True Blue Restaurant

Address 117 East Coast Rd

Opening Hours 12pm-2.30pm, 6pm-10pm Closed on Mon & Public Holidays

Telephone Tel: 6440 0449

When Makansutra first started out ten years ago in search of good Peranakan restaurants to rate for our inaugural edition, you could count them all with the fingers of one hand.

Today, they are sprouting all over like wild mushrooms, some very exotic, some normal and yet some are like toadstools in disguise…yukks, can die! Some can’t differentiate between Indonesian and Eurasian, so they call it Peranakan because they use similar ingredients. There are even fast food Peranakan eateries..oh my gosh! Worst, every true blue blooded Nonya will tell where the best Peranakan makan comes from…their nenek’s (grandmother) kitchen.

A waiter once asked if I would like to try their Peranakan specials for the day. I enquired and he said “Devils’ curry and ayam adobo…” . I wanted to call the police.

Aiyoh, just how does one pitch Peranakan cuisine these days, amidst the confusion, when some chefs can’t get it right so the customers head right home for it, and the rest don’t even know what it is anymore.

Knock, knock…opportunity calls.

Warning: if you are looking for the usual authentic ayam buah kelauk, ayam pongteh, nonya chap chye , bakwan kepiting and expect that they tumbok (pound) the ingredients instead of blending it, stop reading and head on to the restaurant now. I am not about to recommend you old fluff.

Benjamin Seck comes from a distinguished family of Peranakan chefs and restaurateurs. Those few top rated Peranakan eateries we initially found ten years ago were run by folks of the same blood line. You may have seen this poster of a big and jolly Nonya woman fronting several Peranakan eateries. That’s Bibik Nia, Ben’s grandmother, the matriach cook that inspired them all. So naturally he inherits this rich tradition and legacy of blah, blah , blah….

Boring.

So, like a wild child, he turned to weeds and flower power.

“Of course you can get all the regular Nonya favourites here done the way my mother demands it to be. But I just wanna push it a little.”, offered Ben, who still has high regard for his mother Bibik Daisy Chia, who’s fronting her third Peranakan kitchen here with her son.

So he cooks with orchids. Because the chaps at a Mandai orchid garden told him monkeys eat them, so can we. And he came up with Kerabu Anne Black. Someone named this spider orchid after a Ms Black and someone else decided to eat it. This Orchid Prawn Salad ($15) has a distinct Nonya touch. He took sprigs of this organically grown orchid, added prawns, kachang botol (four angled vegetable), sesame seeds and blessed it with freshly pounded sambal belachan, lime and sugar.

Refreshingly beautiful to start off the meal. If you asked, this orchid tasted like very fragrant slices of cucumber skin.

Next it was time for da weeds baby! Ben searched his roots and came across this weed, which was once regarded as peasant vegetable eaten by Nonyas in the 60s. It is difficult but not impossible to find Sayur Bermis (duckweed), a dao miao lookalike, except it’s crunchier and rougher. He gets them at the Geylang Serai market and wok-tossed them in sambal belachan and tops it with succulent prawns. At $20 for four, it kinda steep, but hey brudder, weeds cost a lot man, and you can’t easily get it elsewhere.

Meanwhile, mummy Bibik Daisy thinks he’s lost his rocks coming up with such dishes and bastardizing the family traditions. “ I don’t care. I whip up these dishes with the purity of a Peranakan at heart, it has an authentic spirit”, Ben defends, citing the four pillars of a good Nonya eatery…ambience, a chef whose first meal and childhood soulfood is Peranakan meal, food quality and sacred attention to the rempah (making of sauce base ).

Which is why he came up with the Daun Kadok (wild pepper leaf) omelet. It looks a bit like chives but has firmer texture minus the strong fragrance. It is very fragile to cook so it is simply wrapped in a hot onion omelet as frying will sear the leaf. At $20 for leaves that can be found growing wild in old gutters, it’s a business class exotic culinary adventure.

Finally, the sweet revelation.

Cold and lemak mango cream (thickened with coconut milk, $5) sprinkled with Thai pomelo bits and prettified by a whole Aranda orchid sitting atop. Except for the pomelo, which has an inconsistent sweet-bitter sensation that can mar, this dessert is sweet revenge for this renegade Baba chef finding his place under the sun.

Final word of advise- don’t try these dishes at home unless you are assured of getting organic orchids. I have no idea what dimensions pesticide can lend to its flavours.