SINGAPORE — At Meta Restaurant, dinner begins before you recognize it as Korean. The first clue arrives quietly, not with kimchi or gochujang, but with temperature. A dish meant to be warm arrives unmistakably warm. A sauce carrying the sea tastes of a winter coast, deep and composed. Nothing declares intent, yet the food does ask the diner to pay attention. By the time “gyeran jjim,” a Korean steamed egg custard, arrives with smooth fish milt sourced from Japan’s Hokkaido and a sauce reminiscent of “haemultang,” the often spicy Korean seafood stew, the recognition has already settled in. Nothing on the table at Meta announces itself outright, yet by the end of the meal, the flavors carry the weight of memory, unmistakable but difficult to name. That recognition had begun earlier that afternoon, during a conversation with Meta’s chef Sun Kim, even before dinner was served, on Jan. 21. Meta is a two-Michelin-star fine dining restaurant in Singapore, known for tasting menus that resist easy classification. Led by Kim, the Korean-born chef-owner, the restaurant draws loosely from Korean
How memory shapes food at Singapore’s Michelin-starred restaurant Meta
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