Simply Nyonya by Sharifah Sakinah Aljunid

WHILE OTHER restaurants take pride in cute and clever names, Tang calls his simply Nyonya Restaurant. The practical man prefers to take pride in the heritage of this neighbourhood eatery, telling us that it has been around for 30 years.

I may be the fourth owner of this restaurant, says Tang who comes from Taiping. But the kitchen staff has been working here for the last 20 years.

The original owners were peranakan so you can expect some authentic dishes like Curry Kapitan and the ever-popular Asam Fish, which Tang has maintained.

I tried both. The fish in the tamarind-laced gravy was fresh. I liked the fact that the okras were still green and cooked just right, not soft and slimy. The chicken in the Curry Kapitan was tasty but I thought they could have omitted the chicken skin for health reasons.

Nonetheless, these have become the restaurant's signature dishes along with Prawn Sambal, Sambal Ikan Bilis and Pucuk Paku Masak Lemak. The Sambal Ikan Bilis was the sweet and dry variety; the sort you could pack and bring along on an overseas trip.

If you bring children along, order the Honeyed Chicken. They will love the sweet and sticky taste right down to the bone.

The Mango Salad was not the best I tasted but still, it had lots of chopped chili padi to provide that zing in the mouth. The chef didn't skimp on crushed groundnuts either which I thought I could actually do without a natural reaction from someone who pushes the nuts away in her daily nasi lemak.

A new item on the menu was the Baba Dumpling. These were patties made with minced water chestnuts, carrots, prawns and tenggiri paste with the smells of lemongrass, galanggal and kaffir lime leaves. Frankly, I didn't think very much of them.

However, I thought the Gado-Gado was very good. So what if this wasn't really a Nyonya dish? The long beans. kangkung, hard-boiled eggs and tofu were flavourful when mixed and eaten with the spicy peanut sauce.

The latest addition was soft shell crabs. Customers can order these fried, or honeyed or in asam gravy, says Tang.

"So far, the response to both original and new items have been encouraging. We have patrons who have been faithful all these years. They used to frequent the restaurant when they were in their teens and now, they walk in here with their grandchildren in hand," says Tang.

Nyonya Restaurant also provides food packages for announcing births. This service started back in 1986 and Tang has renamed it the Auspicious Baby Full Moon gift pack.

Contents vary depending on the price. There's nasi kunyit, chicken curry, kuih angku, pickled ginger and red-coloured eggs.

Source: The News Straits Times, March 23rd 2005