Have always wanted to check out the Nonya high tea at Violet Oon’s restaurant at the National Gallery but never really got round to it. (It was totally booked for the first few months after it opened too). Anyway, when a dear friend who has been working overseas mentioned that she was in town after I wished her “Happy Hatched Day” on Facebook, a date for high tea was quickly fixed and I made a Saturday 2pm reservation at the National Kitchen.
Located on the second floor of the National Gallery (facing the Padang), the National Kitchen is a classy place lovingly bedecked with Peranakan floral-patterned wall and floor tiles, framed black and white photos, and lofty chandeliers reflected on ceiling mirrors.
The high tea is only available at 3pm so we decided to have coffee and some small bites first. The menu comprises Peranakan favorites in the form of pickles, soups, salads, starters, meat, seafood, vegetable, desserts, noodles and rice. I made a mental note that I will have to make another trip here to try popular Nonya dishes such as Ngoh Hiang ($15), Chap Chye ($15), and of course, Buah Keluak Ayam ($23).
In the meantime, we were happy to try other items like the Kuay Pie Tee ($17), which seriously was very, very good. Ingredients (prawn/turnip/bamboo shoot/deep fried cup shell) were super fresh and crunchy, and even more flavorful with a dash of sambal belchan and sweet black sauce.
We also had the grilled chicken Satay ($15) which looked extremely big portion for an appetizer. Still it was yummy and served with generous helpings of cucumber, steamed rice cubes, red onions and a delicious spicy peanut sauce.
The menu also contains a good selection of local Kopi (coffee) and Teh (tea), so both of us went for Kopi C (coffee with evaporated milk) just to give us the feeling that we are taking in less sugar (ahem)…
At 3pm on the dot, we ordered the Singapore High Tea ($56 per set for 2 pax) comprising a selection of savory and sweet Peranakan delights. Served on a tiered tray, one of the waiters very kindly offered to describe every item to us which was very, very helpful. The high tea set also comes with your choice of local coffee or tea which is refillable.
We actually started from bottom up, with the savory items first, but for this post I will start from the top as it just seem more logical.
The top tray has all the sweet stuff. Start with the Kueh Beng Kah in the mini glass which is tapioca cake infused with coconut cream and served coconut milk and gula melaka. It was scrumptious and if you have leftover gula melaka, use it to pour over the green Kueh Dah Dah which is grated coconut cooked with gula melaka and wrapped in a Pandan infused crepe. The Kueh Lapis Legit was one of the best we have ever tasted – just wished it was a bigger slice! – while the Roti Jala with Gula Melaka and Banana Sauce was a sweet bite too. The Kesturi Pie (with cherry on top) however was way too sweet for my taste, while the colorful Kueh Lapis Sago was nice but a tad heavy.
We were more intrigued by the savory stuff as these are items you seldom consider for high tea. We were delighted to have more of the really lovely Kueh Pie Tee to munch on, while the Otak Crostini was an uusual spicy snack to chew on, especially its buttered crust. Served on a spoon is the tasty Nasi Kuning Serunding, which is spicy fried coconut flaked on glutinous rice. Finally, the Buah Keluak Crostini is an eye-opener as you never thought of eating buah keluak – fused with minced prawn, spices and coconut milk – on a buttered crostini. It has an unusual flavor but mighty tasty nonetheless.
Last but not least, there are the breaded items. The Hae Bee Hiam (spicy dried shrimp floss) sandwich was a delight, down to its cucumber ribbon. The Pulled Beef Sambal Pao though took some getting used to. Not sure if it’s the beef or the spicy/sweet sauce it was slow cooked in but the taste and texture was a tad overpowering. Definitely the least favorite item of ours from the whole set.
Overall, National Kitchen is a nice place to dine in with good food and ambience. Service staff is polite and attentive, often apologizing profusely whenever they had to give us the bill or took away our unfinished drink/plate too eagerly. We were given the bill twice – for our 2pm order, then at 5pm for the high tea order when they had to close the premises to prepare for the dinner crowd. Which was fine with us as they’d asked very nicely. The total bill per person came up to about $22 for the coffee+starters and $32++ for the high tea, so prices are decent.
The only problem we had was that the aircon was seemingly switched off during that time as well and we had quite a sweating spell at the tail end. Not to mention, I had a wheezing fit as we left the restaurant ‘cos I believed some staff may have sprayed some stuff for cleaning purposes. Other than that, a visit to National Kitchen is for sure warranted especially if you are into good Peranakan food fare or high tea with an Asian flavor.
Oh, another thing I love about National Kitchen is the wish on every menu from Violet Oon which is something I learnt from my late mother too –
“May your rice bowl always be full”.
For a “fantong” (Cantonese for rice bucket; also slang for “good-for-nothing”) like me, that is a true blessing indeed.
National Kitchen by Violet Oon is at 1 St. Andrew’s Road, #02–01, National Gallery Singapore (City Hall Wing). Enter via Coleman Street entrance. Reservations Line: +65 9834 9935
My munchie pal and I continued our quest to find the best high teas in town and we hit a gold mine yesterday – the afternoon tea at Anti:dote, the stylish cocktail bar at Fairmont Singapore. The Anti:dote Tea ($48+++ per pax) comprises an appetizer, sandwiches and puff pastries, mini scones, petit desserts and a choice of coffee or tea (free-flow). Your typical high tea offerings you might say, but what attracted us to try Anti:dote out is that their tea items are ingeniously served, not on a regular 3-tier pastry rack, but on and in a soft-leather jewellery box with drawers!
Service is cordial but the kitchen actually took much time to prepare each tea set. We were there on time at 3pm but weren’t served with it till a good 45 minutes later. Which is why we reckoned they included an appetizer to the set – the organic egg with sea urchin, salmon roe and cavier was prettily served in an egg-shaped metal cup and kept warm among heated pebbles. Quite a unique and flavorful start to a high tea but as we have skipped lunch to build up an appetite, we wished the waiting time wasn’t that long…
Still, the wait was eventually worth it as the box of goodies (comprising two high tea sets) – gingerly carried over to our table by the waitress in order not to topple the petit desserts on top – was really impressive. We started from bottom up ‘cos we were advised to eat the scones first “while they are still warm” and we did so obediently. In the bottom two drawers were small square chia seeds and parmesan cheese scones, accompanied by raspberry jam, lemon curd and Devonshire clotted cream. And seriously, each bite – that melts in your mouth – was yummilicious.
After the scones, we proceeded to the top drawer which housed the “sandwiches”, namely (from left to right above) Boston main lobster with pickled cucumber and seaweed brioche; wild mushroom duxelle vol au vent; smoked salmon with lemon dill cream cheese and ikura roe on rye bread; iberico ham on seasonal truffle tart; and duck confit with foie gras terrine in puff pastry. No complaints with this truly tasty savoury selection – bar maybe the sharp dash of mustard in the last item – which is unlike the usual stuff we get at other high teas.
Shy to say that by the time we got to the top tier containing the very pretty petite desserts, we were already quite full (no thanks to all the carbs from the drawer items…). But stuffed our face we did still and all the chocolate stuff – pralines and nougat – were really delicious, as was the strawberry dressed in a tuxedo. The colourful items such as the mini strawberry cake and Yuzu tartlet were fluffy and extremely sweet, and hence all we could handle was a nibbling of each. If any consolation, a quick glance at every table and we noted that many could not finish off the top tier either (much to the anguish of our waitress, if truth be told…)
Beverage-wise, the tea selection for the high tea is much wider than for coffee – there are black teas, red teas, green teas and fusion mixes, all concocted with TWG tea blends. Though there was only the standard choices for coffee – black, cappuccino and latte – my pal and I opted for coffee this time round and fresh cups would be served whenever we need a refill. And oh, another cool touch – a take-home cookie gift (as seen above) was included in the box set. Nice.
Musings on the M49 