Ivins Peranakan Restaurant has long been in one of my places to visit and I finally understand why the place has been highly recommended by many. It is hard to beat places that serve hearty portions at an affordable price nowadays. We had a few of their signatures such as the Beef Rendang, which is served piping hot in a claypot and the meat is tender to the bite. The Ikan Masak Assam is tangy and spicy but the real standout star is the Sotong Hitam of stir-fried squid in a sweet black sauce.
Had a Peranakan feast at Ivins Peranakan Restaurant at 19/21 Binjai Park and we ordered:
▪️Garam Assam Fish Head ($27 - 3 to 4 pax)
▪️Ayam Buah Keluak ($8.20)
▪️Babi Pongteh ($7.50)
▪️Nyonya Chap Chye ($6.20)
▪️Fried Ngo Hiang ($6)
▪️Sotong Hitam ($7.20)
▪️Egg Fuyong ($5.70)
▪️Terong Goreng Chilli ($5.50)
▪️Chendol ($1.50)
One of my favourite dishes of the night is the Garam Assam Fish Head which is 1/2 fish head served in spicy tamarind gravy. The gravy has just the right balance of spicy, tangy and sweet notes, and it goes s ppl o well with rice.
Ayam Buah Keluak is my all-time-favourite in any Peranakan restaurant and I love digging out and savouring the flavourful flesh of the buah keluak.
The sauce of the Babi Pongteh is a tad sweet for me, but the braised pork belly literally melts in your mouth. The Chap Chye is decent as well.
Two of the dishes were unexpectedly good. Sotong Hitam features stir fried squid with black ink sauce and cut chilli and this is actually full of flavour with a hint of smokiness. The squid is tender as well. The Terong Goreng Chilli looks like a simple eggplant topped with chilli but the chilli is actually very aromatic and it is not too spicy.
Overall, I enjoyed the food and it was pretty satisfying. Do note that each item is quite small, so if the group is large, you might have to order double portions of each item.
We usually come here for nyonya food. Affordable prices with good portioning. Sometimes they have kuehs fresh in store, the kaya salat was the best for me.
The 𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐚𝐡 𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐤 ($7.50/ $11.80) included generously sized chicken pieces floating in a tangy broth, encircled by 4 big buah keluaks. We originally found the chicken to be a little dry and found that the flavour did not thoroughly infuse the meat; this was our least fav dish of the meal. That said, we brought home the leftovers and both the chicken and broth was so much more tender and flavourful the next day! I guess it just needed more time?
Insta: cafehoppingkids
Interesting texture. It is closest to jelly, but it is like of like Chee Kueh also. Pretty good, can have more corn
The kuehs are all 3bucks, the Christmas cakes go for A lot more
Gula melaka layer wasn't as good as Kueh salat, but the sticky brown rice layer was better than the sticky rice layer for Kueh salat. Overall again not too shabby
And if I'm not wrong it's cash only or sth
The Kueh selection is like market liddat, literally just take and pay, whether you're alr eating or not lol
Their pandan layer was interesting, it really was souffle texture. Unfortunately rice layer was just a tad thick, because the pandan layer was so light. Overall still not bad though, but of course it's ivins lol
Tiny tiny portion, taste is pretty decent. Looks fiery but actl ok, a wet version w focus on spices rather than hae bee
I would say it's pretty unique, there's a certain watery tang about it, with the preeminance of peanut. Quite good, maybe can try if you're in a big group or its your second time here, because there are other signature dishes
The dark sauce was not bad, but there's something about the sotong that's v nostalgic for me because it's exactly like how my grandma used to prepared it. Rarely see restaurants doing this
The pork has a very unique texture from the sauce. It's this soft sticky chewy texture, very interesting and multilayered from the peppers and sweetness. Definitely worth a try, just that portion is damn small lol. One person can clean this up no problem
Everything tasted super homely. I thoroughly enjoyed all the dishes, which are mostly characterized by spices. I especially enjoyed the soup with meatballs - the soup was very tasty and hearty!
Definitely a place to visit with friends and family. One gripe would be the acoustic of the place, for some reason noise is echoed and reverberated through the restaurant, so might be hard to talk with your dining company!
Residents around Binjai Park will be no stranger to Ivins, the spacious restaurant decorated in the style of a bygone era. Burppler Gwen Cheng was wary of the long queue, but "when we visited, we finally understood why! The dishes are just so affordably priced and pretty good too." Burppler Cherie Heng says the "Honey Pork dish is a must order and it's just exploding with flavours, coated in the rich secret IVINS black sauce. We had to order two servings because there's simply not enough to go around."
Photo by Burppler MichelleLIN T
Ivins Perankan has been around for donkey years. The outlet at binjai is always jam packed with people. Did a takeaway and food as usual is great. Their prices are reasonable and the portions of right size. Would be nice to have more non-spicy options to accommodate the kids
Also known as Stuffed Tofu Pockets, or Tau Kwa Pau.
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It features tofu beancurd cubes, stuffed with a medley of diced ingredients, including cucumber, fish cake, fried tofu puffs, and minced pork.
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Has a lovely contrasts of tender, crisp, crunchy, soft, chewy textures; with bright vegetal earthy sweet savoury flavours.
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I love it.
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Ivins Peranakan Restaurant
More details in profile & blog
Rather light in taste, but rich in mouthfeel from the coconut milk, the sweetness of the banana was enhanced by the coconut milk. First time trying this and quite liked it
P.S. they're a family restaurant so the service isn't all super attentive, make sure your requests are clearly heard and understood
P.S.A. don't remove their paper menu, it's there for easy cleanup since there's gonna be zhup all over the table
Rather mild, rlly generous portion though. Topping was hard and not crunchy, best to soak it in the broth to soften it.
They chose a slightly gelatinous cut, so it was v tender and easy to pull apart. Sauce was slightly sweet and rather umami, nothing too crazy, just a superb home-cooked dish!
Really strong tamarind, the buah keluak was more muted. But still v good, v appetizing. Chicken was a little dry, quite tender
P.S. their portions are q generous, probably 3-4 dishes to share between 2 pax will do, esp if you're getting drinks and desserts. 5 is too much
