For lunch, we ta-powed (takeaway) some dishes from Nonya Bong. This eatery serves rather decent Peranakan food in basic surroundings. The style is close to Penang style, I think the owner was from Penang. Go early, most dishes are cooked in a big batch once a day. The Tau Yu Bak (Pork Belly braised in Soya Sauce) has tender pork with melt-in-the-mouth fat cooked with garlic and dried squid in a sweet-ish soya sauce, really wicked. Today we tried the Salted Fish Bone Vegetable Curry, it is like an intense fish curry with loads of vegetables minus the fish, an acquired taste for me. The Ayam Buah Keluak is the type I like, i.e. they do not mix the nut paste with pork, so each buah contains loads of the truffle-y paste, again, very tasty. They have desserts too, like the homely Kueh Kosui, soft rice cakes cooked in gula melaka. At night, most popular dishes would have run out, but they stay open anyway, and will cook simpler one-wok dish, like Ikan Gulai, to order.
Clockwise from top: Kueh Kosui, Tau-yu Bak, Salted Fish Bone Vegetable Curry, Chap Chye (mixed vegetables) and Ayam Buah Keluak. Centre: Sotong Pedas.
Nonya Bong
432 Balestier Road
#01-434, Public Mansion
