List of Best Food in Chinatown Complex. Babas Peranakan. Nyonya Economic Rice 娘惹小吃

When I do my Chinatown Complex Food Centre crawl, one of the 200 stalls that always catch my attention is Babas Peranakan at Blue Zone stall #02-225.



Even though Babas Peranakan is located in a dead end corner in the Blue Zone of Chinatown Complex, there is always a queue from opening at 9am till the stall closes at 1pm.



Boss Edwin Tan had worked in catering and hotels like Shangri-La, Dynasty and Raffles before striking out on his own, opening Babas Peranakan when he was 51.

Edwin had been helping his Peranakan mum and grandma in the kitchen since he was a child, so he is totally at home serving up authentic homestyle Nyonya dishes at Babas Peranakan.




While Edwin concentrates on cooking non stop, his crew serves the unending long line of customers, many of whom are regulars.



I stole another customer's lunch - I mean I stole a picture of it 😜 I wanted to know what other people order. (This was Alex's lunch. He's a Johor Kaki reader 😄 )



Yet another customer's lunch. The fried chicken and fried bitter gourd with fish paste seemed popular.

Auntie asked me to pay. There is no free lunch photo 😂 (She was joking 😄 )



Buddy queued and came back with these while I busied myself taking pictures. Total bill for everything was $13 something.

I appreciate it that Babas Peranakan serve their food in floral porcelain plates (whereas many Chinatown Complex hawkers have long served their food in environment damaging Styrofoam).



I like the golden brown fried chicken thigh.



The outside was crisp and had a nice savoury flavour from the marinade. The inside was tender and juicy with subtle natural sweetness of fresh chicken.



The large slab of vegetable omelette embedded with bits of onion and chili pepper was homely and comforting - nice but doesn't excite.



The otak otak was generic. I won't order that again.



I love this Satay Curry Ayam - its Edwin's signature.

The drippy curry was mild yet loaded with aromas and sweet spicy flavours. The meaty chicken was tender, juicy and I can taste its natural sweetness. Must order this - my favourite today.

Buddy didn't order the curry vegetables. Why lah? 😂 Next time, I shall definitely order that and splash my rice with lots of curry. I like my curry rice that way - flooded with curry.



That long beans fried with sambal belacan wasn't memorable.

But, that sambal chili was power - as Malaysians would say.



In the mouth, first comes the quite intense salty savouriness from the belacan (fermented shrimps), followed by mildly hot spiciness from chili pepper.



👉 Babas Peranakan serves a step up version of chap chai png or economic rice (if you like curried dishes). It has a different taste profile from Hainanese curry rice. So, Babas Peranakan is a worthy option if you are in the Chinatown area and want a hearty tasty lunch at an affordable price.

Hainanese curry rice you can find in quite a few places in Singapore. Peranakan curry rice.... ah... for that you have to come to Babas Peranakan in Chinatown Complex.

Take a break from "normal" economic rice and Hainanese curry rice - try authentic Nyonya curry rice 😋



Edwin's Jovial kakis (mates) Michael and Robert.

Directory of stalls in the Yellow Zone 👈 click
Directory of stalls in the Green Zone 👈 click
Directory of stalls in the Red Zone 👈 click
Directory of stalls in the Blue Zone 👈 click



Restaurant name: Babas Peranakan 娘惹小吃
Address: Blk 335, Smith Street #02-225, Chinatown Food Complex, Singapore 050335 (Blue Zone)    
GPS: 1°16'57.7"N 103°50'34.4"E | 1.282705, 103.842889 
Waze: Chinatown Complex 
Tel: 9722 9698 (Edwin)
Hours: 9:30am to 1:00pm (Weds off) 

No pork, no lard, no Halal  

Date visited: 11 Mar 2018



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