Chilli Padi Nonya Restaurant

It has been a long while since i have been back. The staff were helpful but appears to be understaffed or overwhelmed by the lunch crowd. Its good to know the dishes were still tasty, beef rendang, kuei pie tee was good but i usually prefer a punchier chilli on it and this lacks that umpf!, chap chye not bad,and the wine prices decent. We had meatball soup with bamboo shoots as well as sambal sotong, brinjal they were not bad. Regreted not having asked my friend to order the sambal sotong petai.

I can't recall when was the last time I visited Chilli Padi Nonya Restaurant but I can 100% confirm the standard has dropped significantly. The otak really cannot make it — the texture was dry and hard, the portion is very small, and it didn’t taste fresh. It seemed like reheated otak. The sambal prawn had no sambal taste and the texture was quite soggy. The dry laksa was overly salty — I only managed a bite. Fish meat is fresh but very mild assam taste only. Chap Chye still up to its standard. The environment looks nice and refreshing after the renovation, and we made our online reservation three weeks in advance. Overall, though, I’d rather go for other places that serve better Nonya food.

Amazingly well made rendang! It did came dried up, so i did nicely ask if they can add more gravy and they did it eventually after going though two staff members. Other than that we did enjoy the homemade food and savory treats. Will definitely be back! Yumm!!

It’s been a while since my last visit 7 years ago. The food standard is as good as before. Highly recommend the beef rendang served sizzling hot, and sotong hitam masak in very flavourful blend of spices. Potato leaves were tad “tough” would surely be more tender if cooking time is slightly longer. Will return again if in the area :)

The place is fully booked on a Sunday dinner but we arrived early at 6pm and were given a table with 1 hr dining limit (which is fine). The place has been renovated. The staff are very helpful. The food is aa good as it is always. The tofu is really good.

Very nice decor and good food but only 1 big table of 10 available so better make early reservations. Must try : Ngoh Hiang Claypot Buah Keluak fried rice Item Sio Chap Chye Dry laksa Not so great : brinjal sambal, honey pork Chap Chye was average. Service staff was impatient and hurried.

First time here and had a variety of dishes. Overall, quite impressed with the food. Special mention for the squid in squid ink dish (soft and flavourful), and Babi ponteh (nice chunks of meat in umamilicious sauce). Didn’t quite like the dry laksa as I felt it was too mushy and lacks flavour. Would come back again.

One of the best peranakan cuisine in singapore. Thanks Mr Norman for the treat. We were very satisfied with the food especially the asam fish and rendang beef. My friend Neo almost cried for hometown taste.

Nyonya food is original Asian fusion cuisine that isn't hipsterified :-). It is the fusion of primarily Chinese and Malay cuisines with some slight influences from Indian and Western food that gave rise to the beloved cuisine that is unique to Singapore and Malaysia. We ordered the curry assam ikan, sotong hitam, sambal terong balado, and sambal kang kong. The curry Assam ikan is the fish (ikan) curry made with Assam (tamarind). So this isn't the typically creamy curry with coconut. In my humble opinion, the key to a good assam curry is not to let the tamarind or spices to overpower the taste. To that end, the assam curry is well balanced, but it's not a 5 because I have tasted assam fish curry elsewhere in Singapore where the addition of certain complementary ingredients, which I believe is blend of kaffir leaves, grated lime skins, and maybe curry leaves really take the taste to the next level. So the curry at Chilli Padi is good but not quite excellent yet. The sotong hitam is squid stir fried with squid ink, giving the dish a black color hence hitam in the dish name. The dish was well executed although it was a bit cool when it was served (no big deal). It's a bit of a novelty and reminds me of an Italian calamari pasta made with squid ink except here it's with Nyonya flavors. The sambal kang kong is very good, having the right flavors and texture. The sambal terong balado is a bit disappointing, I feel it's a bit saltier than it should be. Overall, I enjoy the food here.

Service is a bit bumbling, but friendly. The dishes are good and the prices are reasonable. Was here for dinner with friends on a Saturday night and the dishes came out pretty quickly. The oak, samba lady's finger, and their dry (meaning not in a soup, but still pretty wet!) laksa was pretty good.

I have long been searching out the good Peranakan restaurants in Singapore. Its truly the only cuisine indigenous to the island and thus a culinary jewel to be found only in Singapore. Yes, the multiethnic culture means that South Indian, Chinese, and Malay cooking are excellent here but when traveling you should always eat what you can't get anywhere else. And that is Peranakan in Singapore. With some research I found Chili Padi Nonya in Katong. The restaurant sits within spitting distance of two other Peranakan, or Nonya, restaurants so I'll be making this trek a lot. My husband and I arrived around midday on a Sunday so the restaurant was sparsely populated although it did get to about half full throughout the course of our meal. The décor is simple with photographs of 19th century Peranakan weddings on the walls scattered between all their culinary awards. The tablecloths were all the red pattern of Sing Air girls: interesting choice. We can't just have one dish each so we ordered our usual feast of popiah, ayam bua kuluak, beef rending, nonya curry chicken, sambal lady fingers and sambal brinjal. That may seem like a lot but it was all the small portions and we finished everything. Did I mention we were American? The food came out quickly but we polished off the pickle in no time. I wish I had known to order more. So tasty. The first dish was the popiah which C loved. I have to say the popiah to my mind was terrible. It had very little flavor and was too hot. Next out of the kitchen was the ayam bua kuluak or black nut chicken. I am a huge fan of this dish in general and this version was amazing. I ate all the black nut happily. Both the sambal okra and eggplant were great. Its nice to have vegetables that are perfectly cooked. Lastly we were served the chicken curry and the beef rendang. I am not a fan of the curry but my husband assures me it was awesome. The beef rending, while different from other versions I have tasted, was superb. This is definitely worth a repeat visit.

Food is actually pretty good. Worthy of mention are: * Babi Ponteh * Sambal Prawns * Honey Pork * Sambal Kangkong * Bakwan Soup * Almond Longan dessert Likely to return to try other yummies.

Was passing by saw a bunch of signs mentioned Michelin recommend and yelp and bunch of awards...decided to give it a try.when I sat the waiters welcomed me with some Chinese pickles they was taste like peanuts ,The food was bad didn't ate almost nothing.thats not the end of story when asked for bill saw on the check says pickles 2$ ,so This restaurant is a scam I'm not sure what kind of rewards it's gets but definitely waste of money and they do charge service fee .

Situated right in the heart of Baba-land, stepping into the Joo Chiat Rd Chilli Padi Nonya Café's interior is like stepping right into their culture. Feast your eyes on various Nyonya ware and trace the history of the Peranakan history as you run your fingers across the charming porcelain china... and pinch the edge of a hapless Kueh Dadar and sink your teeth into it. The coconut flesh (simmered with palm sugar), underneath the delicate bright green egg crepe skin, bursts with flavour and you experience a moment of nirvana as the juicy, sweet crunch of the coconut flesh goes just so, so well with the almost plain and soft crepe skin. Other must-go-fors are their Tapioca Cake and their not-so-Nyonya AKKs (Ang Ku Kueh). You could almost picture a sweating Jeanette Aw in Chilli Padi's kitchen slaving over a hot stove stirring the AKK filling as her draconian step-mum stares down at her. You may also get Chilli Padi's fare at the basement of Tangs.

alright peranakan in the deep of joo chiat - we came back here after i had a particularly good meal courtesy of the catering arm of this place, and I'm sorry to say that it was a mixed bag of hits and misses, and not quite interesting enough to return for. we started off with popiah (my favorite local dish) and kueh pie tee, both incorporating the same sweet braised turnip. the filling was certainly tasty (though not the best I've had*); between the two, the crispy shell of the pie tee proved the better choice. the wrap of a popiah is meant to be strong enough to hold its wet filling, but also transluscent in its delicacy - this was too-thick and too-doughy (it's arguable that they meant it to be this way - not quite to my taste). onward from an uninspiring start, and we got lucky with the otak wrapped in cabbage, rich with coconut milk and a satisfying spiced fish paste filling, as well as the prawns in a tangy tamarind sauce. both went very well with rice. the curry fish head was disappointing though: the gravy on the watery side, a small handful of vegetables, and a fish head with very little meat. It wasn't an inexpensive dish neither - definitely not worth it. the chap chye (braised mixed vegetables) was also pretty mediocre - cooked too soft, with the cabbage nearly melting into nothingness. thankfully though, we finished on a relative high with the tender-and-stringy beef rendang in a rich gravy, and the not-rubbery squid rings in sambal. I'm at a loss for further description - which more than anything hints at the ambivalence I feel for the meal. okay if you've got a craving, if you're in the area, and if you don't want to drive elsewhere - but that's a lot of ifs.

Authentic Nyonya cuisine! Prawn Petai and sambal brinjal are really tasty. Love it! The fish head curry isn't very nice tho, a little too powdery and lack taste.

Family member from Peranakan family, unfortunately it is average taste. The ikan bilis petai and Ngoh Hiang were pretty good. The Ayam Rendang was avarage, but the Hee Peow soup and Sotong Hotim were below avearge. We were disappointed with the desert because the coconut milk was a bit overdue. Probably will not recommend.