This is a serene, leafy little outpost in the middle of nowhere—OK, we jest…but only a bit. C’mon, seriously, who wants to go have dinner at a biotech park? After moving from a modest outlet in Bukit Timah, Spice Peranakan is now a sleek, contemporary joint with all the requisite Peranakan trimmings in place. We sat outside, amid the plants and the water feature and found it—at around 8pm—to be lifeless (the only other patrons were having some quiet beers in the corner) and a little too dark. All those minor complaints were forgotten once we started ordering. The food, as it turned out, happened to be astoundingly good. The ikan tamban, deep fried sardines with onions and dark sauce was excellent—crunchy on the bite and oozing with briny goodness. But the other starter, the chinchalok omelet—a classic Peranakan number—was a bit of a miss; too much egg, too little chinchalok (fermented shrimp), and thus not anywhere as salty as it should have been, but still acceptable. For our mains, we went for another two baba faves—the babi ponteh, pork with mushrooms in tau chio (fermented black bean) sauce and the ikan garam assam, fish cooked in a red hot tangy sauce—and both were drop-dead delicious. The former was tender—the meat as soft as butter and the sauce robust and hearty; the latter, a fierce concoction with hefty-portioned chunks of fish. Damn, it was good. On another note, the service here left a little to be desired. On no less than three occasions, we were asked if we were done when it was patently obvious that we weren’t. But on the whole, the wait staff was friendly and knowledgeable; credit must also be given for not slapping on the GST (although there is a service charge), which meant getting a fantastic meal at a decent price.
Peranakan food is one of Singapore’s favorite and most unique cuisines. Here are our recommendations for where to get Peranakan food in Singapore.
