NonyaBong The Peranakan

Overall:
This place is highly raved and it is good but the prices are seriously ridiculous. What's notable is that this is just half the usual number of dishes, for half the price of private dining. I shudder at the thought of paying 130bucks for way too much food

Food:
Banana Pengat was alright, nothing particular special except the price and the portion. I'm not sure how 4-5 people can finish this. Also there's this sourness in the banana that wasn't very good

Delivery troubles: the food came 1h earlier than expected and this was troubling because no one was home yet. Hope it's just teething issues, not sure how long they've done delivery for

Food:
It's really a ball of rather firm liver, with some pieces inside with a strong bite. The liver taste is quite particular, and it's really quite an interesting dish.

The kiam chye is super unique and incredibly good

Worth a try

90% ckn 10% pork

Quite a unique version because the gravy is 50% similar to curry, without much dark colours and without strong buah keluak taste. However the buah keluak nut itself was super strong. As such, when you have both the ckn and the nut tgt, they don't mesh perfectly.

Quite a unique version and possibly the best I've tried. Note that the portion is huge, this is nearly double the size of the other dishes for 15bucks more

Prawn was high quality, and the petai are the best I've had. It's a league of its own, very crunchy and fat slivers, not the soft nonsense you find everywhere else. The portion is tiny but it works out because the petai was pungent and not everyone enjoys it

The price is ridiculous for the portion though, and the flavours weren't as intense as could be even tho the aroma was

Their small portion serves 4-5

Ckn gizzard and ckn liver. It was more gizzard, the sambal was thick and not very spicy with a strong lemongrass aroma. Very addictive

But for this price?? Lol

Our slow-mo mahjong game yesterday can be attributed to the insane lunch we had prior at @nonyabong private dining. I decided to pick from Uncle Jeffrey’s a la carte menu for my group of mostly first-timers instead of choosing the “Eat Until Pain” and “Eat Until Pengsan” 8 and 10-course set menus. Judging from everyone’s enthusiastic praises, I guess I did very well.
Ordering my personal beloved dishes first was a no-brainer. These included Kueh Pie Tee (every part of it is made from scratch at Nonya Bong), Itek Tim (there’s fresh green chillies and brandy to dress your “kiam chye” duck soup), Sambal Hati (a mash-up of chicken gizzard, liver and heart in a rich, thick lemongrass-scented paste-like sauce), Sambal Belimbing (this feminine creation blazes with a bright acidity), Chicken and Pork Buah Keluak (double protein and fully-stuffed nuts for the win), Sambal Prawns with Petai (the rempah used here is spectacular and that’s why this is my forever favourite), and Wing Bean Salad (very finely-sliced by @icookyoueatishiok, the “kacang botor” is unerringly fresh and crisp, and comes in a pitch-perfect dressing with lime juice and other seasoning, plus prawns and a crunchy nut crumble).
As for the two dishes I decided to order for the first time ever, they turned out to be excellent as well. The Nonya Curry Chicken with its medium-bodied gravy swimming with chicken pieces (not just wings and drumlets), chunks of potato and a couple of tomatoes, was unbelievably aromatic and complex. I was struck by how closely it resembled my late maternal grandmother’s version of the dish - all the familiar spices she used were also in every whiff, slurp and chomp of Nonya Bong’s.
The other new-to-me dish was the Sotong Hitam. I’ve had my eye on it for the longest time and after gobbling it yesterday, I can say it’s been worth the wait. While the squid itself was tender and full of roe (we got lucky as it’s the season), the squid ink gravy was delightfully tangy with a slight sweetness. I loved it.
In the midst of eating, we were accidentally blessed with a serving of Beef Rendang. How fortuitous as everyone ended up enjoying every bite of the aromatic and tender meat.
After Uncle Jeffrey presented the Sago Pudding in his inimitable style, the eight of us inhaled our bowls of tiny slippery pearls in au naturel Orang Asli gula melaka and cold-pressed coconut milk that’s been mixed with some coconut water and a touch of salt. It was also the first time in all my visits that the Sago Pudding was completely wiped out.