Onya Sayang: Peranakan food in Paya Lebar

I have written about Dulu Kala, a Peranakan restaurant started by the grandmother and parents of Zan Ho. And since then, Zan has become a chef of his own reckoning, and opened updated versions of Dulu Kala, which he calls O'nya Sayang.

I was invited for a tasting at their newest outlet in Paya Lebar Square.

We started off with the interesting dish, totally tradition based, but updated. The Ayam Buah Keluak Fried Rice

Interesting take. Stir fried rice, seen in the background with keluak filling, onions and chillis. Very fragrant fried rice.And a bowl of chicken with buah keluak. The rempah (spices) are made from scratch, and like most peranakan recipes are from secrets only known to family. 

Next up, we had a kind of seafood with rice, topped with a fried egg

I found the gravy, made from house made spices to be very nice, the dish was let down by slightly less than fresh fish and prawns which, though were sweet and rather tasty, was a bit mushy within the shell. 

Another innovative dish is their lorbak noodles

In our family, we would have called the braised pork Tauyu Bak, though Lor Bak is still a descriptive name. The pork belly is braised in a black sauce with house spices till tender. A boiled egg is added to the braise and absorbs the braising liquid, and the dish is poured over the noodles. Interesting, and perhaps totally untraditional. But I found it to be very savoury and nice. Good touch!

Bakwan Kepeting (pork balls in a soup with bamboo shoots) is a typical Peranakan dish

In this instance, the interpretation is truly traditional, and wonderfully so. The bakwan was superb. The texture - bouncy, springy, crunchy to the bite but still tender and juicy. The soup was nourishing, and very nice.

I have mixed feelings with Babi Pongteh, another classical Peranakan Dish

The pork was very tender, the spices quite interesting, but this was not my idea of a babi pongteh. Perhaps my family recipe is not similar...but the main elements - pork belly, potato, a thick mildly spicy braise. This version is still rather delicious, no doubt. And quite satisfying.

Their otak dish I truly loved. Served with a small portion of sambal kangkong, it was quite nice. Again, not in the traditional style I am accustomed to, as in our family, otak is steamed in banana leaf. This was, to me, perhaps a more Melakan styled dish. The otak was grilled. But I must say, it ramains very nice on the palate. Good chunks of fish with nice springy filler. Tasty.

But the desserts blew me away. One of my favourites, sago gula melaka:

Truly superb. Worth the trip just to eat this. The sago was cooked just right, with the a touch of very creamy coconut milk and a generous portion of gula melaka. A scoop of coconut ice cream crowned this magnificent dessert. The coconut ice cream was exactly as the name suggests. It tasted of a creamy iced santan. The gula melaka was special. Very fragrant, coying sweet, and luxurious mouthfeel. Fantastic! I enquired, and Zan told me that the gula melaka was sourced from Surabaya, where the quality is even higher than in Melaka. 

The same coconut ice cream, which is sourced from a manufacturer in Thailand, is used in the chendol, which is also a winner in my view

This reminded me of the version by Mei Heong Yuan, where shaved ice, made from coconut milk is dished out on top of chendol, attap steeds, red kidney beand, piled high. There, the gula melaka is served on the side, where one can drizzle to one's heart's content. Here the base of this dish is the same coconut ice cream as in the sago gula melaka, and the same superb gula melaka. With the traditional chendol ingredients. Quite superb.

I found the dishes in O'nya Sayang to be very homey feeling, with a somewhat traditional taste. One which does not totally agree with my family's Peranakan family's recipes. But the nature of Peranakan cuisine is such. Each family has its own secret recipes, and often times, these are not even shared with other members of the family, only to be handed down from mother to daughter and sometimes son.  

The packaging at O'nya Sayang into individual meals is very innovative. The traditional Peranakan meal is taken on a Tok Panjang (long table), where the dishes are shared by all. Very traditional families eat in shifts...the men in first shift, then the children, then the ladies and finally the servants. But the offering of individually sized, balanced meal portions is very nice. 

And as mentioned, the desserts, a twist to Peranakan tradition, are divine. Highly recommended.

O'nya Sayang @ Paya lebar square

60 Paya Lebar Rd, Paya Lebar Square, #B1-30/31,
Singapore, S409051

Tel: 67838140

Fax: 66848168

enquire@dulukala.com

Malaysian Cuisine in Singapore: Madam Kwan's

Singaporeans have always travelled to Malaysia and enjoyed the food there...of course the hawker and street fare is awesome all over the peninsula, but also some nice restaurants in KL who serve nice locale food. Madam Kwan's is one of them.

The history of Madam Kwan's is rather interesting. Started by her son Dato Rudy Foo, the restaurant offers signatures of Madam Kwan, also known as Kwan Swee Lian or Sakura Kwan. I caught up with Dato Foo in an invited media tasting in Singapore recently, and asked him about the relationship with the Sakura Restaurant in Jalan Imbi, KL. According to him, Madam Kwan, or Kwan Cheh, as she is know in KL, was a beautician in Japan. She returned to her native KL and opened a beauty salon in Jalan Imbi. But somewhere within her is the yearning and longing to cook and share her passion for food. Soon after, she started a restaurant where the beauty salon was, and called it Sakura's. Sakura became famous, mostly for the nasi lemak, and awesome chicken curry. It was probably one of the first air conditioned restaurants, other than hotels, who offered local fare like nasi lemak, curries, and noodles. During the 1998 financial crisis, the restaurant changed hands, and Kwan Cheh started a small stall selling nasi lemak in 1Utama. Her son, Rudy, then was a stockbroker, and decided to invest in a restaurant in Bangsar, as a business, but also to help refresh her dignity. When KLCC started, they were invited to start a restaurant within, and the rest, as they say, was history. Now with 6 outlets in the Malaysian capital, and 1 in Singapore, they are set to expand, and showcase Malaysian cuisine to the world.

Two new dishes were being added to the menu, the first was otak otak fried rice.

The dish was created by crowd sourcing...the Madam Kwan's management went to their facebook page, and asked fans to suggest a new item for their menu. The one which got the most votes was the otak otak fried rice. Interesting that not more restaurants offer this dish. It was quite good. The wok control and powerful fire was apparent in the wok hei. The otak otak is made in-house from fresh spices and herbs and a smooth, springy fish otak otak. Marvellous. I just wished there were more otak...:-)

The next new dish is the petai fried rice.

This is a rather common dish in Indonesia, but the dish presented by Madam Kwan's was more familiar. The petai was fresh, succulent...the petai bean itself being rather large. Beautiful flavours. Very nice...but of course you need to like petai in the first place...and needless to say, I adore petai.

We also sampled the staples of the restaurant...the nasi lemak

My all time favourite. Wonderfully fragrant rice. With a magnificent, ultra rich tasting, mildly spicy chicken curry, sambal ikan bilis, dried shrimp floss and achar. The flavours are just perfect. The richness of the chicken curry balances with the acid of the achar and the sambal ikan bilis.

and the nasi bojari

Interestingly, a google search of nasi bojari ends up only with all results pointing back to Madam Kwan's. Yet, Dato Foo reveals that he did try to patent the dish and trademark the name, but the application was rejected by the Malaysian authorities, as it was supposed to be a rather generic Indonesian dish. Interesting.

Anyway, the dish is rather special. A tricolour rice made with stock, spices and chicken and prawns is served with a beautifully deep fried chicken leg, and beef rendang and assam prawns. Again the selection of the dishes were inspired...the richness of the crispy skin and tender juicy meat of the chicken, the opulence of the beef rendang, and the acidity of the assam prawns were just right.

We also tried the fish head curry

A very fresh red snapper head, is steamed and cooked with the curry and made complete with lady's fingers, tomatoes, long beans, brinjals and dried beancurd. Tasted very home cooked to me. All the coconut milk used in Madam Kwan is freshly squeezed...none of the industrialized canned or tetra-packed stuff. And one can literally taste the coconut flavours. The spices for the curry are made fresh from scratch, no curry powder is used. I found the fish head curry to be very good, but not exactly my taste. For me, it was a bit too rich (lemak)...but I am partial to the peranakan style fish head curry. But loved the fact that there were tons of vegetables in the dish.

For desserts, the banana fritters were a clear favourite

I understand pisang emas, or a smallish, Malaysian banana is used, very ripe, coated in batter and deep fried till crisp. Served with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. How can one argue with that. Very nice.

But the highlight for me was the chendol

Fresh chendol, with red bean paste sitting on a bed of shaved ice soaked in coconut milk. The over it, pour a beautiful, fragrant and sweet gula melaka. Wonderful.

A version of bubur cha cha was also served

I found this to be good, but perhaps lacking a bit in the dice ingredients. Sure, there was pumpkin, yam, and sago, but would be nicer if there were more of those, and slices of ripe banana and some of the tapioca gummy, chewy thingies. Or at least, that's how bubur cha cha is served at home.

Overall, the food is very good. Service staff were knowledgable, and because this was a media tasting, service was excellent. The restaurant is rather large. Recommended.

Madam Kwan's
Truly Malaysian Cuisine
#01-155 Vivocity

Great Penang food in Singapore? Enter Gurney Drive Restaurants

I have often lamented the poverty of authentic, well cooked Penang hawker fare in Singapore. While understadable as Singapore is not Penang, but yet, inexplicable because of the great popularity of Penang cuisine amongs our inhabitants.

So it is with a bit of joy, that I present a restaurant which brings us one step closer...not exactly there yet, but at least all the flavours are authentic and well cooked.

I had eaten at Gurney Drive...the real street food in Penang as well as the restaurant here in Singapore. My first experience with them was a few years ago, when they first opened in Suntec City. My conclusion then was it was not ready for prime time, and thus never wrote a review. But recently, I sampled their cooking again, in Changi Airport Terminal 3, and was pleasantly surprised. So I went to re-sample, to ensure that there was indeed consistency in the cooking at the Jems outlet. And indeed was pleasantly satiated, yet again. Bravo!

The Penang Prawn Hokkien Mee, shown above was rather well presented. Two large prawns, the correct ingredients. Taste wise it was quite good, though a tad salty. The soup had a deep savoury flavour typical of those found in the better hawker stalls in Penang. This is not a crustacean flavour in the Singapore version, but a pork bone based flavour with a touch of rock sugar.

Of course the Penang Char Kway Teow is indicated...rather prescribed

This is an all time favourite of mine and apparently a lot of Penangites. One would find a CKT stall almost every other coffee shops in Penang, and there are at least 3 or perhaps 4 which can claim to be world class in their interpretation of this dish. The Gurney version is very good. With nice wok hei, beautifully fried, not too greasy...though a little grease cannot be avoided as the kway teow itself is a bit greasy and pork lard used to fry it. Very nice.

The Penang version of the Mamak Mee Goreng is also very good

A bit different from the ones offered by the mamaks in Singapore, where we tend to use a red dye,they tend to add potato bits and croutons with the slightest bit of kichap manis, and fresh lettuce. Quite authentic. Nice flavours. Again a tad salty.

Their rojak is also authentic

With very nice ingredients. Tiny, sour mango, sliced cuttlefish, jambu, cucumber, bangkuang, pineapple, croutons from yu tiao, all mixed in the fabulous hae ko based sauce, and sprinkled with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds. Very nice.

The dessert is equally nice. The classical Malaysian iced dessert of ice kachang...or ABC - air batu campur is superb:

A mountain of finely shaved ice, drizzled with a tricolour syrup, topped with sweet corn, and covering a base of red bean, jelly, attap seeds. In the Gurney version, the chef take a bit of poetic license and adds thinly sliced nutmeg and crushed peanuts. The nutmeg lifts the dish from good to quite exceptional.

and the chendol

Nicely flavoured. Reminds me of the Teochew Chendol stall in Penang Road when I visited as a youth. Alas, the last visit several years ago, the taste of the stall in Penang Road has deteriorated. But this version concocted by Gurney brings back those memories of the good times for me. The red bean was large, soft, nice aroma. The ice finely shaved. The gula melaka used to sweeten the dessert could have been a bit more aromatic and flavourful, and the coconut milk could have been fresh instead of out of a can, but this was good enough for a fascilime.

With this tasting, I can safely recommend Gurney Drive for Penang Cuisine. I had also tried the jew her eng chye and lorbak at my second tasting in T3, but still find them to lack the authenticity for a recommendation.

Gurney Drive Restaurant
04-27 JEM
Various other locations

www.gurneydrive.com.sg

Friend's Favourites: Dulu Kala at Beauty World

Good Peranakan restaurants are hard to find...maybe I am being too fussy, being peranakan myself...with access to great home cooked food. But I find good ones few and far in between. My friends KS and Pauline highly recommended this one, located in Beauty World Centre.

Located at level 4, right next to the rather more crowded food court, Dulu Kala, meaning Former Times translated from Malay vernacular that peranakans converse in, has been there for the longest time. I have never tried it before, and with the recommendation of both of these foodies, I had to try it. This is Pauline's husband's favourite restaurant...apparently.

We started off with a dish which is well loved by peranakans, but which is not particular popular with others. The sambal petai.

A personal favourite of mine. The bean is nutty, wonderfully aromatic...well some call it smelly. A strong distinct aroma to the nut will permeate the person who just consumed this bean. At its best, almost heavenly. Dulukala's version was good, but for that afternoon we were there, a tad too sweet, and not spicy enough for me. The bean was nice, fresh, and quite aromatic.

We also had the belachan chicken wing

Nicely fried, with a nice flavour. A tad too saltish to my taste, but this chicken wing retains a juicy tender meat with a light crisp skin.

The leather jacket stuffed with sambal was next

The leathery skin had been removed when the fish was served. At home, we would fry the fish with tumeric infused oil with the skin on. And stuff the fish with loads of sambal. This dish, as prepared at home is rather oily, but superbly delicious. The version at Dulukala is all the more healthy. The fish was served without the leathery skin, and was not greasy at all. The fish was cooked perfectly, nice meat, but I found the sambal lacking, and the shiokness which comes from the tumeric infused oil totally absent. This dish did not make the test for me.

A ladies finger dish was next

In contrast, I found this quite special. The ladies fingers seemed to have been roasted before being pan fried with onions, and chilli. Very nicely done. Full flavour and very delicious.

We also had an omlette

This was rather de rigeur. I would have preferred an omlette which is fluffy within a crisp exterior. But this tasted good, so no complaints.

For dessert, we had chendol

The chendol kinda saved the day for me. But still, it was lacking in power...by which I mean the coconut milk could have been stronger, they could have used more red bean and added attap seeds, and a stronger, bolder tasting gula melaka. But the green chendol is authentic, tender and soft.

I may sound critical of Dulu Kala, as I am measuring by very high standards. But really, the food is quite good. I would rate it as above average for a peranakan restaurant in Singapore, and just below three of my current favourites: Peramakan, Spice Peranakan and Novena 2004.

Dulukala Peranakan Restaurant
144 Upper Bukit Timah Rd
#04-04 Beauty World Centre
6465 2036

Malaysian Food Street in Sentosa

The Malaysian Food Street at Resorts World Sentosa is one of the interesting places to visit, especially when one is in the Sentosa. Touting hawkers from famous stalls around Malaysia, it promises to be an interesting meal. For a limited time only, from Aug 27 to Sept 9, Auntie Mooi from Penang will be in residence to prepare and serve her Penang Laksa.

This post is brought forward from Monday Sept 3, as the Laksa being featured is here for a limited run from Aug 21 to Sept 9.

The interior is designed to have the feel and look of 1970s Malaysia..with details of the painstakingly done on the stalls and facade.

With a stall at KOMTAR, Auntie Mooi is present to prepare the Laksa herself

So is the laksa special? Well, it is prepared with 3 different fish meats, prepared with traditional ingredients like chillis, galangal, lemongrass, ginger flower, tamarind, and topped with finily spliced vegetables, mint leaves, shredded red onions and served with a spoonful of hae ko (prawn paste).

As the dish was served, the aroma hits one's nose...wonderful. A gentle stirring to mix the ingredients looks promising...the noodles were a bit thinner than expected....on tasting the texture is quite good, but not exactly the same as those found in Penang. Auntie Mooi later revealed that they have to make do with these noodles, as she is not able to bring in the ones she normally use in her stall in Penang. The broth is robust, full flavoured. The hae ko gives the savoury broth a punch, and tempered with a touch of chilli...is quite nice. I would rate this as rather authentic, but with Mooi's own variation thrown in for good measure.

Since we were there, we also sampled some other dishes, that the Food Street was famous for...first off...my favourte when in Penang...the Penang Char Kway Teow

A bit pale. Again, the noodles were not the correct type used in Penang. Those used here had a bit more bite. The wok hei was not as powerful as the best in Penang...the Goggle Lady at Lorong Selamat or Ah Leng. I am slightly disappointed because my expectation was higher, but I would rank this about par with the best Singapore version of Penang Char Kway Teow.

Another dish with I anticipated highly is the KL Black Hokkien Mee

Not bad wok hei. Correct black sauce. Nice thick, slippery noodles. Aroma and crispy bits of lard. All right ticks...but ultimately lacking the best on offer in the streets of KL. But close enough. A tad salty though, but this dish will keep me coming back to satisfy cravings.

Their satay is supposed to be very good too..selling some 1800 sticks a day!

I found the beef a bit too sinewy. The sauce was nice but a bit too creamy. I would prefer a bit or crunch from broken bits of peanut. But overall, enjoyable...the chicken (not pictured) being nicer than the beef.

Curious, we also sampled the kampung chicken with rice balls

Interesting note: Malaysia style kampung chicken has the characteristic yellow skin not found in the so called kampung chicken we get in our wet markets. Typically these are a bit more gamey. But this version, the chicken was almost perfect. The done-ness was perfect...just a tinge raw at the bones. The sauce beautiful and very tasty. The rice could have had a bit more chicken fat to provide some lux mouthfeel.

And finally the chendol...famous in its own right, serving some 1000 servings a day

Doesn't look like much...as this is a photograph taken in-situ, no lighting, no food stylist to dress up the dish. But the taste is quite excellent. Smooth, rich, creamy coconut milk, wonderful aroma of the gula melaka. I wished for more beans, perhaps a few attap seeds, but this was very good chendol. Even the ice was finely shaven and served almost melting...Nice.

The Malaysian Food Street at Sentosa is certainly worth a visit...especially for those who long for Malaysian street food. I will revisit to savour my favourites.

This is an invited review. Thanks to Tania Heng at Resorts World Sentosa and Wendy Toh at Weber Shandwick for the invitation and excellent hospitality.

Malaysian Food Street
Resorts World Sentosa
Mon, Tue, Thurs 11am - 10pm
Wed Closed
Fri, Sat 9am - 11pm
Sun 9am - 10pm

Feasting in Penang?: Penang Road Teochew Chendol

Mention Chendol and Penang...and automatically the recommendations run to the stall just by Penang Road and Lebuh Leng Kee. For the longest time, there has been two stalls, just across the road from each other...one is perpetually with a long queue, and the other, curiously is almost always without any customers.

My parents both loved the one which, when you stand on Penang Road, and look into Lebuh Leng Kee, is on the right. And the one which has the queues.



I haven't been at this stall for about 5 years now, and returned just after Christmas 09 for a visit...and boy it has changed. The stall now has rented (?) or bought a shophouse just a stone throw away, and now customers can sit in comfort to enjoy their bowl of chendol.



The prices also have increased accordingly over the years...but the BIG question is...has the quality and taste?

Sad to say, it has. Quality has suffered in the pursuit of profit. No more the thick, coconut milk. No more the large kidney beans. No more the springy, yet tender strands of green mung bean pasta. No more thick, wholesome, fragrant palm sugar. The only thing remainding is the beautifully shaved ice...still done just right...finely shaved, no icicles forming...providing a jolt of cold, and melts on contact with the tongue.



Now, in the chase for profit, it looks like what you get is a bowl of watery mess...with ingredients mildly reminiscent of the glorious chendol we used to get from this stall. Disappointing. Rarely, do I write a poor review, and not offer any positive attributes to say about a stall. My policy has always been if I don't blog about it, either I have not had the opportunity to taste the food, or it is not good. But this transgression of hawkers who have tasted success and fame, and now goes to their head, and dilutes their product need some exposure. And makes me furious!


Teochew Chendol
stall by Penang Road and Lebuh Leng Kee