Labyrinth | 3.5/5

SINGAPORE — The nearly two-month-old Labyrinth restaurant offers some delightfully surprising takes on Singapore’s favourite dishes. Chicken curry, for instance, is served on a rectanglular slate artfully strewn with quinoa, morsels of fried chicken and a punchy chicken curry sauce. When all its components are in the mouth, the flavours and textures are amazingly similar to Hainanese curry rice — and that’s exactly the reaction Chef Han Li Guang hopes to get.

In the same vein, his chilli crab is a beach scene on a plate, anchored by a pretty morsel of deep-fried soft shell crab and surrounded by mantou sand, crab bisque foam and a quenelle of chilli crab ice cream. All the inherent flavours of the traditional version are there, but this rendition is light and vibrant, and full of lovely contrasts.

For a chef who’s barely been to cooking school (he spent two months on a certificate course at at-Sunrice), 28-year-old Han certainly impresses. For inspiration, the former banker dined at big-name restaurants such as The Fat Duck in the UK, Bo Innovation in Hong Kong and Metis in Bali. For experience, he worked under luminaries such as Mauro Colagreco and Tom Kerridge when they came to Singapore to participate in Savour last year. He also spent six months apprenticing at Italian restaurant Garibaldi.

By industry standards, that isn’t a lot of work experience, though you’d never know it eating his food. Each dish in his five-course prix-fixe menu ($78) was witty, beautifully presented and, more importantly, delicious.

A course of mango tomato bruschetta was a play on steak tartare, with a patty made of tomatoes topped with a runny “yolk” of mango; the siew yoke fun, a twist on the hawker favourite roasted pork rice, comprised tender pork belly with a light and crisp pork crackling served with risotto cooked in ramen broth.

The restaurant’s biggest teething problem is its service staff. Han admits that he hasn’t been able to hire a service manager or full-time crew — a common lament among small restaurants like his. As a result, the service is basic at best and lacks the polish to match the quality of his food. ANNETTE TAN

Labyrinth

Where: 5 Neil Road, www.labyrinth.com.sg

Telephone: 6223 4098

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 6pm to 10.30pm; closed on Monday.