(report from Singapore) What rhymes with Peranakan?

So, I was in Singapore for the last five days and as always when in Singapore, it's about the food. The next couple posts are some fantastic places I ate in the land of multi-ethnic food. Besides these places, if you go to Singapore, be sure to try Jumbo Seafood for Chili Crab or Pepper Crab, and of course any hawker place for Chicken Rice!

Leo
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Name: True Blue
Address: 117 East Coast Road Singapore
Style: Peranakan
Website: None, but you can Google quite a few reviews with "True Blue Singapore"

Peranakan is the word in Singapore for the culture also known as Straits Chinese. In a sentiment that seems sensible to Americans (but unusual in Asia), Peranakans happily relate that theirs is a culture resulting from the blending and intermarriage of migrant Chinese with the Malays found on both sides of the Straits of Malacca, and now settled in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Peranakan culture has a lot of the decorative motifs of Chinese culture, but incorporates Malay manners of dress, and, significantly, cooking!

On Saturday night in Singapore we went to a great Peranakan restaurant called True Blue. It's located in a beautiful traditional building (117 East Coast Rd. for any Singaporeans reading!) that includes a display of lots of Peranakan antiques and arts. The proprietress clearly kept the house in order as we assembled our array of dishes. Happily, twice on this trip to Singapore, I went to dinner and did not know the names of hardly anything I ate! At True Blue, we shared around about 8 dishes; the only dish I had ever heard of before was the delicious version of Beef Rendang, which was good but not the highlight of the meal.

The standout was probably the chicken-nut dish (like most of the food, I've forgotten the real name). It's made with a black Malay nut, resulting in a very dark brown appearance not unlike a Mole sauce. The taste is as deep a taste as a Mexican Mole but with more earthiness, and since this is infused in a slow-cooked piece of chicken-on-the-bone, the dish comes with a tiny spoon that you use to essentially scrape the chicken meat off of the bone.

However, every dish we got at True Blue was absolutely delectable. We actually chose to try wine with our dinner, but truth to tell the food is probably better served by Singaporean juice drinks or beer. Prices were reasonable though this is no hawker restaurant! The only downside I can list for True Blue is that if you don't have someone who knows Peranakan cooking with you, it may be hard to order -- even though you can read the menu, you just won't know what any of the dishes are! Just ask the staff, who are very friendly.

Our friend David Hook's birthday happened to be the day we went, so we asked the staff and from somewhere they consed up a birthday cake for the confused honoree.



The picture also gives you some idea what the interior of True Blue is like.