Peramakan, Keppel Club, Singapore

This place used to be all the way East in Joo Chiat but has swung far West with a much larger dining area as well to accomodate their growing following. As the pun in the name suggests, Peramakan deals mainly with Peranakan cuisine.

We started off with the bakwan kepiting (meatball soup with bamboo shoots). Quite tasty, you can taste the crab used in the stock which imparted a rather sweet flavor.

The beef rendang is as good as always. Stewed to melt-in-your-mouth quality, the rich coconut-based gravy found its place very well in a plate of steaming white rice.

The ayam buah keluak's gravy here is a lot thicker than the one at Aunty Lee's and the flavor a tad bit richer as well. A pity there were only two of the keluak nuts in this serve though.

I can't really remember the name of the fish dish, but it has chili and ginger in it. The fish were fillets so at least there weren't any pesky bones to fiddle about.

The nonya fried chicken here paled in comparison to that of Aunty Lee's though. I think it's the lack of (or too little?) balacan powder which made this significantly less fragrant. It's still a decent fried chook but just not spectacular.

The grilled squid was a pleasant surprised. Grilled just nice and served with sweet and semi-spicy salsa sauce, this was a clear winner.

The nonya beancurd came with a sauce almost identical to the fish, so it was a bit of bummer having two dishes that tasted pretty much the same. But if I had to choose between the two, I'll go for the beancurd because I prefer shrimp over fish.

This is pretty much the main reason why I dine here - hati babi bungkus. This dish of chopped liver and pork wrapped in pig's caul, before being steamed and then fried is almost getting extinct in Singapore. True this wasn't the best I've had (anyone remembers Nonya and Baba along River Valley Rd?) because of the stingy layer of pork caul (this main ingredient is really hard to get, so I understand) but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

The durian pengat is pretty much like a heavy mousse with strong durian, gula malacca and coconut elements. Not too bad if you're a fan of durian. The chunks of sweet potato and yam were a nice touch though.

The sago with coconut cream and gula malacca tasted pretty much like its description. I guess it's hard to go wrong with a dessert so rich in coconut cream and gula malacca.

Their cendol is also fairly decent, although it still doesn't come very close to the ones in Malacca or Jakarta. Even the one at Geylang Serai at only 1sgd would give this a run for its money, although it doesn't come with any red beans.

D