize that the candle that came along with it was edible till the server mentioned it. I was wondering what was up with the salt and pepper sprinkled over the base. It was made out of beef fat! So once it melted down, the dinner rolls appeared for us to mop it up. LOLOLOL Tallow indeed.

Unfortunately, this was also the dish I dislike most. Those vegetables were done exactly in the flavors I hated as a child. I don't know what they do to the vegetables- like pickle it or something, but man, they really don't taste good. Not then, and not now. Also, the beef used was Tochigi A4 Wagyu Striploin. I don't fancy any cut of wagyu for a beef steak. It was sooo oily. Yucks. Next time I would request to replace this with crayfish or a fish, or a non-wagyu beef. 

I didn't like any of the desserts. Muahahaha. I never understood Min Jiang kueh, so their version of 'The Crispy Part of the Min Jiang Kueh' didn't sit well with me and as usual, was way too sweet for my tastebuds. I most certainly wasn't going to eat the 'Kaya, Teh Tarik & Eggs'. And NO WAY IN HELL AM I GOING NEAR THE 'DURIAN PIE' made with Mao Shan Wang. Heh. Theses weren't my kind of desserts lah. It was the palate cleanser that I treated as dessert. Hurhurhur. The 'Oyster Plant' of wandering jew, roselle and tropical fruits totally worked for me. And the petit fours of Mr Bucket X Kwong Woh Hing Double Soy Sauce Caramel Bon Bons. I didn’t devour the bon bons immediately. I saved them and savored them slowly over the next few days.