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Singapore is known for many things - a “fine city”, “street food paradise” and a “city in a garden”.
No one will dispute that the city-state is also one of the world’s wealthiest nations. In recent years, it has also been hailed as one of Asia’s culinary capitals and amongst the world’s hottest cocktail cities.
For all the spotlight that’s been shined on its up-and-coming food and beverage scene, not much has been said about its produce. Or the lack of it.
After all, less than 1% of land on the island of 5.7 million population is used for the production of agricultural food. It’s a known fact that Singapore imports more than 90% of its food supplies, leaving less than 10% of nutritional needs to local production.
Indeed, local farms exist. But if you ask the average Singaporean, he or she would be hard-pressed to tell you which, amongst all the groceries they purchase and consume, are locally produced.
But a local chef is trying to change that - one dish at a time.
In the confines of a black-swathed restaurant in Esplanade, Han Li Guang, chef-owner of the five-year-old Labyrinth, unveiled a “new Singaporean” tasting menu last year, one that explores the Lion City’s little-known terroir.
Searching the real Singaporean touch
Photo Courtesy of Labyrinth restaurant
“The use of local produce was the first step towards my inner search for a definitive meaning on what Singapore cuisine is,” says Han, who believes that to cook authentic Singapore cuisine, one has to “trace the roots of what was available in Singapore in historical times”, thus drawing a correlation to Singapore’s terroir.
His hunt for local produce started in 2017, right after he tasted his signature Chilli Crabs dish cooked with local wild-caught flower crabs instead of the usually imported mud crabs during a filming session at an offshore floating fish farm.
“I was surprised to find delicate sweetness, plumpness, and freshness in the flesh of local flower crabs,” he says, adding that he has also tasted local herbs at a convention and found its flavors “bright and fresh”. “That cemented my belief that local produce was deserving of its place in a fine-dining restaurant.”
Not long after, Han swapped imported mud crabs for local wild-caught flower crabs in his updated signature dish of Chilli Crabs.
Today, clams from the same floating fish farm are also featured on his menu as clams tart - the clams are steamed and an army of it assembled with clam jelly and assam on deep-fried wanton skin alongside Chinese spinach dressed with homemade XO sauce.
A great challenge called sustainability
Photo Courtesy of Labyrinth restaurant
Given the city state’s scarce land supply, the chef confesses that it was “very difficult” to locate local farmers at first.
“Although we have 96 registered farms in Singapore, accessibility and knowledge of who they are and their exact locations are not commonly known to the public,” says the fast-talking chef.
“It was also difficult to gain the trust of local farmers, some of whom are hesitant to work with restaurants for fear of the pressure to ensure supply consistency,” says Han, explaining that supply from small farms is not always stable due to weather conditions.
For Han, sweet corn was a major challenge right from the start. His vegetable farm - Edible Gardens - was keen to grow the corn for the restaurant but corn, he says, takes 10 to 12 weeks to grow and once harvested, the plot has to be cleared and the crop grown from scratch again.
“The land is being locked up for three months without generating income, which the farm could have used to grow herbs that flower daily, generating consistent revenue for them,” says Han.
Also, the farmer did not have sufficient manpower to constantly weed the plot, clear it and grow the seedlings, Han therefore had to send his chefs to the farm to help with the first growth.
Photo Courtesy of Labyrinth restaurant
Today, Labyrinth sources more than 90% of its ingredients from suppliers and farmers in Singapore. It’s arguably the only restaurant in Singapore to execute farm-to-table with such finesse.
For a dish exemplary of its concept, look no further than rojak that brings together 14 kinds of local herbs and vegetables set on a sorbet of jackfruit and cempedak mix. The dish is finished with grated peanuts and an exhilarating “natural” rojak sauce of stingless black bee honey and fermented prawn paste.
While rojak is reminiscent of the flavors that we grow up with in Singapore, the most talked-about course at Labyrinth is arguably “sustainability”, where three different types of locally sourced meats are served on skewers as satay. If it does not open your eyes to the possibilities of farm-to-table and the sustainability cause in Singapore, we don’t know what will.
