Baba King Nonya Deli & Restaurant

Out of curiosity, Missy decided to venture into Red Water-bottle’s area in the eastern side of Singapore. Although there are rumors of Missy going around the island to eat, she would like to clarify that there is not much that can tempt her into the east. Something caught Missy’s attention when she was stalking various food blogs. Baba King Nonya Deli & Restaurant in Changi Business Park…. Don’t they just have food courts and fast food in business parks? 

Peranakan food… Just right up Red Water-bottle’s alley. Being a Baba, Red Water-bottle can be quite picky about food, especially food related to his heritage. Missy asked Red Water-bottle along for this venture into this unfamiliar area to search for this supposing wonderful food, hoping to use him to sniff out the usual less than good Peranakan fare. As both Missy and Red Water-bottle are extremely greedy, they are determined to order as much food as they could. By the way, this review was done over 2 visits. 

Missy feels Baba King Nonya Deli & Restaurant served one of the best home cooked food she had tasted. Food that is familiar to anyone who has ever experienced food cooked by someone who had put their heart and soul to provide for their own families. Food which one takes for granted, the ones that will always be on the dining tables when one comes home from work or school. Food which one will miss if they do not get to eat for a while. 

Missy liked the food at the first visit; though at that time she didn’t think it would be a place she would visit that often. The food definitely ain’t no Michelin star quality, it is not by any famous chef she know of nor the place is not somewhere a restaurant would want to make big bucks to be situated. However, the taste of the food just lingered in her head. It was so familiar and yet not. Baba King Nonya Deli & Restaurant must have hidden an old extremely experienced and wise chef cooking in their kitchen. Missy thinks the chef is a good friend of her own grandmother. The food served by Baba King Nonya Deli & Restaurant reminds Missy of the flavors, smells, texture and all the emotional attachments of her grandmother, who had left this world. 

Philip was the favorite person to have to tell what is good to order and stopping us before we can go overboard with the ordering. Philip has such vast knowledge of Peranakan heritage and stories of his youth, food, and travels. He definitely had added a very personal touch to the visits there. 

Do give Baba King Nonya Deli & Restaurant a try. Chat with Philip and tap into his vast knowledge. Most importantly go before we lose food from the past. AND MUST ORDER their BUBUR TERIGU !


Fotos from the visits part 1


Fotos from the visits part 2

Chef Bruno Menard @ Jaan

Missy likes to read the different food magazines available in Singapore.   She would try to get reservations for the visiting chefs and some of the new restaurants featured.  Okay, Missy might not be the brightest in a box of crayons.  She won’t know and honestly really care who are all the famous chefs or what their backgrounds might be.  What is the most important for her is the food that are prepared and put in front of her.

Chef Bruno Menard was going to be a guest chef in Jaan for a few days. As she has her class afterwards, it had to be a semi rush job.  Unfortunately Missy was only able to make it for only a day, and immediately she called up Red-Waterbottle to force him to go for lunch. 

The menu presented was:

Amuse-bouche: -  Smoked foie gras custard and sorrel espuma

This was an excellent combination of sorrel and foie gras.   The richness of foie gras mixed with the rustic taste of sorrel gave Missy the purrs.  The internal humming was starting, definitely a good sign of her enjoyment of the food.

Appetizer: - Saint Jacques (scallops) and Avocado, Caviar D' Aquitaine

Fresh scallop were great with avocado.  Little grains of caviars, a bit of the scallops and a slice of avocado were nice.  It was the salt grains and lemon zest gave the dish a slight extra touch, which could have been overlooked by a lesser chef.  

Soup: - Roscoff onion soup, parsley custard and white truffle Chantilly

The soup was presented in a spaceship dish.  When it was uncovered, the soup did look plain at first.  When she dug deeper, there was the parsley custard.  Missy wasn’t a big fan of parsley, but it hard worked so well in this soup.  The humming had slowly developed into a song.

Main: - 

Venison fillet and ginger butter, beets "Noque" and condiments

French sea bass, Lemon gnocchi, marinated grapefruit and "Dolce forte" sauce

Missy wasn’t too impressed with the mains.  It was a good beginning of a song, and was hoping for a big bang in the end.

Refresher: - Oriental flavor granite

The taste was rather unique, not the usual lemon or lime a regular chef would have done. 

Dessert: -  Coffee, Pear, Cardamom

Chef Bruno promised Missy would like the dessert.  Unfortunately, Missy is not a big fan of coffee or cardamom.  She did love the poached pear.  

Petite fours: -

Mignardises

It was just a cookie from rather unique box from France.  Missy would definitely buy a box of it, if she sees it being sold out there.

Like a good chef who would taste his food regularly, chef Bruno Menard came out to check with the customers.  Chef Bruno Menard is based in Japan, and his many years there had given the skill to combine many different ingredients into perfect harmony. The food was so wonderful; she could have buried him deeply in praises.  Missy was sincerely worried that her love for the food might have created an unwanted thought in her head.  How many people will discover him missing, kept in her cellar (she wished she has)?   

Missy only found out how famous chef Bruno Menard was when she goggled for a Smoked foie gras custard and sorrel espuma recipe to try out.  Missy’s best hope is for Chef Bruno to start sharing his recipes in a book or maybe start his own place in Singapore.