We ate out on Sunday at a buffet place that serves nonya food near Bugis called Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe. The buffet lunch is relatively cheap, at less than $20 per adult on a weekend. The selection of food ain’t great but they are all iconic Peranakan dishes.
On this plate are samosas, curry chicken and buah keluak pork ribs. I have never eat buah keluak before, so I’m not sure if there indeed is a lot of it in this dish, but I found the pork ribs to be very tasty. Cooked to tenderness, the meat fall off the soft bones easily. The sauce is a little sour and tangy, very appetising. The other two dishes are quite blah to be honest.
You can make your own laksa at the buffet. Simply mix the ingredients and ladle the soup into your bowl. I love the laksa because it’s not spicy at all. The chilli is on the side, so heat lovers can add as much as they fancy. The only inadequacy is the lack of dried shrimps, or heibi, in the soup. I like my laksa a little gritty with small pieces of minced dried shrimps.
Similarly you can make your own meesiam. I’m not a big fan of meesiam, I totally borrowed this bowl from my sister for the shot.
Of course no nonya cuisine should miss out kueh pai-tee. Again, assemble your own kueh pai-tee. Spoon the filling made of radish into the cup, and add whatever else makes you happy. In my case, I added chinese parsley (aka coriander aka cilantro).
Other iconic Peranakan dishes include gado-gado (chunks of white rice pressed together in a tube shape, accompanied with other ingredients and covered in peanut/ satay sauce), and achar (Peranakan pickle).
Lastly, some colourful nonya kueh. This a sampler of some of their kueh consisting of (from top left) tapioca cake, 9-layer kueh, angku kueh, kueh koswee and lastly… something I can’t name. Sadly, all their dessert taste subpar. I’ve had much better kuehs, these just taste of sugar to me. They evidently skimmed on the coconut milk and other ingredients. I’m a big fan of tapioca cake (the yellow piece), so for me to taste a subpar piece of tapoica cake is positively sacrilegious.
Visit their website here: http://www.chillipadi.com.sg/
Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe
470 North Bridge Road #01-02
Tel. :6339 7745
