Michelin-starred Meta reopens in Mohamed Sultan with elevated modern Korean cuisine

REVISIT Meta Restaurant 9 Mohamed Sultan Road Singapore 238959 Tel: 6513 0898 Open for dinner only Tues to Thurs: 6 pm to 11.30 pm. Lunch and dinner Fri and Sat: 12 pm to 3 pm; 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm. Closed on Sun and Mon

YOU know how late bloomers work. They waffle about, giving little inkling of the greatness they’re capable of. Then suddenly, they make the kind of transformation that causes you to sit back and go, “wow”.

Meta chef Sun Kim is a little like that. His waffling days have long past since he first opened the restaurant in 2015 – we were convinced he’d fully bloomed when he moved to his second location in 2020. But now, at Meta’s current iteration in Mohamed Sultan, you wonder if the smell of paint and the excitement of moving to new digs triggered a spike in his dopamine levels – because version three is his most polished effort yet.

We say “yet”, because you never know if some cute little shophouse might flash its shutters at this serial renter and perennial “new entry” in the Michelin Guide, and the next Meta(morphosis) begins again.

But before you think the new Meta is a wow a minute, it’s not. With props to Kim’s own understated demeanour, the experience here is a slow burn, where it doesn’t really occur to you that you’re having a good time until you pause and think, “that was really rather good”.

It’s like the decor. We see predictable minimalist grey sofas, curved blond wood chairs, pale textured walls and a pop of metallic rust on the ceiling above the marble-countered open kitchen. But borrow general manager Kim Hongseob’s eyes, and you’ll see Korean rice fields, streams, hanoks and soya-bean-paste earthenware worked into a curved line here, some texture there, and other ridges elsewhere. Fine – we still see nothing but Hongseob’s enthusiasm filtering down to us.

In the same way, Kim’s inherent Korean-ness doesn’t overwhelm as much as gently inserts itself into a S$298 menu that is defined by technique and execution first, and nationality second. In this way, he emphasises produce – much of it sourced from South Korea – and amplifies their intrinsic qualities in deceptively simple ways.

Kim gets his pricing right, feeding you generously without making you pay an unnecessary premium for it.

His snacks – all six of them – are already a win, so spare in their presentation it’s as if each morsel would get fined if it took on too many colours. So you start with single-colour bright red peppers, roasted tender yet firm, curled like tuna on a soft bed of yuba bathed in a vinegary fish-sauce dressing that gives it a pleasant briny finish, if a little tart on the tongue.

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Subjectively, Kim leans towards a salty-acid profile as opposed to sweet, but it’s mostly balanced with the occasional overstep. His reinvented gimbap is a mound of traditional Korean beef tartare (yukhoe), forced to balance on top of crispy-seaweed-wrapped sushi rice – threatened with painful punishment if it were to fall off. Save it by devouring it in one satisfying bite.

He’s fond of balancing acts, like getting fat pearls to stand in a line, so they can fit between two whisper-thin crackers already sandwiched with chopped sashimi and silky egg yolk cream.

Add to this a little ramekin of sashimi cubes mixed with avocado cream and crumbled dashi jelly – forbidden colours hidden under a single crisp potato chip cover. Smash, scoop and enjoy the mix of crunch and creamy textures.

And to round it all off, there’s prawn toast, devoid of colour – save for its burnished pan-fried exterior – revealing no clue to how good this bouncy triangle of mashed sweet prawns is, especially with a dollop of creme fraiche and caviar.

In most diets, these six snacks would constitute dinner, but Kim is on a roll. Simplicity meets technique in the first course of three different kinds of seafood cooked in as many ways. Sashimi striped jack, barely poached squid and lightly grilled razor clam – the best of the lot – united in a zingy sweet mustard and soya milk dressing.

Abalone porridge puts the goopy slop at Noryangjin Fish Market to shame. Intense, umami-filled creamy brothy rice with a hint of butter and seaweed is the base for thick bouncy Jeju abalone with a matching buttery glaze.

In a line-up of stars, the rockfish stands out. Dry-aged for a lovely texture and flavour intensity without losing its moisture, it’s lightly grilled under crackling crisp skin, and matched with zucchini flower stuffed with bouncy fish and crab mousse. Finishing off is a sauce of fish bone broth laced with gochujang.

Cold noodles spiked in spicy sauce and a rice course – of wagyu medallions outshone by fragrant pine mushroom rice and condiments – follow, before relief comes in the form of barley tea made from a family recipe.

Since there’s always room for dessert, save it for a sweetcorn fest of corn ice cream, popcorn, fresh corn and everything else you can do with it. It sounds awfully fussy, but it’s an elegant, sweet finish.

For a final flourish, fluffy hot steamed fermented rice cakes with the sweet funkiness of makgeolli are a roadside Korean snack that has pure Michelin flair.

The experience at Meta is a complete package of food, wine and service at the hands of Kim, Hongseob and sommelier Leslie. This is a case of three is better than one at Meta, where three seems to be its magic number.

Rating: 8