Meta - Singapore
View of the open kitchen from our table
Rating: 17/20
Where: Singapore, Singapore
When: Dinner for 2 on 1 March 2025
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 328 SGD, Wine Pairing 230 SGD
Accolades: 2 Michelin Stars, #39 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants (2025)
Why: Flavorful Korean fine-dining cuisine
I might be one of the few diners at Singapore's “Meta” who first thought of Facebook's parent company when they heard the restaurant's name. In the restaurant's defense, it opened its doors in 2016, long before the questionable name change of the tech company in Menlo Park.
Meta's game is Korean fine-dining cuisine. Maybe less in terms of ingredients, but more in regards of the preparations and the inspirations behind the dishes. Just last year, the restaurant received two Michelin stars after repeatedly placing highly on Asia's 50 Best restaurants list. Definitely worth a visit during our week-long stay in Singapore, then.
The restaurant's current location is already its second home, having moved here in 2023. The change in ambiance was dramatic - from a wooden semi-rusticness to modern bright colors and a large open kitchen. (I had visited Meta's previous digs a few days prior. It is now occupied by the two-Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Thevar.)
Meta serves a single tasting menu that can be adapted to dietary restrictions. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage pairings were available as well. The alcoholic pairing consisted of two wines (a white Burgundy and a red Chateauneuf-du-Pape), one sake, and two Korean rice wines. All the wines that we had at Meta were great, including a few by the glass, as was the sake. However, the Korean wines were a bit of an acquired taste - not exactly my thing (yet?). Note that the beverage pairing only started after the first four bites, so one might want to pull the first wine forward (as was offered to us), or order an aperitif.
Our first bite was a marinated red bell pepper, served over tofu skin and seasoned with wasabi, a citrus soy sauce and sesame oil. The bell pepper's texture was almost meaty or fishy, and it was also a bit sour and very flavorful. The tofu, more neutral in taste, was fresh and creamy. Bold flavors, starting the dinner with a bang 18.
A tiny “tuna sandwich” contained tuna belly, egg yolk and ikura (salmon roe). The tuna was of good quality and seemed to be flavored with some herbs. The egg yolk added creaminess to the bite 18.
A scallop from Hokkaido was seasoned with soy sauce and served in a Parmesan cheese tart. The scallop was very tender, the Parmesan only had a light flavor 17.
On top of a kombu brioche fried in butter was a garlic aioli, smoked eggplant, a blue prawn and ossetra caviar. Biting into this, the first thing one noticed was the strong, smoky, almost burnt taste of eggplant, which went surprisingly well with the toasted bread flavor. The prawn was nicely creamy, only the caviar ended up being mostly a condiment 18.
The following dish was not significantly larger, but was our official first course. Sea bream was served in a seaweed sauce and topped with French white asparagus and a Korean green mountain asparagus. The fish was nicely prepared, the sauce acidic and delicious. Whereas the white asparagus mostly provided just some crunchiness, the green kind did that and also added an herbal taste. A dish that felt like spring, and looked like something that one might find in a Japanese kaiseki meal 18.
Next, an egg custard, spiny crab meat and shirako were served with a seafood sauce made from the crab's shell. The crab and egg tasted fresh, and went well with the flavorful, lightly sweet sauce. The shirako was creamy, but unfortunately not really one of my favorite ingredients, ugh 16.
A Jeju abalone was dusted with seaweed and served over a seaweed porridge made with lily bulbs and chicken hearts. The abalone had a significant bite, maybe to provide a contrast to the risotto, which was cooked softer than al dente. Crunchy veggies added some more texture 17.
Tilefish was served with radishes, grilled cuttlefish and a fish sauce made with butter and Korean watercress. The fish was very light in texture, but had very crunchy scales that almost seemed like a cracker sitting on top of the fish. The cuttlefish had more texture than the fish, with a solid bite. The thickened sauce was pretty light, but had good flavors, and the radishes added some freshness 17.
Next, a pasta course of sorts. Cold noodles were seasoned with seaweed, fermented chilies and perilla oil. On the side: white kimchi and an eggplant/seaweed salad. The noodles were cooked very al dente, and didn't have much flavor by themselves, but that's what the condiments were for - they packed significantly more punch. The kimchi was acidic and crunchy, but not spicy, the seaweed fresh, the eggplant marinated and juicy 17.
The final savory course was a wagyu steak served with celtuce kimchi, a perilla leaf filled with a mushroom ragout and an onion puree. On separate plates were a leafy salad and a claypot rice made with French black truffles. The beef tasted marinated, and it was so juicy, marbled and flavorful that it didn't really need any of the condiments. The mushroom ragout tasted very fermented, spicy, and, oddly, not much of mushrooms at all. The salad was a bit spicy, not just from the sauce, but due to some herbs that were spicy all by themselves. The rice tasted more mushroomy than truffley, but was otherwise very nice - we only wished that we could have had more of it. All in all, an elevated rendering of a dish that is fundamentally rustic 18. The pescatarian alternative to this dish replaced the beef with lobster and added a cold lobster-based sauce. The lobster was nicely cooked, and the sauce was very flavorful 18.
The pre-dessert consisted of Korean strawberries, burrata ice cream, olive oil and basil. The strawberry was not particularly sweet, but went well the the cheese ice cream. The basil flavor was nice as well, but very light 17.
A sweet potato medallion was topped with sweet potato ice cream and a white chocolate foam. I didn't care too much for the sweet potato at the bottom of the dish. Its best part was the caramelized top that added some crunch to the dish. The ice cream was sweet and very tasty, however, with a hint of sweet potato. The paired Korean rice wine felt too sour in comparison, a sweeter wine might have been a better match 17.
Three small bites concluded out meal. A cold persimmon wedge was filled with mascarpone cheese and nuts. It had the expected texture from the persimmon and lots of nuts, but I couldn't really taste the cheese 15. A Korean-style donut was served warm, and tastewise had inklings of apple pie and cinnamon. Texturewise, it was pretty thick and sticky, more similar to a mochi than a Western donut 15. Finally, we had a cream puff filled with chestnut cream, apparently one of the signature dishes of the restaurant. Unfortunately, it had little crunch, a heavy cream and oddly didn't taste much of chestnuts 12.
Overall: Fine-dining Korean cuisine that was bursting with flavors. Compared to three-starred Jungsik in New York, the dishes seemed a tad less “elegant” at times, but they more than made up for this with their deliciousness. The service was excellent as well, only the beverage pairing took a bit getting used to. A strong two stars - I wouldn't be surprised if this went to three at some point 17.
