Monthly Digest
A hearty Peranakan feast at Pangium
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Pangium’s new menu is inspired by tok panjang — the long table feast that embodies the essence of Peranakan hospitality.
PHOTO: PANGIUM
- Pangium celebrates its fourth anniversary with a renewed focus on Peranakan cuisine.
- The menu features standout dishes like a unique Pang Susi bun, rich Pong Tauhu soup and an oyster wagyu beef rendang.
- The full menu is priced at $188++ and a smaller lunch version costs $138++.
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SINGAPORE – Pangium, a glassy, one-Michelin-starred establishment nestled deep in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, marks its fourth anniversary with a menu that returns to its roots.
External cultural influences recede from view and Peranakan cuisine returns to the forefront in all its flamboyant glory.
The meal starts with a procession of staggered small plates, marked by the sort of precision typically expected of fine dining, but without the tedium. The snacks, most of which are inventive reinterpretations of Peranakan and local classics, never lose sight of what they are supposed to be.
There is ngoh hiang stuffed with pork and prawns; achar shaved ice, featherlight and a godsend in this heat; kueh pie tee with lobster; and keropok made with 60 per cent ang kar prawn flesh.
Next comes the kitchen’s take on Pang Susi, a traditional Eurasian meat bun. This version resembles a bolo bun, with a sugar crust and pork cheek filling. Utterly addictive, it is my favourite bite of the meal.
Another round of snacks follows – here, I encounter the buah keluak pais, a smoked fish cake paired with a punchy black sauce made from the famous seed, as well as a fried soft-shell prawn and a terrific Nasi Tehe Tehe studded with uni.
Pong Tauhu soup at Pangium.
PHOTO: PANGIUM
And then the soup, a cousin of the traditional pong tauhu, only infinitely richer. Whole prawns are roasted and blended, then mixed with chicken stock, fried garlic and tau cheo to create this bisque-like concoction, which perfectly complements the milder pork-stuffed turnip, carved to resemble a chrysanthemum blossom.
At the meal’s crescendo, five dishes descend in quick succession on the table: Kerabu Siput (a tangy herb salad with snails); smoked duck meatballs in spicy coconut milk gravy; and crispy fried egg with minced meat curry.
They are joined shortly after by wagyu beef rendang and tau yu bak, except the pork belly, in this case, is replaced by a “lighter” version, made by layering sea cucumber on top of pork mousse and braised pork jowl.
Creative though it may be, this substitution strikes me as needlessly complicated and sticks out in a spread that otherwise evokes the straightforward pleasure of communal Peranakan dining – the meal, after all, is inspired by tok panjang, a traditional Peranakan long table feast.
The highlight of this round is undoubtedly the beef rendang, topped ingeniously with a layer of dried Korean oysters that add a smoky, umami depth.
Other dishes vary in consistency. The duck meatballs lose heat far too quickly and the fried egg, drowned in gravy, is no longer crispy.
For dessert, chef Malcolm Lee revives sagun, a long-lost treat rarely found elsewhere these days. Traditionally made from toasted rice flour, grated coconut and sugar, it is turned here into a coconut sorbet dusted with toasted glutinous rice flour and grated coconut.
And finally, the restaurant sends you off with a plate of yet more sweets: a mix of kueh and a scoop of corn ice cream.
The whole menu costs $188++. A truncated version – Tok Panjang Kecil – is also available for lunch at $138++ a person.
Where: 11 Gallop Road Gallop Entrance, Singapore Botanic Gardens
MRT: Farrer Road
Open: Noon to 2.30pm, Thursdays to Saturdays; 6.30pm to 10pm, Wednesdays to Saturdays
Info: str.sg/uKZF
