Candlenut’s dessert take on Buah Keluak (Truffle of the east)
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A scoop of Buah Keluak ice-cream is mixed with 80% Valhrona chocolate, served on a bed of salted caramel, chocolate crumble and chilli specks. And then topped with warm milk chocolate espuma
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The buah keluak ice-cream itself has an nice interesting combination flavours of bitterness, earthiness and a tinge of sourness
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After mixing it with the salty sweet caramel, smooth warm milk chocolate espuma, chili specks and chocolate crumble, it produce a nice harmony of bitter, salty, sweet, sour and spicy flavours
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But when the chocolate coated pop rocks touch my mouth and started to pop non-stop like a mini firework, it made my mouth feel like a theatrical orchestra and managed to uplift the existing bitter-salty-sweet-sour-spicy flavours
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It is glazed with kicap manis, grilled and smoked over charcoal. The pork was tender and grilled to perfection. But I didn’t how the satay was fully coated with kicap manis. I would ask for the kicap manis on the side next time.
Fried with rich Indonesian black nut sambal, Frenz organic sunny-side up egg. Maggi goreng only available for takeaway/delivery. $26+ each.
1 Star (Michelin Guide Singapore)
These were the starters from the dinner set menu.
Lobster Kueh Pie Tee
Lamb satay (they changed it to pork if you don’t take lamb)
Roti Jala with chicken curry
Coconut shrimp
Everything came perfectly portioned for a small group of eaters. Our favourites were the roti jala and satay.
🍴DINE OUT🍴
📍Candlenut, 17a Dempsey Rd📍
💸 Bakwan Kepiting soup: $14
💸 Ngoh Hiang: $20
💸 Chap Chye: $22
💸 Kurobuta Pork Neck Satay: $20
💸 Chef's Mum's Curry Chicken: $26
💸 Aunt Caroline's Babi Buah Keluak: $30
💸 Kueh Salat: $16
...
Visited Candlenut for an authentic and exquisite peranakan dishes!!😋 Had some of the peranakan staples like the ngoh hiang, chap chye, chicken curry, babi buah keluak and bakwan kepiting soup. Lastly, rounded up with a kueh salat. Definitely wowed us with the strong flavours and how homely and comforting the food tasted🏠. A little pricey for sure, but the flavour of the dishes were super on point!! Definitely worthy of its title as the world's first michelin-starred peranakan restaurant.👍✨
Helmed by Chef👨🍳 @malcolmleeee, @candlenutsg takes a contemporary yet authentic approach to traditional Straits-Chinese cuisine. Received a Michelin star since 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣6️⃣, the restaurant serves up refined Peranakan cusine that preserves the essence and complexities of traditional food, with modern twists🔀 that lift the often rich dishes to another level🤩.
😋 = Must-order
👉Candlenut’s Buah Keluak Fried Rice😋 - SGD26
fried with rich Indonesian black nut sambal, Frenz organic sunny-side up egg
👉Blue Swimmer Crab Curry😋 - SGD38
turmeric, galangal, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf
👉Snake River Farm Kurobuta Pork Neck Satay😋 - SGD20
glazed with kicap manis, grilled and smoked over charcoal
👉Bakwan Kepiting Soup - SGD14
blue swimmer crab chicken tofu balls, tofu puff, bamboo shoot, rich chicken broth boiled over 4hrs
👉Kueh Salat - SGD16
perfectly smooth custard made with naturally extracted pandan and coconut milk steamed with fragrant glutinous rice cake coloured with fresh blue pea flower, served with young coconut sorbet
Perhaps I’m not a connoisseur in Peranakan food but I thought the dishes we had were delicious😋 and met our expectations too. In short, I will just let the photos and food speak for themselves😉. And finally, not exactly the most important to me but their amazing service deserves a noteworthy mention☺️👍.
❗️Pro-tip: When asked if you want still or sparkling water, opt for free tap water🚰. That SGD9 you saved can almost get you their Classic Chendol Cream dessert😄.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📍Candlenut
17a Dempsey Road, S249676
Helmed by Chef👨🍳 @malcolmleeee, @candlenutsg takes a contemporary yet authentic approach to traditional Straits-Chinese cuisine. Received a Michelin star since 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣6️⃣, the restaurant serves up refined Peranakan cusine that preserves the essence and complexities of traditional food, with modern twists🔀 that lift the often rich dishes to another level🤩.
😋 = Must-order
👉Candlenut’s Buah Keluak Fried Rice😋 - SGD26
fried with rich Indonesian black nut sambal, Frenz organic sunny-side up egg
👉Blue Swimmer Crab Curry😋 - SGD38
turmeric, galangal, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf
👉Snake River Farm Kurobuta Pork Neck Satay😋 - SGD20
glazed with kicap manis, grilled and smoked over charcoal
👉Bakwan Kepiting Soup - SGD14
blue swimmer crab chicken tofu balls, tofu puff, bamboo shoot, rich chicken broth boiled over 4hrs
👉Kueh Salat - SGD16
perfectly smooth custard made with naturally extracted pandan and coconut milk steamed with fragrant glutinous rice cake coloured with fresh blue pea flower, served with young coconut sorbet
Perhaps I’m not a connoisseur in Peranakan food but I thought the dishes we had were delicious😋 and met our expectations too. In short, I will just let the photos and food speak for themselves😉. And finally, not exactly the most important to me but their amazing service deserves a noteworthy mention☺️👍.
❗️Pro-tip: When asked if you want still or sparkling water, opt for free tap water🚰. That SGD9 you saved can almost get you their Classic Chendol Cream dessert😄.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📍Candlenut
17a Dempsey Road, S249676
Helmed by Chef👨🍳 @malcolmleeee, @candlenutsg takes a contemporary yet authentic approach to traditional Straits-Chinese cuisine. Received a Michelin star since 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣6️⃣, the restaurant serves up refined Peranakan cusine that preserves the essence and complexities of traditional food, with modern twists🔀 that lift the often rich dishes to another level🤩.
😋 = Must-order
👉Candlenut’s Buah Keluak Fried Rice😋 - SGD26
fried with rich Indonesian black nut sambal, Frenz organic sunny-side up egg
👉Blue Swimmer Crab Curry😋 - SGD38
turmeric, galangal, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf
👉Snake River Farm Kurobuta Pork Neck Satay😋 - SGD20
glazed with kicap manis, grilled and smoked over charcoal
👉Bakwan Kepiting Soup - SGD14
blue swimmer crab chicken tofu balls, tofu puff, bamboo shoot, rich chicken broth boiled over 4hrs
👉Kueh Salat - SGD16
perfectly smooth custard made with naturally extracted pandan and coconut milk steamed with fragrant glutinous rice cake coloured with fresh blue pea flower, served with young coconut sorbet
Perhaps I’m not a connoisseur in Peranakan food but I thought the dishes we had were delicious😋 and met our expectations too. In short, I will just let the photos and food speak for themselves😉. And finally, not exactly the most important to me but their amazing service deserves a noteworthy mention☺️👍.
❗️Pro-tip: When asked if you want still or sparkling water, opt for free tap water🚰. That SGD9 you saved can almost get you their Classic Chendol Cream dessert😄.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📍Candlenut
17a Dempsey Road, S249676
We were there to celebrate a birthday and instead of ordering a few ala carte dishes, we opted for the ‘Taste of Candlenut’ January menu ($68++ per pax) which comprises of tasting portions of several signature dishes of the restaurant.
We started off with a trio of small bites from kueh pie tee to itek sioh on fried mantou to charcoal grilled Westholm wagyu beef satay. Unfortunately, the dining experience started off on the wrong footing as one of the fried mantous contained duck bones from the pulled braised duck meat, which we proceeded to send it back to the kitchen. The mains arrived shortly after and the bakwan kepiting soup (blue swimmer crab chicken tofu balls in chicken broth), sayur Nangka kerabu (young jackfruit salad) and buah keluak sotong were very much enjoyable and the experience was truly redeemed by the care and concern from the staff from the horrifying encounter and the excellent showcase of desserts, red bean bandung and homemade nyonya kueh.
•••••••••••••••••••
✨ Candlenut
📍 17A Dempsey Road, Singapore 249676
🛵 https://candlenutsingapore.menu/
🍴 [Self Funded]
[Dishes: Sambal Four Heavenly Kings + Chincalok Omelette + Udang Sambal Petai + Blue Swimmer Crab Curry + Chef's Mum's Chicken Curry] [Dessert: Cendol Cream + Petite Kueh Kosui and Kueh Bingkah Platter + Kueh Salat]
There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said, so I'll just say it anyway: superb and delectable and flavourful and amazing!!!! My favourite was definitely the Chef's Mum's Chicken Curry but the Blue Swimmer Crab Curry was a close second. The dessert was ALSO amazing and the Cendol Cream was so incredible.
I am a fan for Peranakan food, so we went @candlenutsg for my Birthday meal.
Unfortunately, due to the lighting there, I didn't manage to get a good shot of all dishes we've tried.
-Ngoh Hiang ❤
-Bakwan Kepiting Soup
-Chef’s Mum’s Chicken Curry ❤
-Chap Chye ❤
-Aunt Caroline’s Babi Buah Keluak
-Udang Sambal Petai
-Chincalok Omelette ❤
-Mao Shan Wang Durian Cake ❤
-Petite Kueh Kosui and Kueh Bingkah Platter
-Candlenut’s Classic Chendol Cream
-Kueh Salat
Overall the dishes are good & flavourful but not that it will woah us. Those with ❤ are my personal favourites. Their services are definitely worth mentioning 👍🏻.
Would I go back again? Maybe during occasions for a luxurious dining experience with Peranakan dishes.
One Michelin Star Peranakan restaurant located at Dempsey Hill. Great food, great service, great ambience! Portion was pretty small tho.
Food: 5/5
Price: 3.5/5
Ambience: 5/5
Well deserved 1 Michelin star. Ambience, food and service was excellent. Portions was albeit small for price but nonetheless felt it was worth the $$. Blue swimmer crab curry, assam sotong and wing bean salad are highly recommended.
I haven’t had enough to compare, but @candlenutsg's 𝗸𝘂𝗲𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘁 ($25/200g, $45/400g, $80/800g) thoroughly met my lofty expectations.
That pandan custard felt like dreamy satin which fondled the palate, leaving gentle imprints of its heavenly aroma.
Concurrently, the mellow saltiness of the sticky but airy glutinous rice provided a sublime counterpoint.
Akin to an elegantly crafted concerto of flavours and textures — articulate without excessiveness. It's like tasting “Blue Danube” reverberating in my mouth.
IG: @indulgentism
Read more on my website, link in bio.
The sauce that cloaked this assam sotong ($24) was impossibly nuanced and boasted of delicate sour notes of Assam whilst lightly washed with gentle brininess.
That sauce brimmed with a depth of flavour as deep as its shade of ocean abyss — perfectly slathered onto the springy and soft baby squid
IG: @indulgentism
Read more on my website, link in bio.
Fresh crab swam in this velvety and heart-meltingly sweet blue swimmer crab curry ($32). Perfumed with intoxicating coconut milk, it also carried a controlled heat which complemented the succulent crustacean chunks.
IG: @indulgentism
Read more on my website, link in bio.
With a robust and rich prawn stock, this was a chap chye ($20) unlike any other. Perfectly cooked components gave it a nice mix of textures. That crisp soft leafy crunch bolstered by strands of bouncy tang hoon — lovely.
IG: @indulgentism
Read more on my website, link in bio.
A stimulatingly fragrant mix of gentle bitterness and umami from the buah keluak underscored this buah keluak fried rice ($24). The sunnyside up was too perfect but I didn’t regret poking into the yolk, which saw a silkiness coated onto each perfectly separated grain of moist rice.
IG: @indulgentism
Read more on my website, link in bio.
A nice tamarind rub on the skin gave this ayam sioh abakar ($20/half, $32/full) some beautiful umami. Dipping it in the sauce accentuated the juicy meat’s sweetness with a bold piquancy that brought out the flavours more strinkingly.
IG: @indulgentism
Read the full review on my website, link in bio.
I am not usually a fan of “Kueh Salat” but this beauty has got to be the best I‘ve had.
The most striking thing about it is the kaya. Unlike the bright to deep green shade found in many others, this one by Executive Chef-owner Malcolm Lee of One MICHELIN Starred Candlenut Peranakan restaurant is a pale green, and is ultra silky soft and smooth. As mild as the kaya custard looks, it wields surprisingly enormous fragrance, richness and flavour as it’s made from freshly-squeezed coconut milk and pandan juice. Married perfectly with it is steamed “pulut” or glutinous rice that hits the right notes in ratio, moisture and texture. Together, they are formidable enough to have well-meaning diet plans and iron-clad resolutions melt away like butter on a hot pan. My mum will be the first to vouch for that 😂.
If you are keen to try this Kueh Salat (and I recommend you do), please visit Candlenut‘s website to place your order.
