Labyrinth

You take the lift beside Subway and step straight into a Michelin star.

Book Labyrinth for an anniversary, or for the friend who grew up on Singapore food and thinks they have tasted it all. LG Han's Michelin-starred tasting menu now digs into old and often overlooked Singapore recipes, so the pleasure is in recognising a flavour from a childhood kitchen and working out how it has been rebuilt. The compromises are strict ones: it is seafood-led, it can't cater for several common diets, and dinner takes about three hours. Settle the dietary questions before you book.

What changed at ten

Han opened Labyrinth in 2014 with a personal pitch, Singapore food seen through his own memories of growing up here. By 2017 it had a Michelin star, which it still holds in 2026, and it has collected Asia's 50 Best and World's 50 Best recognition along the way. For its tenth anniversary, rather than coasting on the formula, the restaurant took a fresh direction: treating Singapore's food as something shaped by history, researching old and fading recipes, and presenting them in a more refined style. It calls the result New Singaporean cuisine. Think less "hawker classic in a tweezered portion", more culinary archaeology.

What's on the plate

Deliberately vague, in public at least. The menus are seafood-centric and change with the produce, so the website won't publish a dish list; email the reservations team for a sample menu if you like to know what you're in for. The kitchen is run day-to-day by chef de cuisine Zee Chan, with a team that includes a dedicated beverage director, so the drinks are worth a question when you book.

Read this before booking

Labyrinth cannot accommodate vegan, vegetarian or coeliac diets, or allergies to dairy, gluten or allium. Shellfish-free diners can be looked after, but a fully non-seafood diet can't. If anyone in your party is in doubt, sort it out by email first, not at the table. Lunch takes about two hours and dinner about three, so this is the whole evening, or a lunch you have genuinely cleared the afternoon for. Lunch is served Friday to Sunday only, and it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Finding it

Finding it is half a puzzle, which suits the name. The restaurant is on level 2 of Esplanade Mall: take the lift beside Subway and it opens straight into the dining room, or follow the corridor of shops from the theatres and look for a large white "L". Esplanade and City Hall are the nearest MRT stations, and a show at the Esplanade makes a fine excuse, as long as it is on a different night.

Good to know Dinner Wednesday to Sunday (last seating 7.30pm) and lunch Friday to Sunday (last order 1pm); closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Esplanade Mall #02-23, 8 Raffles Avenue. Confirm dietary needs and request a sample menu at reservations@labyrinth.com.sg before booking. Nearest MRT: Esplanade or City Hall.

Want more tables to plan a night around? Here are our favourite restaurants worth planning around

Labyrinth | Esplanade Mall, 8 Raffles Avenue #02-23, Singapore 039802 | Nearest MRT: City Hall or Esplanade