302. Guan Hoe Soon Restaurant

Pickles - Cucumber, chicken gizzards, chili and onions. It was like a cold dish. The cucumber cubes were crunchy. They were not marinated. Mixed together with the chili sauce and onions, the taste was spicy and there was mild sourness, probably lime juice was added. Very appetizing.

Sayor Lodeh @$12

Curry vegetables, we called it as. Just like our Malay food, lontong, without the ketupak. It was delicious. Not too spicy and the vegetables were boiled till soft.

Hainanese Pork Chop @$12

I was surprised to see Hainanese Pork Chop on the menu because Guan Hoe Soon(GHS) is known for their Peranakan cuisine. The Hainanese Pork Chop which I have had eaten were usually served without gravy but GHS's had them cooked in tomato gravy. There were even fries in it! Even though the pork chop was soaked in the tomato gravy, I could taste the pork chop was quite well-marinated. I believed it will taste good even on its own.

Otak-Otak @$12

I personally felt GHS's otak lacked in taste. It was quite bland. But there were fleshy fish meat mixed in the otak and probably because of this, their otak was slightly harder than others.

It cost about $51 for 4 pax. Food was decent but I felt they were slightly overpriced. One thing I noticed was the dishes we had were not very oily, especially the sayor lodeh. Not too sure if this standard of cooking was maintained for the rest of the dishes. GHS has started since 1953 so I believed that they have already attracted a group of regular patrons. How authentic their peranakan cuisine is compared to others like Kim Choo, I believed it's subjected to each's perspective.

View Larger Map

Guan Hoe Soon Restaurant

214 Joo Chiat Road

Tel: 6344 2761

271. Ivins Peranakan Restaurant

"Hey, I went to this restaurant the other day, it was quite nice, better than the one we had that day", he said.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Ivins"

"Oh! I know that. Ok, will try it."

And so, I went for dinner.

Simple Peranakan style decorations seen on the walls.

Ayam Buah Keluak @$6.20

The lauded dish in Peranakan food. Stewed chicken with black nuts aka buah keluak. I'm very curious of the taste of buah keluak whenever this dish got featured on TV or newspapers. It looked like opium to me. Of course, I have not tasted opium before. It is always mentioned that it is not easy to prepare this dish because of the buah keluak. In some restaurants, some had actually stint on the buah keluak by digging out the black paste and then mixed it with some meat or prawn paste and then finally stuffing them back into the nut. Hard work. Ivins's version didn't have any 'extra' stuffing. The crack they made on the nut was actually too small and I had a hard time digging the black paste. Finally, I tasted it. It was like eating minced prunes. This dish was cooked a tad too salty. I still preferred the ayam curry.

Bayam Lemak @$4.60

Spinach fried with garlic. A dish that does not involves curry. Didn't look nor did it taste good. Rather, it was like some of the leaves were not cooked. Ah well....greens can be eaten fresh.

Otah Otah Pangang @$1.80

A small slab of otah. They made it themselves. It was cold when served. Other than the crust which was charred at some parts, the inner layer was moist. It was not dry like the otahs we bought in the longer leaf packaging. They had tamarind aka assam sauce added so there was a slight sour taste.

Fried Ngo Hiang @$3.80

I find the ngo hiang rather familiar, like those sold in the market. Innards were minced ingredients, could not really make out what they were other than pork. Lacked the oomph. Limelight was stolen by the chili.

Ayam Curry @$5.20

I like the curry. Gravy was thicker than how the Chinese cooked it. It has a sourish taste so I felt it was more of like assam chicken. Tamarind again.

Nonya Chap Chye @$4.60

Stewed mixed vegetables in soy bean sauce. Again, it also had a mild sourish taste, the difference between Peranakan and the Chinese cooking of chap chye. The vegetables were cooked till very soft but not to the extent of overcooked. Somehow, I find the fermented soy bean sauce didn't permeate the vegetables.

Itek Tim @$5.50

Duck with salted vegetables soup. Surprisingly good, I thought. Usually oil from the duck will make the soup oil-laden but not this. It wasn't very salty. With a tinge of sourness, this soup is hook-inducing.

Boboh Cha Cha (Hot)

Chendol (Cold)

Bubur Hitam (Hot)

Melaka Sago (Cold)

Overall cost was $40.50 for 4 pax. These 4 desserts came as complimentary for each diner with the usage of UOB card. Citi cards get a 10% discount. I personally felt the hot desserts tasted better than the cold ones. I'm not used to having desserts made with excessive coconut milk. They had added brown sugar syrup which made the cold desserts a tad too sweet.

Peranakan style of cooking was more on spicy and sour. Tamarind is very common in Peranakan dishes. It was like curry, rendang and sambal makes the 3 main styles each Peranakan dish is presented.

The dishes were served very quickly so we felt the dishes which were more welcomed by the patrons were actually pre-cooked. Food was decent and price of food was cheap.


View Larger Map

Ivins Peranakan Restaurant
2/4 Jalan Leban
Singapore 577547
Tel: 6451 4622

Operating Hours
11 am to 9 pm (Lunch/Dinner)
Closed on Thursday
http://www.ivins.com.sg/