This Golden Mile Stall Has Been Serving Peranakan Food Since The 1980s—Does It Still Hold Up?

Charlie’s Peranakan Food is a popular Golden Mile Food Centre stall

It’s rare to find Peranakan food in a hawker centre. You’d typically think of private diners and restaurants instead, thanks to the tedious processes that go into preparing each dish. Charlie’s Peranakan Food, located in the basement of Golden Mile Food Centre, is one of very few hawkers who still offer Nyonya fare.

Everything here is made from scratch in-house, according to the recipes passed down through Charlie’s mother. The stall has been around since the 1980s, though they’ve moved several times since Charlie first started out in Bukit Merah. In fact, Charlie and his wife, Amy, who helps him run Charlie’s Peranakan Food today, took an eight-year break before eventually reopening in 2017.

Food at Charlie’s Peranakan Food

For a small, humble hawker stall, their menu is quite extensive, spanning over 30 items including pork, chicken, and veggie dishes.

To start off our meal, we had the Chap Chye ($5).

We were more than satisfied with the sizable serving, which—despite being priced at just $5—came with a load of Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, tofu skin, and springy vermicelli, all drenched in a traditional chap chye sauce.

While the taste didn’t blow our minds, it was still a delicious plate of chap chye. We enjoyed the umami-rich sauce, which had a gentle earthy sweetness from the braised vegetables and fermented bean paste. That said, we would’ve preferred it if it had prawns or pork, as other eateries do.

Next, we had to try their buah keluak, seeing as it’s a signature item. There are two kinds of buah keluak that you can get here, both served in an assam-forward gravy: Ayam Buah Keluak ($13) and Buah Keluak Tulang Babi ($13), AKA Buah Keluak Chicken and Buah Keluak Pork Ribs, respectively. As recommended by Amy, we went with the former.

While waiting for our order, Amy explained that the dish is made with three buah keluak seeds per serving, all of which go through an extensive detox process to remove the poisonous cyanide that’s naturally present in the seeds’ raw form.

The flesh of the buah keluak is then extracted, mixed with spices, and re-stuffed into the nut, before being braised with chunks of chicken and an aromatic tamarind sauce.

To make sure that we didn’t miss out on any filling, Amy gave us wooden sticks to scrape out every inch of the shell.

The kernel inside boasted a velvety smooth texture. We loved the rich flavours of the bitter, earthy nut, balanced out by the mildly sweet and sour sauce, which paired perfectly with the fluffy white rice. Better yet, the chicken was soft and tender, melting away after just a few chews.

Another standout is the Babi Ponteh ($12), a classic Peranakan braised pork stew cooked with fatty pork belly, soft yet crunchy bamboo shoots, juicy mushrooms, and a delicious sweet-savoury fermented bean and black soy sauce.

The dish came with a generous portion of pork belly. Each slice was cooked to perfection, with gelatinous yet soft fat and fall-apart tender meat. The pork also had a good fat-to-meat ratio, lending a tasty richness to the dish without being cloying.

A rare gem that Charlie serves is Nangka Lemak ($10), a spicy jackfruit stew comparable to sayur lodeh, but creamier, more lemak, and prepared with young jackfruit.

The bowl was filled with huge chunks of jackfruit stewed to tender ends. Despite being left in the curry for a while, they kept a soft and tender texture without becoming soggy or mushy, acting as the perfect vessel for soaking up the rich and coconutty gravy. The coriander garnish was also a nice touch, lifting the heavy flavours with a hint of freshness.

Ambience at Charlie’s Peranakan Food

Charlie’s Peranakan Food is located at Golden Mile Food Centre. While the stall sits in the basement of the open-air hawker centre, the surrounding seating area did not feel stuffy, thanks to the surrounding wall openings that provided ample ventilation.

For easy access, the stall is a quick nine-minute walk from Nicoll Highway MRT Station and Lavender MRT Station.

Charlie’s Peranakan Food – Eatbook review

Overall, Charlie’s Peranakan Food is a solid spot for an affordable and satisfying traditional Peranakan meal. Most dishes here cost below $15, a great deal considering the amount of time and care that goes into preserving and executing these heritage recipes. Coupled with the convenient location, we definitely see ourselves coming back in the near future.

For more great eats at Golden Mile Food Centre, check out Dragon Curry for $5 curry rice by an ex-Jumbo chef. Otherwise, read our guide to the best Peranakan food in Singapore to enjoy the best that this cuisine has to offer.

Address: 505 Beach Road, #B1-30, Golden Mile Food Centre, Singapore 199583
Opening hours: Daily 11:30am to 7:30pm
Tel: 9789 6304
Website
Charlie’s Peranakan Food is not a halal-certified eatery.

Photos taken by Marcus Neo.
This was an independent review by Eatbook.sg.