SINGAPORE — Casual fine dining looks like this year’s growing trend, particularly around Keong Saik Road where the likes of Irish chef Andrew Walsh (Cure) and Australian chef Dave Pynt (Burnt Ends) are serving modern translations of their native fare in unique and tasty ways.

Now add to that list Meta, helmed by South Korean chef Sun Kim. He cut his teeth under Japanese chef Tetsuya Wakuda at his eponymous restaurant in Sydney and at his Singapore outpost Waku Ghin; so it’s not surprising that Sun’s style of modern European cooking is similarly light and elegant, and inflected with pronounced Korean accents.

In a dark, mirrored space that delivers on glossy Gangnam style (the upmarket South Korean cafe precinct), Sun serves a choice of three dinner menus that change with the seasons. There is a five-course menu at S$88 (with a S$80 vegetarian option as well) and eight courses at S$128.

The beef tartar, which Sun is currently serving as part of his winter menu, riffs on Korean beef bulgolgi. The raw Australian wagyu is tossed in a mix of soy, garlic and sesame oil, its savoury depth brightened by julienned pears seasoned with a barely discernible kim chi dressing. Dots of piped sous vide egg yolks enrich the dish without leaving that eggy coating in the mouth the way raw egg yolks would, while a shower of puffed rice give the dish the crunch and harmony it needs.

Before that, our early appetisers included a single oyster perched on a bed of polished rocks, sprinkled with pomelo pulp and spiked with a lemon-ginger dressing. A sweet amaebi prawn followed, popping with the brininess of salmon roe and the wet, tart crunch of pickled apples. The prawn’s head, fried to a lovely dry crisp, was rich, smoky and crunchy.

This was a well-orchestrated meal, thoughtfully paced with flavours that inched their way up as the meal progressed. It culminated in delicate slices of slow-cooked Tasmanian beef short rib, which on their own, weren’t too impressive. When eaten with the accompanying pickled mushrooms, charred spring onions and silky parsnip puree, however, it unlocked the meat’s inherent flavours, yielding an intricate symphony of Asian-skewed tastes. In a dining world full of short ribs languishing beneath swathes of their own red wine-reduced jus, this was a refreshing change.

Meta’s pastry chef Tammy Mah pulled out a couple of sweet tricks as well. Her creations are novel — a cheesecake hidden in an orange bon bon set on a rubble of crumbled meringue; jet-black sesame sponge served with yoghurt and wasabi-spiked white chocolate cream — yet they balance sweet and tart with incredible finesse.

She saved the most delightful of those treats for last: A dessert made with liquid nitrogen that leaves diners smoking from their noses and mouths. It’s a wonderfully humorous way to end a meal, and certainly one that leaves diners on a happy note. ANNETTE TAN

Meta

Where: 9 Keong Saik Road. Telephone: 6513 0898. Opening hours: Mondays to Saturdays, 5.30pm to midnight. Closed on Sunday.

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