Province – Two young local chefs drive home the eco dining message at new Joo Chiat restaurant

NEW RESTAURANT

Province 153 Joo Chiat Road Singapore 427431 Open Tues to Sat: 6:15 pm to 11 pm Reservations: province.com.sg

YOUNG chefs, fresh talent. Joo Chiat seems to be a magnet for them – an eclectic enclave where you can buy designer bakes from an indie patissier, or chicken and beef ‘kari pap’ within steps of each other. Throw in an otak shop down the road and you have an unpretentious yet edgy environment for experimental dining concepts like Province, where two young chefs live out their dream of cooking in their own eight-seater restaurant. And learn harsh truths like how behind every cool conservation shophouse lies some very dodgy toilet plumbing.

Province isn’t a fancy set up – it’s hidden within a bigger restaurant 808 Eating House – but both subscribe to the same ethos of using only local or regional ingredients that can be trucked in to save on carbon footprint. The difference between the two is that 808 serves up a casual a la carte menu, and Province only does a seven-course tasting menu at a very accessible S$138.

The two-man show behind Province are affable chef-owner Law Jia-Jun and quick-on-his-feet sous chef Wong Wei Xiang who stirs, grills and slices like a skilled choreographer in the tiny yet super efficient kitchen. Plating and serving is Law, who guides you through the menu with such endearing sincerity that if he were a doctor or insurance salesman, you’d agree to any medical procedure or policy he recommends.

His story here is about the potatoes and tomatoes he fell in love with on a trip to Chiang Mai, and the microclimates there which allow farmers to grow different kinds of temperate weather fruit and vegetables; and how it takes a week to truck the potatoes in through Hat Yai and Malaysia to him. And also a Singapore farmer named Ben and a fisherman who line-catches his coral trout, and everybody else who contributes to the “regio-vore” nature of Law’s cuisine. 

If the food is reminiscent of Magic Square, that’s because Law spent a year at the incubator space, before spending another year at the now-defunct Manresa under David Kinch – another advocate of farm-to-table cooking.

It also means the food is still somewhat in the experimental stage – that awkward adolescent mode where the skills and ideas are there but they’ve yet to evolve into a clear narrative or fleshed-out product. There’s a lot of thinking behind each dish for sure, but there’s also that compulsion to throw in everything they know, when the key is to know when to add and what to subtract.

The dinner starts off pleasantly enough with the usual crispy tartlets of varied fillings – in this case smoked snapper sashimi bits mixed in with herbs and topped with mini tomato slices; and a croustade of fermented carrot and ricotta cheese. A prawn tsukune is a simple switcheroo with the more familiar chicken ball, and still tastes almost like chicken with shrimp undertones.

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A vegetarian dumpling stuffed with grilled scallions and caramelised onions is a tribute to David Kinch, with a bright green, savoury tang oh sauce that makes this a wonton to remember.

But Law nails it with Tubers – a complex yet harmonious symphony of sweet and regular potatoes cooked every which way for a bowlful of sweet, savoury, chewy and foamy textures and sensations. Tiny little potato cubes, sweet potato gnocchi, potato espuma and crunchy sweet potato strips don’t make for the prettiest presentation, but it’s a fine example of original thought and execution.

Nasi ulam meets ochazuke meets grilled abalone for a tasty if unnecessarily fussy rice dish that nonetheless hits the spot. It cleverly pairs glutinous and jasmine rice for extra texture, with a herby touch from shredded laksa leaves. A tough grilled abalone and its liver sauce provides more heft while the rich fish bone broth that’s added half way through weighs things down a fair bit.  

Aged coral trout fillets with crisp grilled skin have a firm cod-like texture if a little lacking in flavour, paired with mussel jus emulsified with coconut cream for a subtle fragrance and daikon puree seasoned with browned onions. 

Kudos for making local duck almost tender, grilled pink and sharing plate space with oyster mushrooms, eggplant puree and a fruity duck jus. A Thai spice mahlesa gives a hint of orange and a slight mala-like tingle on the tongue.

Dessert is a noisy dissertation on longan – dried longan pudding inspired by its sticky date version is dressed in butterscotch sauce, longan sherbet, longans pickled in wine, rice puffs and pickled basil leaves. There’s a point halfway through when enough is enough.

Sweet-sour soursop semifreddo topped with home-grilled loveletter, in turn, is a more streamlined affair, with a nice hit of chilli to make things interesting.

When it comes to effort, Province scores an A. There’s no doubting the talent, authenticity and narrative of these two chefs. It’s still a work in progress, but at this rate, when maturity and experience are added to the mix, that’s something to look forward to.

Rating: 6.5

Rating 6.5