PeraMakan @ Keppel Club

We were suppose to go to a restaurant in VivoCity for dinner last Saturday evening. We placed a booking just in case the restaurant was packed. When we were on our way there, we noticed that there is a huge jam at VivoCity. Chugging slowly along Telok Belangah Road, we noticed on the parking lots availability sign that carpark spaces in both VivoCity and Harbourfront were full. Hmm what's happening. We thought we will try to look for a lot there anyway. We realised it was a bad idea after like 15 minutes. We barely moved.

So we changed plans and called up PeraMakan to book seats instead. We told them we will be there in 15 minutes. Glad we changed our plans. We got to eat delicious peranakan food instead!

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We noticed on the menu they have the usual Babi Ponteh - Pork Rib at $14. Then we noticed on the specials menu, they have a Nyonya Pork Rib Stew at $16. Out of curiosity, we asked the server. He said it's stew lah meaning more gravy! You get bigger pieces of meat too. Ah... sounds good, so we ordered it.

It was not bad. The gravy was excellent on the rice too. You can wallop plates of rice just by pouring gravy over it! :-)

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The people dining with us were not so 'adventurous'. We were planning to try the Sayur Nangka Masak Lemak. In the end, we got the more familiar Nyonya Chap Chye ($10) instead. ;-)

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A familiar but very much loved dish amongst all of us, the Cincalok Omelette ($10).

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This was on the specials too. The Ikan Sumbat ($16).
Mackerel stuffed with fragrant spices that was grilled. The inside of the fish was moist and really the spices made it really fragrant. I have not eaten ikan sumbat for the longest time!

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One thing about peranakan food servings is that it is usually smaller. But if you look at it from a positive way, it means you get to order more desserts! Here are the desserts that we shared:

The icy cold chendol.

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The warm bubur cha cha.
(It's very very sweet by the way, but it's nice.)

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The warm bubur terigu. For those who loves wheat.

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And lastly, for those who love durian, the durian puffs!




PeraMakan
Level 3, Keppel Club
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918
Tel: 6377 2829

PeraMakan @ Keppel Club

Just last week, sis and I were chatting while watching TV that we have not been to PeraMakan for some time. (I think we were some cooking show about peranakan food)

A few days later, we went out shopping with uncle and family at VivoCity and suddenly our Aunt asked if anyone is interested in going to Peramakan for dinner!  (she can read our stomachs? minds? hehe)

What did we have here this time round?

This is the Beef Rendang. $14.
Still as tender and tasty as we know it. One dish that makes you eat lots of rice!




Our favourite here. The Babi Pongtay. $14
We always feel happy eating this. It's another dish that makes you wallop up your whole plate of rice and want more!




The Nyonya Chap Chye. $10.
Boys and girls will enjoy eating their vegetables if they are cooked this way.





The Cincalok Omelette. $10.
We remember it was always very salty when we ordered it, so we told them to go easy on the saltiness. The dish came out not so salty, but also with not so much cincalok. You just can't win eh? But it was still good. 




The Sambal Bendi Goreng. $10.
The sambal ladies finger / okra. Nicely done. Spicy enough. The okras were not tough.




The Ikan Garam Assam. $16
Are you an assam fan?  I like the sauce but not really the fish. LOL..





Oh yes, you should always save some space for the desserts here. We had the Ice Kachang and Chendol. ;-) No durian penyat this time. LOL...


PeraMakan
Level 3, Keppel Club
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918
Tel: 6377 2829

Peramakan @ Keppel Club

About a week ago, Momo and I met up with Zannnie, Zsolt, MadScientist and Neo. It's the City Daily Photo bloggers meet up!

Zsolt's from Budapest and maintains the Budapest Daily Photo. Zannnie maintains the other Singapore Daily Photo. Zannnie is Zsolt's wife and has moved to Budapest. MadScientist, Ming (who could not make it for this dinner) and Neo now helps Zannnie by contributing to the Singapore Daily Photo. Did I just confused you? LOL...

Zsolt and Zannnie planned their visit way back and have been making arrangement with friends for meet ups and makans. She's very very busy planning what to eat and who to meet. Her scheduled is packed even before she came back! Our dinner was arranged some time back and last Tuesday was her only slot that's still free. haha..

Our meeting with her is to meet up and also to check off another food item from her list of things to eat. :-) Zannnie got the privilege to choose the place and she chose Peramakan.

It was nice to finally meet the people we only know by nicknames! (ie Zsolt, Neo and MadScientist)

Here's what we had for dinner.
Babi Ponteh. Most babi ponteh at other places cut their meat pieces very small, but the way they do it here is to have big pieces. Yumz.



We also had Ayam Buah Keluak so that Zsolt get to taste how buah keluak tastes like. Zannnie said that people in Budapest are used to things with lots of spices. No problem for Zsolt at all!



The rendang here was really tender as well.



The Assam Fish. I realized I might be the only person eating most of this. The rest might not be fish lovers? ;-)



Good old Sambang Kangkong.



Udang Nanas. This is a very peranakan dish.

Zsolt likes it very much. Ya, he said he loved the shrimp. Ahh, people from Budapest also call prawns - "shrimps". Our local context of the word shrimp always brings to mind only dried shrimp (hae bee) right?



The above dishes are all part of a set that we ordered. We could not decide what to eat and we were recommended to try the Set as it serves all Peramakan's specialties.

The set came with any choice of dessert that you can find in the menu. We were told we could choose 8, because the set was meant for 8 people. No wonder we could not finish the dishes.

I think there are 10 kinds of desserts and we ordered almost everything! Will just show 5 of it. Too many photos makes you 'jelak' right? LOL...

The bubur hitam. I find it very nice.

Guess what Zsolt says it taste like? Chocolate pudding! Then we told him he should try the White Chocolate pudding too! You guessed it, the bubur terigu. LOL



Zannnie's craving durians. So We ordered the two desserts that has durian on it.
This is the Durian Pengat. She's so happy eating it!



The ice kacang. Err. too bandung-ish.



The cendol. Very nice chendol. Gula melaka and santan (coconut milk) always go so well right?



The sago pudding. Not too bad, but the rest of the desserts seems more interesting. ;-)



Nice to have met Zannnie again. The last time we met was a few years back when she was still in Singapore. It has been some time since Zannnie moved to Budapest! Glad to have met MadScientist too. Found out he works just a few blocks from my office!

Thanks to MadScientist who paid for the dinner, insisting to treat us. The next time we meet up, it's our turn ok? ;-)


PeraMakan
Level 3, Keppel Club
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918
Tel: 6377 2829

PeraMakan @ Keppel Club

On Monday, colleagues at work treated one colleague to a birthday lunch. It was already decided the week before that we will go to PeraMakan, since some people wanted to try the food at this place.

So what did we eat? Quite a lot actually! We had 6 of us and we these dishes.
The Beef Rendang. It was quite tender and flavourful.



The Ayam Buah Keluak. I think this is an acquired taste dish, either you like the taste of it or you totally hate it.

I will eat it, but I can't say I totally appreciate it. LOL



The Cincalok Egg. For cincalok fans. This time it is not so salty ;-)



The sambal kangkong. The usual favourite.



The otak otak. Lots of ingredients in it.



The BBQ sotong. I think I like this the best. Sotong's still so tender and the sauce is delicious.



The Babi Ponteh. We all like this dish too.



What's this? It's jantung pisang salad. Jantung Pisang is the banana flower. It had some prawn on top, and that's not cream. It's coconut milk. Something unique.



PeraMakan
Level 3, Keppel Club
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918
Tel: 6377 2829

I always get this question: Do we need to be a club member to dine here? No, the restaurant is open to the public. :-)

PeraMakan @ Keppel Club (Desserts)

Let's continue with the desserts. I shall try creative writing today OK?

Some people love it, some hate it. It's the Durian Penget. Oh the stink that fills the air when the dessert was served. (You can guess which side of the fence I am on) Half the table felt the most pleasant aroma filling the room, half the table was gasping for air.

Hey, pure D24, gula melaka, coconut milk proclaimed the staff who took our orders. We are proud of it, people are coming back because they know it's the real stuff.

Humans were born good, but when they discovered Durians, they fell. They were devouring and hunting for durians, their aim in life is all about durians. They cared about nothing else. The angels watched in disgust as humans put that nasty stuff in their mouths, feeding their addiction to satisfy their human lust.



A secret battle was raging. Durians loving humans verses anti durian angels. Who will win?

The angels were thinking of ways to win back the fallen humans. The angels presented the Chendol. The generous golden brown gula melaka on the smooth shaven ice is to lure humans back and turn away from evil. Come back prodigal son, come back.



The layers of treasure below, red beans, green neon looking strings of cendol, rich virgin press coconut milk. Will humans repent?



Stirring the mixture, the treasure floats up. A spoonful of this is fed to humans. They immediately felt the sweetness of the gula melaka blending in smoothly with the coconut milk with ice shavings, chendol and red beans. Their warm mouth cools instantly. Their throat being lubricated with chilled coconut milk. The humans shows signs of turning back.



The angels was scheming lot. The angels know they need to warm the human hearts. So they ordered warm desserts. The secret weapon: Bubur Terigu. They say wheat is addictive. Wheat made into all kinds of food makes human addicted. Wheat in gula melaka and coconut milk will surely do the trick!



Never mind it looks pretty plain. The angels just need to put one scoop of this into the human's mouth! It worked! The humans after tasted this, kept asking for more. The angels could see that the humans became quite emotional. Food like this invoke memories of their childhood. Their parents bringing back a metal container of terigu, the children eagerly looking at their mum scooping into their rooster design porcelain bowls, making sure every bowl has the exact quantity of the bubur. Hoping the last scoop goes into their bowl. Angels saw that the human almost saw tears coming out.



Aha! The humans are becoming emotional. They are most vulnerable at this moment. The angels knew they need to fuel the emotions. They served the humans Pulut Hitam. Black glutinous rice in gula melaka and coconut milk.



Giving it a few gentle stir, the bowl of dark purplish and white liquid on top transform itself into a light purple mixture. (pardon the yellow lighting)

Aha. This stuff is potent! The warm mixture will definitely get them addicted to it. The taste of gula melaka and coconut milk must be a lethal combination that can get many people hooked. (even angels get hooked to this stuff) Forget drugs. Human gluttons get hooked to good food! The small bits of the glutinous rice gives it some bite that massages their tongue too. Almost there.....



Oh no. The humans had earlier ordered durian puffs and it arrived just when we thought we could win them over. Looks like the angels lost to puffs filled with pure D24 ammo. When the humans ate it, the durians immediately blinded them. It was as if a thick veil that covered them from the truth and righteousness. They went back to living in sin and they indulge in earthly food orgies. What went wrong?!



Humans won, angels lost.

PeraMakan @ Keppel Club

We met up with other cousins and uncle and aunty for dinner on Saturday night. More food that sis has not tried. Peranakan Food. We met at PeraMakan at Keppel Club.



Somehow it started like an interrogation session to our sis future husband. LOL.
Anyway, that's private info, the public info is what we ate. haha...
Babi Ponteh. We always love this. So tender and flavoursome.



The Meat Rolls cubes. Oxymoron? Haha.. Meat rolls that has been cut into cubes lah...



Sotong Sambal. Lovely.



This is the seafood tofu dish. Everyone loves this, it was gone in a flash!



Sambal Kangkong. We were discussing, how to differentiate this with the usual sambal kangkong. It seems that if its peranakan, it always have dried shrimps (hae bee) on it. Is it true?

We like hae bee. (But we found out that our future BIL does not eat hae bee. )



The chicken dish. We love the way it is done. We slurped all the gravy away!



The beef rendang. Somehow this time it seems to be lacking something. (We think its salt!)



Only in May we were told. The fishhead curry.



This is the saltiest dish of the night. Cincalok Eggs.
Cincalok is salty, so this dish is naturally salty. Salty, but addictive!



One of the reason we came here was because of the dessert too.
Stay tuned for the desserts tomorrow!