The Blue Ginger Restaurant (Peranakan Restaurant)

We had peranakan food after we did our photoshooting on the 23rd May 2009. The restaurant is called Blue Ginger located along Tanjong Pagar road. I havent really got the time to do this food review due to business of work. This was sort of a gathering lunch among friends. Present are Celia, Kir, Yap Meng and Kir's friend (cant really remember his name though ... sorry =P). We ordered three snacks and 3 vegies. Thanks to celia for the great food photos!! I didnt take the shots cos my batteries ran out. Therefore, unable to get some food shots. Hehehehe....

White rice were served in a special basket. They have acar and sambal belacan too. The acar taste very good. I just like it cos it wasnt too sour. Sambal belacan goes really well with the lime.

Snack #1: Kueh Pie Tee

I love this snack the most. Outer part is very crispy. It was stuffed with popiah ingredients and topped with prawns. They added sweet sauce as a finishing touch. It tasted very good. One is definitely not enough. You will yearn for more.

Snack #2: Ngo Hiong

Ngo Hiong is actuall pork roll. Minced pork was mixed with some other ingredients. Then, tofu skin was used to roll the pork mixture. It was not too dry, however, it lacked crispiness from the pork. Still, my aunt ngo hiong taste way much better and you get more ingredients too. This ngo hiong was too wet too. When you bit the ngo hiong, you can feel the wetness and the meat is too rough. It's was ok. Not really that spectacular as kueh pie tee.

Snack #3: Otak otak

Dont really like the otak-otak. Muar otak otak tastes way much better. They put too much gelatin to the otak otak. Therefore, it was a bit springing rather than soft and smooth. In addition, except from gelatin, you cant really taste whether it's fish or prawn. For a good otak-otak, you can see cubes of fish and prawn plus a strong aroma of coconut milk with chillies. I think there are much more rooms of improvement on this.

Dish #1: Ayam Buah Keluak

Buah keluak or Indonesian Black Nut is one of the popular dish among peranakan. I have always imagined that this dish taste very good when I tasted the first time at the peranakan stall in our school (already closed down due to not that many people eat it as it was a little bit expensive than other stall). But to my disappointment, it taste really weird. The nut taste bitterly bitter. But it went a little well with the chicken. This dish didnt really leave any particular impression in me to go back for more.

Dish #2: Chap Chye Masak Titek

Definitely not a worth mentioning dish. This neither taste spicy nor salty nor sweet. Just bland. My aunty cooks better than this. This comprised of tofu skin, black fungus, glass noodles and cabbage. If it's well cooked, it can be really really good. But too bad it doesnt. The vegetables are over cooked. Not a good one. Dont like it at all.

Dish #3: Babi Pongteh
This was a pork dish. Pork were too rough. Actually, the pork should taste very soft as if it will melt in your mouth. Similar to others, it didnt really leave me much impression.

Overall, the dishes were just below average except Kueh Pie Tee. Probably they have other better dishes in comparison to those that we selected. But I really wonder as those were the signature dish of peranakan food. In comparison, Red Lacquer taste way much better than this.

After our lunch, me and Celia headed back while others went for their movie. While we are walking to take our public transport, we came across Maxwell Food Center and Celia recommended sweet potato dumpling. It was balls made of sweet potatoes with different fillings. Red beans, pandan coconut, peanuts etc (as you can see from the picture). When we bought it, it was freshly made. Still hot on the shelf!!! The sweet potato dumpling without fillings tasted the best. Not too sweet as I am dont reallly like sweet stuff.

And to my surprise this stall won a few awards and I only took two of them as a proof.

If you ever eating or makan in Maxwell, can always pay a visit to this stall. I assure that you will love it. However, eating too much of it will make you feel bore though. Hahahahahaha .....