Sustainability has never been this delicious as Singapore’s Chef LG Han and Bartender Vijay Mudaliar collaborate with Manila’s Chef Jordy Navarra and Chef Stephan Duhesme.
This is an excerpt from Lifestyle Asia’s November 2023 Issue.
Singapore’s Chef LG Han of Restaurant Labyrinth and Vijay Mudaliar, Head Bartender and co-owner of Native Bar and Restaurant partnered with Manila’s Chef Jordy Navarra of TOYO Eatery and Chef Stephan Duhesme of Metiz for an exclusive 10-course dinner promoting Singaporean and Filipino flavors that show their take on sustainability.
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CREATIVE AND CONTEMPORARY EXPRESSIONS
Founded in 2014, One Michelin-starred Restaurant Labyrinth serves up creative and contemporary expressions of time-honored Singaporean fare. Restaurant Labyrinth was included among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2021, 2022, and notably at number 11 in 2023, as well as a spot among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants of this year.
Han nurtured his passion for cooking by apprenticing at an Italian restaurant. He also dabbled in catering before enrolling in culinary school for six months. Following those experiences, he quit his banking job and opened Restaurant Labyrinth.
He constantly seasons his menu offerings with the flavors and profiles of locally sourced produce that call back to his memories of growing up in Singapore. He also engages with the Lion City’s farmers, fishermen, and fisheries to expand the conversation on sustainability.

SUSTAINABILITY TITAN
Joining Han is Mudaliar, a sustainability titan in Singapore’s bar scene. He found work at iconic speakeasy Operation Dagger where he learned the ropes of distillation and fermentation. He then went on to pioneer a form of urban foraging in Singapore that singles out wild food resources and incorporates them into cocktails.
This philosophy of paying homage to local and regional flavors informed the conceptualization of Native. The cocktail bar focuses on ingredients sourced locally and regionally. It has since expanded to include a restaurant with mostly pescatarian and vegetarian options. The bar also has a fermentation lab within their three-floor space on Singapore’s Amoy Street.
MEMORIES OF FILIPINO HERITAGE
Jordy Navarra is the chef and owner of TOYO Eatery. Opened in 2016 and operated alongside his wife May, Navarra developed TOYO Eatery’s menu and concept around his own memories and Filipino heritage.

This year, it holds the 42nd spot among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2023. It also won this year’s Flor De Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award due to its commitment to minimize its carbon footprint and to source local ingredients.
SUPPORTING LOCAL FARMERS
Stephan Duhesme is the chef and owner of Metiz. He opened the restaurant in 2019 to celebrate his love for the flavors of Filipino cuisine. Metiz debuted at the 48th spot among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2023 thanks to its sustainable practice of using local produce to delight diners in surprising and ingenious ways.
Duhesme said, “I think of Metiz as a creative space that serves food. We collectively share a unified vision on how to present food, and that vision involves promoting ingredients easily found in the country and sourcing them from farmers that adhere to sustainable agricultural practices.”
Read more by purchasing a copy of the Lifestyle Asia November 2023 magazine via SariSari.shopping or select newsstands in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Subscribe to the E-Magazine via Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.
Photos by Belle Dinglasa.