Spice Peranakan

This wonderful restaurant, Spice Peranakan, was recommended by Yvonne for her birthday celebration. It is a family-run business tucked in the busy area in Biopolis, in a building called Centros. Believe it or not, this business is run by a 'Wee' family too! No wonder i feel the warmth already :)

In the menu, the story of the Wee family was told....unfortunately i don't originate from the same Wee family cos my family is Hainanese, not Peranakan...hehe...

Service was impeccable, uncle Wee recommended we start the meal with home-made Lemongrass drink. This drink has lemongrass boiled with pandan leaves, simply aromatic and one sip keeps you hooked. When uncle Wee served this, he instructed our whole table to drink this with our eyes closed. Somehow, the loss of one of our senses actually evoked a stronger sense of taste, and the drink tasted much much fragrant with our eyes closed!

We kicked off our feast with Kueh Pie Tee - crispy cups filled with turnips and sauce. The cups were very crunchy, and the chilli sauce was perfect with the flavours of the turnip! Simply irresistible.

Our share of vegetables came from this bowl of Chap Chye - mixed vegetables drowned in tau chio. Not really my kind of vegetable dish, this was the only one we didn't wipe clean.

Wow, check out these big, fat Otak Otak - fish and prawns clothed in delectable spicy paste with a hint of coconut. The Otak Otak were huge, moist and spicy, what a way to get your appetite kicking in.

Yvonne said that the one true dish by Peranakan is Ayam Buah Keluak and she taught us how to eat the Keluak, by digging the paste out of the nut shell and eating it together with the chicken and the gravy. I must admit it's really and acquired taste. As described in the menu : ayam buah keluak is the quintessential Peranakan dish - black nuts stuffed with minced pork and prawns and then cooked in rich, slightly sour gravy.

Oh yes! The Ikan Assam Pedas - a choice of fish cuts cooked in spicy assam base with eggplant, lady fingers and tomatoes. The sourish yet spicy base had us falling in love after the first taste and made us ask uncle for a 2nd helping of rice.

After we wiped clean the Ikan Assam Pedas, uncle Wee walked over to entice us with his Onde-Onde freshly made by hand. He only makes certain items when he feels like it and when ingredients are available. That day, he made these and the glutinous rice flour was mixed with Sweet Potato to give it the orangey colour and the sweet taste. Once bitten, the Gula Melaka within burst in our mouth to our delight!

 

No matter how full we were, we still insisted on dessert! Hahaha....we had 2 each sharing one bowl of Durian Chendol. It was superb, a great finale to an excellent meal i have not had for a looooong time. Service was great, and according to Yvonne, if you go on Friday nights, they have live band singing too.