Food review: Rabbit Stash

SINGAPORE — Just when you thought new additions to the culinary lexicon couldn’t possibly get any more grandiloquent — who can forget colourful terms such as “bistronomy” and “gastro-botanica”? — up pops a menu called Ensophi. It’s the acronym for the various elements that inspire chef Matthew Mok’s seven-course dinner tasting menu (S$148) at The Rabbit Stash. The letters stand for “exotic”, “nostalgia”, “soil”, “ocean”, “pristine”, “heritage” and “impression”, though the dishes aren’t necessarily served in that order.

In many ways, the name is reflective of the ambitious modern-European food that this restaurant purveys. There is a hopeful sense of artistry in dishes such as “soil”, comprising dots of asparagus puree, a trail of olive crumbs and a quenelle of beetroot sorbet, among other little things. In theory, it is all as ethereal as an abstract painting, beseeching its beholder to find the meaning behind its sparse expression. In eating it, the diner struggles to find the anchor of the dish — aside from the premise that its ingredients were sprouted from the ground.

Similarly, “pristine” sees a soft-cooked “first born egg” paired with a painfully thin sliver of langoustine, puffed brown rice, diced bacon and a drizzle of cabbage dashi. Each element is purportedly presented in its purest form; and, yes, the “first born egg” actually refers to the first egg from each batch of eggs that a hen lays. “It is ‘pristine’ also because there is no salt in this dish,” said the server, which, of course, begged us to wonder if the salt in the bacon didn’t count for anything.

It wasn’t until the fifth course of grilled Berkshire pork on a bed of beetroot-infused mash that the food began to impress. We’re sure that’s not why the dish is called “impression”, though, because according to the restaurant’s literature, it is based on Mok’s impressions of his travels abroad. It seemed the best dishes on the menu are derived from personal meanings, which include the “heritage” and “nostalgia” categories. The former, for instance, draws from memories of food cooked by Mok’s family members, and features beef jowl braised to gelatinous excellence and served with a barley porridge infused with red peppers, veal jus and red dates. Those seemingly incongruent flavours actually melded together deliciously.

The Rabbit Stash was originally located in a small Pandan Valley shophouse in 2011 before moving to a space in a condominium estate along Alexandra Road two years later. Now, chef Mok’s new premises are situated at the rooftop of Wangz Hotel in Tiong Bahru; and it is the restaurant’s poshest incarnation yet.

It is certainly a promising trajectory for the chef who is so clearly passionate about the food he serves. Perhaps what is needed to take The Rabbit Stash to the haute cuisine pedestal that it so clearly aspires to is more experience working with other chefs who have successfully purveyed that kind of food and dining experience. Yes, right down to their highfalutin’ menu names. Annette Tan

The Rabbit Stash

Where: Rooftop, WANGZ Hotel, 231 Outram Road. Telephone: 9858 8607. Opening hours: Monday 6.30pm to 10.30pm; Tuesday to Friday noon to 2pm, 6.30pm to 10.30pm; Saturday 6.30pm to 10.30pm. Closed on Sunday