Tag: Singapore Michelin-starred

Gastro-botanic cuisine at the Corner House in Singapore

Corner House is a Michelin-starred restaurant located inside Singapore Botanic Garden. It is the apt location of a restaurant promoting a Gastro Botanica style of cuisine, an approach emphasizing refinement and quality, giving equivalent weight on the plate to protein and botanical elements. It is the creation of Chef Jason Tan inspired by curious travel, a French classic culinary ground and a devotion to provenance, terroir and seasonality.

The visit

The Corner House is a colonial style bungalow inside the Botanic Gardens. It is not in a corner… “Corner” was the surname of one of the early assistant director of the institution (1929-1945) and the bungalow is where he lived.

It was easy to book via Chope, but not so easy to reach. You have two options. The first is to get to the Botanic Garden metro station then to walk for around 900 meters. This is how I arrived. It was a pleasant walk (but not really passing next to any botanic landmark) and there were plenty of signs. The second option is to get a taxi Nassim Gate of the Gardens and then walk around 200 meters. That’s how I left and there was some waiting for a taxi to show up.

They only operate with set menus. I was there on a Sunday for brunch and they had the brunch menu available which was fine with me.

The bread was a croissant with five spices, raisins bread, unsalted butter and yuzu flavored butter (yuzu everywhere nowadays).

The first course was a set of appetizers. The spread included (from the left) honeydew (a tropical fruit) with watermelon radish, king fish tartare with seaweed (ichiki), foie gras with orange marmalade (with some tasted bread), mushroom tempura with Parmesan cheese emulsion for dipping (the dish on the back). All delicious, but not a lot of food.

The first main dish was an egg Benedict (one…) with burnt oranges, iberico ham, and topped with tobiko.

Then there was a piece of New Zealand blue cod with fried scale in a chili and butterscotch sauce, with some salmon roe.

Finally the desert was emulsion of durian enclosing coffee ice cream on a scone pastry. The ice cream flavor helped to tame the durian and was overall good.

From start to finish, the brunch took exactly 1 hour.

The check

Brunch and a bottle of water was 127.10 SGD (92 USD). It should be noted that the brunch menu is one of their most affordable menus (dinner set are much more expensive).

I had the impression that the brunch did not help them to display the gastro-botanic style in full. Certainly the dishes were impressively presented and all very good. However, I found the value proposition a bit defective.

One bonus: the restaurant is 200 meters from the famous Orchid Garden (entrance fee required, while the rest of the Gardens is free of charge) that is worth a visit.

Where in Singapore:
1 Cluny Road, E J H Corner House
Singapore Botanic Gardens (Nassim Gate Entrance)
Website: https://cornerhouse.com.sg.


Labyrinth and its homage to Singapore’s cuisine

Labyrinth is the brainchild of Chef-Owner LG Han and it encapsulates his roots and memories growing up in Singapore. It can be classified as an example of Mod-Sin cuisine, the Modern Singapore way to re-create traditional recipes. It has one Michelin star in the current edition of the Michelin Guide at the time of my visit (July 2019).

The visit

I booked with no issues through Chope for a lunch. The restaurant is located inside the Esplanade, Singapore’s main performing arts center. It is no accident that Labyrinth specifically offers a pre-theater menu.

The dining room is quite dark, I could not get a decent pictures. I opted for one of their lunch tasting menus that was perfect to get an introduction to the restaurant without losing my locomotive abilities for the rest of the afternoon.

I was immediately shown a tray with all the main ingredients and I was explained that they all come from farms in Singapore.

On the table there was a map of Singapore with details about the suppliers. I will be honest and naive, I did not expect so many farmers on such a small and heavily urbanized island.

The first dish consisted in three snacks: 1) an oolong tea quail clearly mimicking traditional century eggs; 2) a oyster “takoyaki” (battered), with sambal, egg floss, and containing a oyster from a farm in Pulau Ubin, 3) a mini waffle with local chicken liver pate & goji berry jam. All the snacks were very good, especially the takoyaki. They were supposed to be eaten in a certain order, but a made a mistake and the waiter seemed to be very upset about as I had broken a precious piece of porcelain.

Meantime I was offered an Indian-style bread with a chili dipping.

Next was a delicious local wild caught shrimp.

Next was a piece of barramundi from Kuhlbarra farm, ulam rajah, fermented local tomato dressing, “yu sheng” dressing.

The next dish was silver perch fillet (from Nippon Koi farm) grilled with spices wrapped in banana leaves in Otah style (a type Singapore preparation usually reserved for mackerel). The fish was meant to be transferred in the aromatic soup. The two married very well together. But the soup as a stand alone was too sour for my palate.

Finally, there was space for some chicken from another local farm. It was accompanied by charred mee sua and chinese red lees sauce.

Time for a palate cleanser in the form of a “Clam leaf snow”, a shaved ice dessert inspired by the Singaporean favorite Ice Kachang with local herbs, peach gum & textures of grapes. More than your average palate cleanser.

The dessert was a reimagined Kaya Butter Toast with Kaya ice cream ]and topped by Cristal de Chine Caviar.

The very list bite was two petit four, one chocolate and one durian flavor (Durian was the big absent up to this point for a Singapore inspired menu).

111.80 SGP (81 USD) was the final check. More than ok for such a nice and interesting tasting menu.

I really liked the philosophy of the restaurant, its link to local farmers and its passion for reinventing traditional recipes. It was also easy to book, so I highly recommend it, especially for lunch. After lunch, you can catch one of the exhibits that are usually ongoing in the Esplanade spaces.

Where in Singapore:
8 Raffles Ave (Esplanade).
Website: https://labyrinth.com.sg.