Chifa!
Peruvian food is already hard to find here, with only a handful of eateries such as Canchita in Dempsey Hill focusing on the cuisine. So Peruvian-Chinese cooking is probably something that even fewer Singaporeans can wrap their head around.
They can now taste this hybrid cuisine at Chifa!, a new restaurant at Resorts World Sentosa which had a soft opening in January.
Located next to Oasia, one of the resort’s celebrity restaurants, in a row called Ave8, Chifa! highlights an interesting style of cooking that started with Chinese immigrants to Peru in the 1800s. They started incorporating local elements and ingredients in the kitchen and the term for their cooking, chifa, is a Peruvian transliteration of the Chinese term for having a meal – “chi fan”, which literally means “eat rice”.
At Chifa!, helmed by chef Rodrigo Serrano from Peru, some dishes are obviously Peruvian. There are also some that appear Chinese, but with a twist.
An example is the Whole Fish Jalapeno Style (market price). The tiger garoupa is steamed the Cantonese way, but comes topped with chopped pickled jalapeno peppers. The peppers are not as fiery as I expect and remind me of the pickled red chillies from China that are more salty than spicy.
The Andean-Peru Potatoes ($12) is also familiar, like the stir-fried julienned potatoes you find in north-eastern Chinese cooking, even though it is made with Peruvian purple and yellow potatoes. They have the same crisp texture and hint of spice from dried chillies.
Dishes that are less Chinese include the ceviches, a Peruvian favourite in which raw seafood is cured with a citrus juice and eaten cold. I am not a big fan of cured fish, but the Red Snapper Ceviche Carretillero ($24) boasts so many different textures and flavours from toppings of crispy calamari, sweet potato and banana chips, plus canchita, a toasted corn.
I also like the beef dishes, including the Wagyu Torched Tiradito ($40) in which slices of beef are marinated in charcoal oil, wasabi emulsion and tiger’s milk, a popular ceviche sauce made with lime juice.
Where: Chifa!, Ave8, Resorts World Sentosa
MRT: HarbourFront
Open: Thursdays to Mondays, 5 to 11pm. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Tel: 6577-6688
Info: str.sg/wvD2
The Coconut Club
The Coconut Club’s second outlet in Frankel Avenue, which opened last month, is like a holiday outpost compared with its Beach Road flagship. The East Coast locale, which is surrounded by terrace houses, has a relaxed vibe that makes it feel like everyone is on a prolonged vacation.
On a recent weekday lunch, for example, the tables were filled with couples and small groups who wandered in from the neighbourhood and appeared to be in no hurry to get back to work. There is none of the hustle and bustle of the office crowds that throng the city outlet during the mid-day peak hour.
But its outlet in Frankel Avenue is a smaller space, so it is still best to make a reservation, especially on weekends when the brunch crowd takes over the row of eateries there.
The menu is also leaner, but there are some new dishes that are exclusive to the outlet. Among them is Dry Laksa ($21), comprising thick beehoon cooked with rempah and coconut milk, but without the broth. It comes with shredded chicken and tiger prawns.
Another is Apom Berkuah With Pisang Pengat ($16), a dessert of fluffy fermented rice cakes paired with bananas cooked in gula melaka sauce. It is delicious and the apom has pretty swirls of brilliant blue from the juice of blue pea flowers.
Of course, you should still order the nasi lemak ($21) that The Coconut Club built its reputation on. You have a choice of ayam goreng berempah or kembong fish. I always pick the former, which is a meaty piece of spiced fried organic chicken that comes with crispy spice crumbs.
Where: The Coconut Club Siglap, 97 Frankel Avenue
MRT: Kembangan
Open: Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, 11am to 9.30pm, Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 9.30pm
Tel: 8028-3486
Info: thecoconutclub.sg
