PeraMakan

PeraMakan is definitely one of my family favourites Peranakan restaurant in Singapore.  

Celebrated Ah gor birthday at PeraMakan sometimes ago. Most the dishes we tried were well executed except for the desserts were rather mediocre. We spend about SGD35 per person.

2004 Novena Peranakan Cuisine

12th Sep 2010

Peranakan cuisine is one of my family favourite as we are very much influenced by my late Grandma who's a partial Peranakan. We had one of our Sunday family gathering dinner at this very homely Peranakan restaurant at Novena Garden. I assumed they are around since 2004 as the restaurant name is 2004 Novena Peranakan Cuisine. They serve very homestyle Peranakan food at reasonable pricing. You can order from the ala carte menu but I think most will go for the value for money dinner set charges from SGD13+ to 16+ per pax. The restaurant interior is a bit old and run down though is clean and tidy. We chose the set dinner that let us choose 7 dishes from the menu that come with drinks and dessert. Service is friendly and very express, a place for quick dinner. The food was not exceptionally good but slightly above average. We won't mind going back again.

Ngoh Hiang

This was quite nice and different from the usual one. Almost flourless and the meat was chunky instead of minced.


Assam Fish

One of their signature dish. Quite nice, well balance flavours as it's not too sour nor sweet.


Sambal Sotong

The sotong was cooked just right but the sambal sauce was a bit sweet for my liking.


Chicken Curry

Not bad too, richly flavoured by coconut milk.


Ladyfinger w/Prawn

This was refreshingly nice and complimented all the spicy dishes well.


Chap Chye

Probably one of the not so nice dish for the day. Tasted a bit weird and bland.


Fish Maw Soup

Simple and nice. A comforting soup that most people like to cook at home.


Dessert - Chendol & Pulut Hitam

Desserts were decent too.




2004 Novena Peranakan Cuisine
273 Thomson Road
#01-02 Novena Garden
Singapore 307644
Tel: 6256 1430
Daily: 11.30am – 3pm, 5.30pm – 10pm

IVINS - Renovated & Price Increase!

[Closed]
4th Dec 2009

A Revisit - Dinner at IVINS with my brother who dropped by to play with my darlings especially Wally. My Wally likes him a lot and treat him as his "Best Friend"...lol! Knowing he likes spicy food especially Peranakan food so I suggested to go IVINS as we had a rather satisfying and value for money dinner the last time (13/10/09).

We noticed that they did some minor renovation, it's looked clean & neat with fresh paint, new carpet & new fixtures. They also revamped their menu and prices. Now, not all the dishes are in served in claypots. There are some new dishes and prices have increased tremendously to my surprise but in term of portion about the same. I noticed whenever we had a revisit, somehow the food just didn't taste as good as the first time. I'm not sure whether we are too picky or our expectations are too high... We ordered some different dishes from previous visit.

Ayam Buah Keluak
New Price(NP) S$9.80 / Old Price (OP) S$6.20

A chef recommendation dish - Chicken braised in thick tamarind gravy with buah keluak nuts. According to my brother, IVINS's version is good though the buah keluak nuts had no stuffing. Even with the price increase, he think it's still quite worth it as the portion was good.

Sotong Hitam
NP - S$7.50 / OP - S$4.80

A wrong order. We saw the next table had something in dark strips and can't figure out what was that? So check with the waitress and she told us was Squid but actually was Honey Pork! I think the waitress was new and not familiar with the food at all. Another chef recommendation. Squid stir fry with black sweet sauce. Not bad with nice stir fry aroma but didn't "wow" me.

Kuah Lada Ikan Pari
NP - S$8.00 / OP - S$4.90

Stingray in tamarind and pepper gravy. Not only it didn't look appetizing, it also taste weird too. Really can't figure out the taste, had a peppery and bitter after taste. Seem like forget to add salt or sugar??? Luckily the fish was very fresh so we dipped the fish in the rendang sauce instead.

Udang Gala Masak Nanas
NP - S$12.00 / OP - S$5.20

3 big tiger prawns and pineapples in tamarind gravy. The price had increased so much for this dish!!! More than 100%! Previously was smaller prawns but there's about 5 prawns in a serving, now 3 big ones only. Still not very justifiable though it's taste better than the last time. The sauce was richer and thicker not so diluted.

Ayam Rendang
NP - S$8.90 / OP - S$5.20

Still taste as good and portion like smaller than the last time even with price increased.

Tempra / Chili Pomfret
NP - S$10.00 / OP - Market price

This was the only dish that was cheaper than our previous visit. The last time was on market price and we had a bigger fish @ S$13.00, now they fix it at S$10.00. However, my brother don't like this type of chilli topping as he preferred the real sambal.

Longbean Masak Titek
NP - S$6.50 / OP - S$4.60

Longbean stir fry with prawns and sambal as stated on the menu but I think it should be dried shrimp instead. Not bad, the sambal was similar to the fish topping.

Lady Fingers Sambal
NP - S$5.00 / OP - S$3.50

We had this the last time too. Same portion but higher price.

*New* Durian Chendol - S$4.00

This is new on the menu and a "Die die must try" ! It was not too sweet with a generous topping of fresh durian flesh and very fragrant gula melaka sauce. Really nice and not just good is heavenly good! We even packed 2 boxes home. My brother said he will come back just to have this dessert. Previously most of the dessert was priced at $1.50 but portion was very small. Now increased to S$2.50 and portion was good so are quite justified.

When I was doing up this post, then I noticed the sharp increase of price when I compared to the old one! Even so, I think my family will still come back once awhile as some of the food are really worth coming back for especially the dessert. I believe not only me, there will be lots of complaints on the price change too!

IVINS
No. 2/4 Jalan Leban,
Upper Thomson Road,
Singapore 577548
Tel: 6451 4622

Operating Hours
11am to 9pm Daily (Lunch/Dinner)
Friday & Saturday - extended till 11pm
last order at 10.15pm

IVINS Peranakan Restaurant

[Closed]
13th Oct 2009

IVINS serving authenthic peranakan cuisine since 1988. My colleague who's husband is a peranakan, highly recommended this restaurant to me. We came here for dinner after our unpleasant encounter at the Toa Payoh zi char. We had a very good dinner indeed without spending much. The portion was good for 2-3 pax and with the reasonable pricing, we can order more dishes to try. We were quite satisfied with most of the dishes we had that evening and total bill came up to $50 only for 4. Looking forward to go back to try some other dishes.

Ayam Curry - S$5.20

Traditional Ivins style chicken curry. This was my favourite dish for the night. Simply love the aromatic spices in the curry, very different from the usual nonya curry.

Chilli Pomfret - S$13.00

Deep fried black pomfret top with chilli. Quite a big fish for just S$13.00 and was nicely deep fried till crisp. Worth trying.

Udang Masak Nanas - S$5.20 / Bakwan Kepeting - S$5.50

Left: Prawn & pineapple in tamarind gravy, one of the popular peranakan dishes. Very appetizing! Right: Minced pork & crabmeat balls & bamboo shoot in clear stock. We all liked the flavourful clear soup very much but the meatballs were not that fantastic.

Babi Pongteh - S$5.40 / Sayur Lodeh - S4.60

Left: Lean pork stew in rich brown gravy - maybe lean pork was used so the meat was a bit dry and the sauce lack richness. Right: Stew curry vegetables - I felt it was quite nice but my aunt commented that more dried shrimp should be added to enhance the curry gravy.

Terong Goreng Chilli - S$3.50 / Lady Fingers Sambal - S$3.50

Both were good, the eggplant was deep fried and the lady fingers were blanched, top with chilli.

Chendol & Ice Jelly - S$1.50 each



Dessert was rather cheap at S$1.50 each but the portion was really very small though more than enough for 1 pax especially after a heavy dinner.

IVINS
No. 2/4 Jalan Leban,
Upper Thomson Road,
Singapore 577548
Tel: 6451 4622

Operating Hours
11am to 9pm Daily (Lunch/Dinner)
Friday & Saturday - extended till 11pm
last order at 10.15pm

Grandma's @ Orchard Parade Hotel

Sunday - 2/8/09

After a long day at ION, it's time for dinner. We didn't want to settle it at ION so we walked over to Grandma's at Orchard Parade Hotel for dinner to use up the S$25 voucher from last visit. My aunt like the food here, all their dishes are quite nice and price is reasonable too. We ordered some of the dishes different from the last visit except for the Curry Chicken & Sambal Sotong.

Sambal Prawn

This was as good as the Sambal Sotong. The prawns were big & fresh.

Fried Tengiri

The fish was nicely fried and the soya sauce was yummy.

Fried Chicken Leg

The fried chicken was so so only. I find that it was not well seasoned.

Beef Rendang

This was really very nicely done. The spices were good and the beef was so tender.

Kailan in Oyster Sauce

Oyster sauce always complimented all vegetables so well.

Assam Laksa

This was ordered by Aunt Peggy who like sweet & sour stuff. It's so sour, this was not me.

Sambal Sotong & Curry Chicken

The restaurant was cosy & spacious. Service was good and very attentive.

Grandma's
1 Tanglin Road
#01-13 Orchard Parade Hotel
Singapore
Tel: 6732 3082
Operating Hours:
Lunch: 11.30am - 3.00pm
Dinner: 5.00pm - 10.30pm

Grandma's Restaurant @ United Square

I was at United Sq on Sat doing some groceries shopping and saw this restaurant that served local delights mainly spicy food. I liked their ambience, very neat and spacious. On Sunday I suggested to my family to give it a try since my aunt love spicy dishes.

Assam Fish Head

The fish was a bit fishy and too sour for my liking. I still prefer my grandma's assam fish...

Sambal Sotong

This was good and I think I can just have this dish to finish off my plate of rice. Must try!

Curry Chicken

This was more like rendang than curry. The gravy and coconut cream was rather thick but was quite nice except that it was not warm enough when served.

Lettuce in oyster sauce

A simple veg dish that everyone of us enjoy.

Achar

A pleasant dining experience and price was reasonable too. The total bill was $79.00 for the above dishes for the 4 of us. Now having citibank promotion till 31/5/09. Every $50 spend entitled to $25 next visit voucher. We will definitely go back...
Other reviews: Hungrygowhere.com

Grandma's Restaurant
United Square
101 Thomson Road
#B1-17
Singapore
Tel: 6356 5434
Operating hours:
Mon-Fri: 11am to 3pm, 6pm to 10.30pm
Sat-Sun & PH: 11am to 10.30pm