National Kitchen by Violet Oon at National Gallery Singapore

Violet, the Chef of National Kitchen by Violet Oon at National Gallery Singapore, was born a Singapore Nyonya in 1949, specialising in Nyonya food. Her reputation as a chef and food connoisseur spans the international arena and she often represents Singapore as a food ambassador abroad.

National Kitchen by Violet Oon is the second outlet after its flagship in Bukit Timah. Dressed in colorful Peranakan tiles, mirrors, dark wood paneling, monochromatic mosaic floor tiles and kopitiam chairs, it enhances the rich Singapore Heritage culture in the restaurant.

The lunch and dinner reservations are usually snapped up very quickly and in order to get yourself a seat, you may need to book your reservation as early as 2 weeks in advance. We’re lucky to get a reservation for the afternoon tea at 3:00pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Priced at $56++ per set for 2 pax, you will get to enjoy both sweet and savoury peranakan food. We event topped up our set with the Dry Laksa at $7++ per pax which didn’t disappoint us.

Fresh rice noodles tossed in Violet’s special laksa gravy topped with prawns, tau pok and bean sprouts. Heavenly delicious!

We started off with the first tier which comes with the Pulled Beef Sambal Pao, slow cooked pulled beef in spicy and mildly sweet sambal served with steamed bun, and the Hae Bee Hiam Sandwich.

Moving on to the second tier, we have some interesting selections, such as the Otak Crostini and Buak Keluak Crostini, infused with a melange of spices, minced prawns and coconut milk on a buttered crostini.

Look at the selections of kuehs available to end our meal on a sweet note. My favourite will be the Kueh lapis and Kueh Dah Dah, grated coconut cooked with gula melaka wrapped with pandan infused crepe.