My grandmother is Peranakan and a cook of almost legendary standards when it comes to her ethnic cuisine, so I was happy to see that Peranakan cuisine is definitely not dying out in Singapore's commercial food scene. This is PeraMakan, an authentic Peranakan food stall in the Tang's food basement (Singapore, near the Orchard MRT station), which is high-profile and easily-accessed, another point that made me happy.
One of my favourites from their stall is their pies, which I see as a unique fusion of Peranakan and Western concepts. (I think this is the only place where I've seen such pies. BreadTalk has buns with Southeast Asian fillings, but not pies, I believe.) They have three flavours - beef rendang (beef in spicy paste), ayam kleo (a kind of chicken curry) and babi pongteh (pork in soy-based sauce).
Each pie packs generous chunks of meat done in hearty Peranakan style. They use good quality meat. The pastry is ideal in its texture and has a sweet wheaty taste, yet is not too thick. They come in small portions, so it gives you room to try all of them or other offerings. The price was also very reasonable - just $2.20 each, I believe.
For instance for the pongteh pie, they used a moist, fatty pork which reminds me of the pork belly meat that my grandmother uses for her own pongteh.
For
the rendang pie, they used tender beef which had cartilaginous bits, reminding me of
beef brisket or the ideal kind of beef used for stews.
I didn't take a picture of the ayam kleo pie as I happened not to order it this time. But it was quite good too. My mother said that it really reminded her of my grandmother's ayam kleo.
Overall, they would probably be a good-value option for parties and gatherings where you want to include some authentic Singaporean fare that is finger-friendly.
Just a caveat: although the average standard is very good in my opinion, there have been some days when the meats felt drier and slightly disappointing. Still, the pastry has been consistently good, likewise with the Peranakan gravy/marination. Plus I think it is good value. So I would recommend this regardless.
Edit: I realise rendang pies are relatively common. But I haven't seen a babi pongteh one before... a soy-based filling in pastry is a more unusual concept from what I've seen.
Each pie packs generous chunks of meat done in hearty Peranakan style. They use good quality meat. The pastry is ideal in its texture and has a sweet wheaty taste, yet is not too thick. They come in small portions, so it gives you room to try all of them or other offerings. The price was also very reasonable - just $2.20 each, I believe.
For instance for the pongteh pie, they used a moist, fatty pork which reminds me of the pork belly meat that my grandmother uses for her own pongteh.
Overall, they would probably be a good-value option for parties and gatherings where you want to include some authentic Singaporean fare that is finger-friendly.
Just a caveat: although the average standard is very good in my opinion, there have been some days when the meats felt drier and slightly disappointing. Still, the pastry has been consistently good, likewise with the Peranakan gravy/marination. Plus I think it is good value. So I would recommend this regardless.
Edit: I realise rendang pies are relatively common. But I haven't seen a babi pongteh one before... a soy-based filling in pastry is a more unusual concept from what I've seen.
Found these pastries interesting? Check out more unusual pastries here!
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