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Singapore, August 29, 2011 With a construction-related name like Keystone, be prepared to repeat it a couple of times to friends you tell. "What stone?" or "Key what?" would likely be the query. Once you're comfortably ensconced in the restaurant, in the calm of the predominantly slate grey-jet black decor with its few red accents, and forking food off textured tiles, the aesthetics start jiving with the name. Keystone is a sleek addition to the eateries in the CBD - many cuts above the hawker centres and the mid-range restaurants in the grid of streets just around the Lau Pa Sat area. And despite the fact that it's only been open for three weeks, it is already pulling in a good crop of clientele - being one of the few upscale restaurants serving very contemporary cuisine. Keystone is owned and run by Australian Chinese Eddie Han (whose youthful 26-year-old appearance belies his 10 years of F&B experience) who teamed up with Singapore chef Mark Richards (who earned his chef's stripes at places such as Momo and Ondine in Melbourne, and Ember and Sweet, Salty, Spicy in Singapore). What strikes the diner is the bold creativity of the menu which has intriguing, obscurely named dishes (in the molecular dining way) with just enough exotic ingredients listed to give an inkling of how the dish might taste like. The fine print below Kouchi Tomatoes & Figs, for example, lists crème fraiche tart port salut basil pesto elderberry in that design and order. My dining companion and I opted for the three-course set lunches, priced affordably at $38++. That four of our dishes, out of six, were done quite well is testament to chef Richards' skills. As for the two other dishes, the main grouse is that they were a tad on the salty side. Our expectations were set high from the moment we stepped into the restaurant owing in part to the seamlessly sophisticated design of the restaurant interior, and the rosemary-flavoured charcoal buns topped with some crusty cheese served before our lunch. The starters first. The said Kouchi tomato and fig tart was a beautifully flaky and light tart topped with caramelised sweet onions and fresh fig slices, with a hint of tomato and underscored with port salut cheese. The tart's texture was really commendable, while all those ingredients blended well for a satisfying starter. The Lobster & Ginger, featuring ravioli consomme edamame coriander wafer, however, fell quite short of its description. Two ravioli parcels were served in a deep dish, with the server pouring the consomme over the ravioli after the plate is served. The ravioli filling was a creamy blend of lobster and scallop, but unfortunately the consomme had the singular taste of soya with barely a hint of ginger and the coriander wafer was missing too, save for a few mini coriander leaves. As for the mains, again, the robustness of soya/salt failed to be tempered, both in the sous-vide Norwegian Salmon and the crustacean risotto. Saltiness is of course a personal preference, but with the kome mugi miso marinade over the salmon, it did seem a bit unnecessary for the chef to soak the salmon in brine before it was sous-vide ("under vacuum", referring to a method which refers to sealing food in watertight bags and slow-cooking them in water at a certain temperature). The brine in the Scampi & Oscietra dish, however was more palatable, as the risotto was deeply flavoured with the crustacean stock. The hint of parmigiano-reggiano cheese gave it even more oomph; as did the smattering of oscietra caviar over the seared, halved scampi in its shell. The dish might have been petite-sized, but packed a lot of flavour. For tasting's sake, we tried the Berkshire suckling pig which came as two "rings" of meat with stuffing, accompanied with golden peaches on the side, broccolini, raisins jus and crackling for $43. Here, the "stuffing" is the main draw - being chopped up pork with a mix of ingredients - as the solid ring of meat that wrapped the stuffing was too fatty to be enjoyed. The peaches were just slightly caramelised though, and the dark green, long-stemmed broccolini had that glazed sheen to them. The desserts earned our unanimous praise - especially the Kaffir lime and Lemongrass panna cotta with palm sugar and pearl sago. The trio of "p's" just worked really well - especially the dehydrated kaffir lime, powdered, on the side, to go along with the creamy, slightly coconutty panna cotta. The Pistachio & Peanut Butter was like a fancy take on Reese's peanut butter cups, and a nice touch was the pistachio nuts on brittle. Another thing to be said about Keystone is the better than average service, pitched at a fine dining level. They did their bit for "service recovery" - offering my dining companion and I wine to go along with our meal - after our most unfortunate sighting of a cockroach under our table. My dining companion fortunately managed to control her phobia and not scream as we told the female wait staff about it, who immediately moved us to the next table; while the male wait staff was "despatched" to catch it, which he did, discreetly. It looks like some fumigation is in order. Being such a new kid on the block, Keystone's big plus point is its set lunch pricing. Apparently the $118 degustation menu served at dinner veers towards a more progressive, experimental treatment, but the lunch menu is perfectly recognisable, executed reasonably well and with a progressive twist here and there - although some ingredients did read more exotic on the menu than could be felt on the palate. Chef Richards says that this is his return to French cuisine, after dabbling in Thai and Middle Eastern. Given that the menu at Keystone will change quite often, it'll be interesting to see how chef Richards is going to innovate in time to come. Keystone is on the whole, a slickly put-together operation, so it's worth keeping an eye on them. Rating: 6.5/10 Keystone Restaurant
Keystone Restaurant
11 and 12 Stanley Street
Kagoshima Macchiato, White Corn, Alaskan Crab, Fois Gras Jam, Crisp Basil
11 and 12 Stanley Street
Singapore 068731
Tel: 6221-0046
www.keystonerestaurant.com.sg
