I’ve never met a bowl of Buah Keluak noodles I didn’t like.
One of the earliest, if not the earliest, was the “Buah Keluak Mee Pok” by @chefshentan at the now-defunct Revolution Coffee cafe. I remember trying to chew while gaping in wonderment at its deliciousness, on top of being a bit flustered at finally meeting Chef herself properly (#fangurling).
Shown above is the most recent, which took place here where it appears as the seventh of nine courses in Chef Ming Kiat’s September menu. Naturally, each person has their own take and his featured an oxtail buah keluak ragu and egg noodles made fresh from scratch in-house. I loved how the meat and Indonesian black nut were cooked till they basically became one, a black melt-in-mouth beauty that after some tossing, clung tenaciously to the fine strands of springy noodles. So sublime a Peranakan-Chinese match they made. Chef Ming Kiat urged us to squeeze the lime and mix in the housemade sambal belachan to give the earthiness from the buah keluak a note of brightness and savoury heat. Doing that really did transform the dish in ways I didn’t expect, to heightened tastiness of course.