Chanced upon this new eatery named Nana Dolly’s whilst walking around the Rochor area and made a mental note to make a return for it since we haven’t really got dinner all planned out. Located at 10 Perak Road, Nana Dolly’s is located in the same row of shophouses as Fat Queen Cooks, which moved in to replace the now-defunct Nanyang Culinary Club not too long ago. Turns out, Nana Dolly’s is an establishment specialising in Peranakan fare that is run by first-time F&B owners whom are looking to preserve the legacy of Peranakan cuisine. From the facade of the establishment, there are some clues of the brand’s focus in Peranakan fare — the use of Peranakan-style plate for the alphabet “O” in “Dolly’s”; the interior meanwhile sees a splash of bright colours with seatings and tables in different wooden accents — the cushions for the seating features alternating colours such as blue and green to match up with the yellower and redder tones of wood that the furniture uses. There are also details like mosaic tiles and Peranakan memorabilia that can be found at certain spots all around, further bringing the diners close to what Nana Dolly’s has been conceptualised as. Whilst there is a hard copy menu that one can refer to at the restaurant, it is noted that the online menu via the QR code place at the table is a more accurate version of what Nana Dolly’s has to serve currently — the menu mainly features sharing plates, snacks (which mostly include salads and fried food), and sides (mainly comprises of vegetable dishes) — a Kueh platter of 5 pieces of Nonya Kueh is also available as a dessert listed in the “Snacks” section of the menu to finish the meal off with. Beverages available at Nana Dolly’s include espresso-based specialty coffee, as well as special concoctions such as a Cute Cute Pink Drink, and Aromatico.

Visiting Nana Dolly’s for dinner, we found ourselves going for the Mengkabo Pork Belly to be had with a plate of White Rice on the side. For those whom are unaware of what Mengkabo Pork Belly is, this is essentially a Nonya-style chilli pork dish — some sources have claimed that this is also a dish that is particularly difficult to find in Singapore in current times. It is noted that Nana Dolly’s does serve up two variants of the Mengkabo dish — one being the Mengkabo Chicken, and another being the Mengkabo Pork Belly; there is also a difference in the listed price on the menu between the two variants featuring different types of meat — the Mengkabo Chicken being the lower-priced one at $10, while the Mengkabo Pork Belly is priced at $13. The menu describes the Mengkabo Pork Belly as “tender pieces of pork belly braised in a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce”. Given how the Mengkabo Pork Belly does come as an item similar to a stew, our order of the rice helps to provide a vehicle to mop up all of that stew up to savour all that flavour the dish comes with. The stew itself already comes with all those notes as promised in the description; there is a slight sweetness that is accompanied with a light hint of sour-ish tang that provides a little bit of flavour contrast to the pork belly — whilst some will likely be expecting the pork belly to be totally melt-in-the-mouth and tender like most Chinese-style pork belly dishes, this was definitely one closer to that of what one would expect from a Peranakan establishment. Meaty and carrying quite a fair bit of bite especially from the lean parts, we like that there isn’t any porky stench that comes with the pork belly.

As for the “rempah” component of the Mengkabo Pork Belly, this carries quite a fair bit of kick from the raw chilies used — one could definitely taste the freshness of the chilies and that fiery note that it comes with; definitely something that will tingle the tastebuds even for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness. It was a bit of a shame that we were not able to try more of their dishes during the visit — we visited the establishment by ourselves alone and there was just limited stomach capacity on what we could take in. That being said, the folks were kind to serve us a complimentary portion of the Assorted Kueh Platter as part of their opening celebrations — the Kuehs served do seem supplied to say the least, though it still does deserve some credit for how they still maintained being fresh despite us visiting the establishment in the evening; something that sounds awfully basic on paper, but Kuehs are notorious for being fussy items to maintain freshness for a long period of time. We probably aren’t the correct folks to give an opinion on Peranakan fare especially considering our lack of a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, but it does feel that Nana Dolly’s is a spot that really wishes to bring back the iconic flavours of lost Peranakan cuisine and re-ignite the interest of these long-lost recipes with the patrons who comes true their doors. Considering so, they might quite be that establishment that is pretty worthy of checking out.