Peranakan Club Singapore • Affordable Crazy Rich Asians Cuisine📍Orchard Towers Claymore Road ☎ 8988 0201

Catch up lunch with kaki kaki at The Peranakan Club Singapore at level 2 of Orchard Towers.

The food was great - that's why I am sharing this place with you. But, not only that - The Peranakan Club has taken the dining experience to the next level.

TPC is a bold, ambitious project - Singapore's first integrated cultural, culinary, retail and lifestyle destination dedicated to Peranakan culture. Eating here, I experienced deep immersion into the traditions, flavours, craftsmanship and stories of the unique Straits Chinese community (there's no other like it).

Stepping into the restaurant, I was awed by the decor, ambiance and vibes - even though I was born, raised and grown old in Southeast Asia with Peranakan friends and not new to Peranakan cuisine and culture.

It's like we were teleported to the grand home of a Peranakan towkay (boss) going all out to impress........

..... straight into the "Crazy Rich Asians" set (I have never watched the full movie).

Table set for the proverbial tok panjang or long table grand feast. Besides the main dining hall, there are a few large private rooms.

Whatever you feel about the unapologetically ostentatious decor, it leaves a lasting impression. I take it all in as part of the flavours of today's enjoyable lunch.

Executive chef and founder Raymond Khoo said the dishes at TPC were done according to his grandmother's recipes and his own taste and smell memories of them.

It's an important point to me, actually. Sometimes, some "Peranakan" places don't feel right because the taste profile is a bit off, like missing something - doesn't resonate with our memories of the dishes.

At The Peranakan Club, chef Raymond personally makes sure the taste profile is on point. And it is, as I was to find out soon.

Prawn Ngoh Hiang $18

The first thing that struck me was the size. It was thick like a meat loaf, I mean the ngoh hiang I've had so far were at most half this size and sometimes even tiny "finger food" size.

Size is one thing but got liaw 料 (substance) or not?

Pork and prawn blended with Chinese 5-spice, mixed with cubed water chestnut and wrapped with dried beancurd skin. Deep fried to golden brown crisp outside before serving. On point taste and feel - umami savoury sweet flavours with tender and soft crunch textures. 5-spice taste was shy. It's a great start!

Babi Assam $24

Pork belly stewed in a piquant tamarind sauce with salted mustard greens (kiam chye) and fermented soybeans (taucheo) till soft tender. Natural porcine sweetness in the fatty pork belly balanced by umami savoury and tangy flavours infused in the meat and from the enveloping sauce.

Of course, we had Ayam Buah Keluak $26, one of the icons of Peranakan cuisine.

But, there is nothing to see 😂 Peranakan cuisine is made for the palate long before the time of social media.

The chicken meat was tender and smothered in complex savoury salty umami flavours that reminds me of truffle but more robust and with more depth.

Peranakans called the buah keluak or black nut (pangium edule nut), "Black Gold".

Itek Tim $17

One of my favourite Peranakan soup dishes.

Duck tender in a savoury piquancy soup with salted vegetable (kiam chye), fresh tomatoes, preserved plum and spices. I wish I could taste spices like nutmeg in the soup which would more clearly set itek tim apart from the Hokkien kiam chye ark 咸菜鸭 (salted vegetable duck soup).

Add a shot of brandy ($5 extra) for a bright fruity spirit kick.

Nyonya Chap Chye $16

Another well loved homely dish. Again not very pretty, the drab frumpy jumble warmed hearts across many generations and many more to come (I hope).

Mixed vegetable stew of cabbage, lily buds, black fungus, and mushrooms with glass noodles slow simmered with soy sauce until everything was soft, and the vegetable and sauce flavours fully melded.

Nasi Ulam Dulu Kala $24

Fluffy nutty soft tender steamed rice tossed with crunchy wing bean, raw herbs, aromatics, spices, and flaked salted fish.

Apom Bok Kwa Pisang $8

Traditional sweet fermented rice pancakes, spongy soft and pillowy, doused with a sweet velvety banana-coconut reduction sauce.

Heritage Durian Pengat $8.50

Indulgent mousse of premium durian and durian kampong folded with rich coconut cream. Served with a dribble of palm sugar (gula Melaka) and a cut of pandan leaf.

Kueh Salat cocktail $21

Kaki kaki had this, the menu elegantly says - A nod to the beloved Nyonya cake. Creamy coconut milk and fragrant pandan form a lush base, topped with a striking layer of Butterfly Pea Gin. Rich, silky, and deeply aromatic.

Espresso, gula Melaka, buah keluak, and gin topped with toasted coconut. Full bodied, bitter sweet aromatic with robust caffeine kick.

Enjoyed myself at The Peranakan Club. The dishes we had were delicious and true to old school Peranakan flavour profile I tasted in the past. The environment was very comfortable, and service was warm and attentive.

I like the immersive feel, felt like I was teleported in time and place to the extravagant old Peranakan world. Whatever one feels about the bold striking setting at TPC, it leaves a lasting memory.

TPC is one of the top of my mind places when I want to go for a Peranakan meal. The food is tasty and the place while "loud" is welcoming and triggers my curiosity about Peranakan culture.

TPC lavished all our senses and mind, not only tastebuds (which were very well entertained).