Guan Hoe Soon @ Joo Chiat

The Hainanese community is renowned for its role in Singapore’s food history. From immigrants who found a niche in the service sector as restaurant cooks and domestic help in wealthy European and Peranakan households, they eventually set up their own restaurants in the post-War years. In fact, Singapore’s kopitiam culture has been largely attributed to the Hainanese.

Guan Hoe Soon Restaurant has been serving authentic Peranakan cuisine in Joo Chiat since 1953, and is the oldest Peranakan restaurant in Singapore. Founded by Hainanese Yap Chee Quee, he learnt about Nyonya cooking when he was a housekeeper for a Peranakan family. Now the place is run by third generation, his granddaughter Jenny Yap.

Ngoh Hiang

Ngoh hiang is made with ground meat seasoned with five-spice powder, sometimes shrimp/fish paste is added, shredded jicama, shredded carrots, or other veggies, salted egg yolks and then wrapped in dried bean curd sheets into a sausage-like shape and then steamed and deep-fried.

Beef Rendang

The secret to a good rendang is in the rempah, the secret blend of spices of which the recipe is as closely guarded as Colonel’s original by every bibik in each Peranakan family. This is a very good rendang, the spice mix is a good balance of heat and sweetness.

Mutton Rendang

The rendang rempah tasted exactly like the beef rendang, but you knew its mutton because the meat was rather musky.

Babi Pong Tay

Babi pong tay is a much loved, traditional Peranakan dish of braised pork in fermented soy bean sauce with bold  sweet-salty, savoury flavours. Unlike Malays, who are mostly Muslim, Peranakan is often mistaken to have taken the same religion (although a minority has). Pork is a common meat in the Nyonya diet.

Nonya Chap Chye (Cabbage)

Chap chye loosely translates to mixed vegetables, which is very accurate in this case. Fresh vegetables tossed with dried mushrooms and broth-soaked tang hoon (glass noodles), which I personally think that the least elaborate dish to make, as compared to the other peranakan dishes, is a flavour explosion in your mouth

Bakwan Kerpiting Soup

The Peranakan Chinese are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled on the Malay archipelago. Therefore some of their cuisine are largely familiar dishes from the Teochew/Hokkien genre of cooking. Bakwan Kepiting, or pork and crab meatball soup, is named for its ingredients – bakwan means meatball 肉丸 in Hokkien and kepiting means crab in Malay –is the best example of the fusion between the cultures. This version is satisfying with a wonderful taste of pork and sweetness of crab.

Ikan Kepala Assam Curry (Curry Fish Head)

The assam curry uses spices but made lighter and sourish with the addition of tamarind paste and pineapple. Fresh herbs like laksa leaves and torch ginger flower heightens the flavours. The curry is light, spicy sour that goes well with a hot bowl of steaming rice.

And they supplied no normal steamed white rice. The steamed rice they provided was made visually palatable with blue pea juice for an attractive blue hue.

Jeeny’s husband Raymond is now the head chef of Guan Hoe Soon – and even Ah Gong’s treasured recipes have been entrusted to him. The food is good, but the lack of blue blood lineage can be tasted in some of the dishes.

Guan Hoe Soon Restaurant
200 Joo Chiat Rd #01-01, Singapore 427471
Tel : +65 96332833/63442761 (Reservations)

Visited Feb 2025