Mod Peranakan Affair @ Violet Oon's Kitchen

Visited Violet Oon's Kitchen with my suppliers awhile back and here's what we had...

The Ngo Hiang apparently was a hit amongst the majority. I personally don't eat much fried stuff but I thought the Ngo Hiang was crispy and flavourful though a tad oily.

Ngo Hiang @ $14

If you're not a Ngo Hiang person, do check out the Tahu Goreng as an appetizer. I thought the sauce was really well done. The tau fu is crisp, only qualm about this dish is the rawness of the bean sprouts.

Tahu Goreng @ $13

If given a choice I would have gone for the more fusion dishes as that's VOK's Unique selling point. However, as we were planning to share the dishes, we went for the safer options like Curry Chicken, Fish Tempra, Buah Keluak and Pong Tay. 

The Fish Tempra was the best out of the lot. Fish was pan fried till crisp and the sauce was simply excellent. The sauce was a play on both sweet and savoury; and had some spicy kick to it. I thought the relish on top complemented the dish very well. Oh! and I loved both the salads served as well.

Fish Tempra @$24

If you're like me and do not know what Buah Keluak is.. fret not... cos google has answers to everything. Anyways, Buah Keluak is basically a tall tree native to the mangrove swamps of South East Asia. Their fruits are actually poisonous and only edible upon fermentation. Honestly they taste like bitter unsalted fermented beans, go imagine. I thought this dish was ok, the chicken was tender but the sauce lacked flavour. The peranakan foodie experts aka my dining kakis commented that this dish wasn't as well executed as the Fish Tempra.

Buah Keluak Ayam @ $22

Unfrotunately, the Babi Pong Tay was a let down. The pork was really tough and somehow didn't taste quite as traditional. Maybe VOK wasn't really going for tradition here...

Babi Pong Tay @ $19

I thought the combination of Chicken Curry and Roti Jala was an awesome idea. However, we all found the chicken curry to be really diluted and too coconuty for our liking. It was rather mild in the flavours and got alil too jelak after awhile.

Vio's Chicken Curry with Roti Jala @ $21

While the traditional dishes were mostly a let down, I thought their modern fusion dishes were pretty good; granted I only tried one - their Hae Bee Hiam Panini. The HBH Panini was hot and crispy; pairing melted cheese with Hae Bee Hiam is such an ingenious idea! Although we all thought the Hae Bee Hiam could have been crispier (by using Heng's crispy prawn chilli- aka crispiest prawn chilli ever).  Although the panini was the star of the afternoon (for me, at least), I thought it was rather easily replicable at home. 

Hae Bee Hiam Panini @ $16

Violet Oon's Kitchen dishes were overall mediocre. I would return to try their fusion dishes though.