Folklore

It is a rare occasion that we celebrate the success of a modernised Peranakan cuisine. But when the first taste of Buah Keluak fried rice filled my mouth, the taste was divine. The rich cocoa like aroma filling the entire palate and leaving us craving for more. The fried aubergines were crisp and so soft it almost melts. The service was genuine craft. Most of the dishes were able to capture the essence of Peranakan cuisine and therefore it deserves a thumbs up and 5 stars. The food is worth a visit especially if you love local cuisine.

Came here with visitors from overseas as wanted to show them some heritage nyonya food. There were three of us and we ordered a total of 5 dishes (way too much, but the waiter said was managable. Strike 1 when they convince you to overorder). We had the buah keluak fried rice ($28++), the seafood otak ($22++), the beef cheek rendang ($36++), four angle bean salad ($12++) and the sayur lodeh ($16++). The dishes worth mentioning is the fried rice, seafood otak and the four angle bean salad. The beef cheek was disappointing, the serving was large but in one giant lump and minimal gravy. It was tender that you could cut it with a spoon but not so tender that it falls apart. Also the lack of gravy was disappointing, even asking the waiter for more gravy and was told this is already served in portion (strike 2). The sayur lodeh was a serious let down. Don't order this!! The jackfruit seeds inside the curry had this hard thin casing that was inedible. The taste was just average. For the price you pay, I would rather take overseas visitors to violet oon. Ambience is better. Food is way better. Service is tops. And it's only a little more from a price point. Total bill at folklore around $50 pp. Guess I'm not coming back.

Folklore serves traditional Eurasian and Perakanan dishes and is on a quest to keep thr Singapore food heritage alive. The dishes we ordered were super tasty and the service was top-notched. Highly recommend!

Amazing peranakan food however the dishes were either hits or misses. Good: Salted duck soup with lime juice and chilli padi, 4 angled bean salad, beef cheek, black nut fried rice Misses: Otah, Singgang, kuay chap (too salty) Service was very weak and slow on this day, with only 2 pax running the floor. Also all cocktails were not available and we were only informed after ordering. Yes, I would return but not anytime soon.

Heard so much about local Chef Damien D'Silva's heritage creation and decided to visit this place with my family. Being a 皮蛋 fan, the Chilled Tofu with Pidan is a winner. The tofu is smashed up together with century egg, radish and scallion and served chilled. Generally the food are pretty good except for a few dishes which we find it quite salty. Overall the dinner was a pretty good experience.

Fix of Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporian cuisine. Most dishes are spicy and with strong flavors. Many curry dishes. Pretty good but might be too spicy for some people. The slow cooked beef cheek rendang is really awesome, strongly recommended.

If you love Peranakan, you have to try this restaurant!!! Every cuisine is uniquely rich in flavour, tangy, aromatic and spicy. Savour every bite and feel your taste buds waking up from hibernation! The Kueh Bengkah with ice cream is a ten! The sago dessert would be heavenly if there was more gula melaka.

Located at Destination Hotel along Beach Road, this restaurant serves good Peranakan dishes. We had the otak, beef, meat rolls, saya lodeh, fried chicken. The desserts are also delicious.

Folklore @ Destination Hotel Beach Road Singapore Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian , Peranakan Cuisines 4 angled bean salad - refreshing Sambal buah keluak fried rice with fried egg on top - like this Peranakan chap chye - very good Garang Assam (fish) - so so Hati babi bungkus - very good Oxtail - nice & tender Seafood Otah with prawns, squid & fish - spicy - good Ngoh Hiang - good but skin a bit saltish Kueh bengkah (served warm) with ice cream - yummy Pulut hitam with longans & coconut milk - good Sago gula melaka

First restaurant I visited in Singapore. It is inside of a hotel, no issues getting there even though I wasn't staying at the hotel. The menu had a lot of variety and good options. I recommend getting the Sembal Buah Keluak Fried Rice, very tasty and one of the restaurants signature dishes. Many of the dishes are spicy so be sure to ask a waiter for guidance if that's not your thing. Wasn't a big fan of the 4 Bean Salad, it was put together nicely but the flavor wasn't as expected. The Ayam Lemak chicken was pretty good - the spiciest thing we had. Restaurant was easy to get a lunch reservation on the weekend. Nights can get busy.

if you drive here, you will be in for a treat! being the folklore that damian is, i highly recommend that you make a reservation. they will ask for your car registration number which then entitles you to park for free at destination singapore(the hotel they are located within). just make sure you drive! why? just so as to experience the car lift that will bring you up to your free parking spot. cheap thrill huh? it's definitely less hassle and guaranteed parking available! ok, the next chapter of this folklore is to take the regular lift to the second level where the hotel lobby is. this high ceiling open space is also the new home of somewhat vagabond damian. hopefully, he stays put here for a while and more. i think he should. a quick survey of the price points, the crowd and the quantity of the servings point towards a sustainable business proposition at this current location. once you dig in, you will be further convinvced that his cuisine is indeed worthy of becoming folklore. a complexity in taste that can only mean a combination of lots of quality ingredients and lots of monotonous preparatory hardwork that goes into delivering the final end product on your palate. be prepared to wait as some dishes might only be cooked to order, some might run out and a new batch preparation might take time. even dessert might need prep time so do order in advance, notably the kueh beng kah. the buah keluak fried rice is the one dish i would break my diabetic diet for. the rice could be more al dente but it did not detract too much from the overall enjoyment of this unique and delightful dish. every grain coated evenly with the nutty goodness of the fruit of the pangium edule. salted vegetables pig's trotter soup? just like many moms use to do it! i only wish there was more soup than ingredients! weird but true. singgang, what? is that a pinoy dish? sounds similiar but not the same. tasted like a deconstructed otah dish. you will wolf this down not even realizing it's a fish dish! but i'm sure you wouldn't try cooking this at home if you know how much work goes into it! beef cheek rendang? oh so tender........... a good balance of sweet notes and mild spiciness. hearty and rich. chap chye? very good except i feel there was too much tang hoon in my serving of this dish. you will taste the more than sufficient stewing that goes into creating it and how the vegetables gently softens and completely soaks up the stock. ngoh hiang? definitely distinctively artisan. not your run of the mill looking ones and neither does it taste like them. not overly mashed ingredients, crispily fried and paired with a not too sweet kecap manis and a chilli with a sharp bite. their potent sambal belachan is also available upon request, use with caution. finally, if you still have space, the 20 min wait for freshly made kueh beng kah served with gula melaka and a scoop of coconut ice cream would more than complete this heritage folklore. the wines by the glass were reasonably priced, a reasonable pour and complimented our meal well. service was mainly friendly and helpful with an occasional not so friendly foreign talent? what's left to say? hopefully, his recipes will be passed on for generations to come, orally or otherwise?

My Peranakan Husband approves so I Guess that speaks for itself :) Dinner was a delicious experience but the service was slow because the restaurant was packed. Everything we ordered was delicious. Personally I would like the fish head curry to be a bit more robust and a little more salt would lift it up more but the fish head was super fresh and not overcooked. It was huge and meaty and this took an hour to come which was A shame because most of us were full.

Delightfully mediocre and frightfully expensive. It's really busy which also means that despite the large number of staff on the floor, it's really hard to get service. Just look at the pile of menus haphazardly strewn on the one of the reception tables out front. Made the mistake of bringing Mom out for a late lunch on a lazy Sunday (fresh off the plane from her month-long Canadian adventure) - the ngoh hiang seemed like it was missing four spices, the opor ayam was decent but for $20 for four pieces of chicken, a little much to stomach. The winner was the kachang botol, but then again, not difficult to execute. The nett-nett, give it a miss if you have to dine with your "kay-wat" Peranakan relatives.

When questioned on what is Singapore heritage food, most would think Peranakan but it's only a subset of it. Chef Damian D'Silva of Folklore will tell you that Singapore heritage food is a cuisine that represents the various ethnic groups in Singapore. It consists of the age-old recipes passed down from generation to generation; food that we eat at home; the my-grandmother-cooked-it-better dishes that are special to each family; the lost recipes that are not found in restaurants because they are too labor intensive to make. Because of one man's dedication to documenting his family's secret recipes, we now have Folklore This man is passionate, some say crazy, to commercialize this sort of artisanal home cooking. Painstaking labor and long hours go into coaxing the flavors out of the handpicked ingredients. For the prices that he charges, I'm not sure if it makes any profit sense. We started with some cold appetizers. A spicy refreshing start came in the form of a Four Angled Bean Salad ($12). Green mangos, chilies, ginger flower and dried shrimps tossed in a sweet sour sambal belachan sauce. It can be very spicy! Cool the heat with the Chilled tofu with Pidan ($12), Chef's new creation that is a Japanese tofu and century egg mash with pickled lettuce, ginger, kikoman, onion. I prefer the usual version though. Ever heard of/eaten a Eurasian otah before? You must try the Singgang ($20) which is a deboned wolf herring cooked in a non-spicy rempah made with turmeric and gallanghal. It tastes exactly like the Malay/Chinese otah (spicy fish cake paste). This fish isn't popular with chefs because of its numerous fine bones which made de-boning a terrible chore, but Chef decided to stick with it because it's more authentic. Then there's Sambal Buah Keluak ($22), another laborious dish where the pulp of the Buah Keluak nut is extracted by hand one at a time. The sambal and minced pork also takes about 2 hours to cook. Chef Damian also serves the Sambal Buah Keluak Fried Rice ($22), a signature dish he created in 2001. The pork is cooked with the nut until it becomes a fine paste. I didn't even know there's meat in this! Anyway this is a must-order at Folklore. One of my favorite meat dishes is the Babi Assam ($22) which features a whole piece of pork belly braised in cinnamon, star anise, and tamarind. It tasted like the Chinese Sweet and Soup Pork with a light sweet sourness. If you're for saucier meats, then go for the Beef Cheek Rendang ($32), or Mulligatawny ($14), an Anglo-Indian dish of shredded chicken and spices in a chicken broth with a faint accent of tamarind. The Oxtail Stew ($26) is quite a standard Eurasian dish of thick and rich stew with potatoes and carrots. I don't eat it enough to know the standard but i can imaging craving for this on a cold night. Are you game enough for Pig's heart? The Hati Babi Bungkus (4pcs $18) is not really pig's heart, it only resembles it. These balls are made with minced pork and liver marinated with coriander, tamarind, soya sauce and shallots, wrapped in caul fat then grilled and served with pickled mustard leaves. The filling could be juicier in my opinion and the caramel coat reminds me of kecap manis. If you can take spice, have a go at the tongue-numbing sambal chili. No heritage meal is complete without the Peranakan Chap Chye ($16). The medley of vegetables, beancurd skin, tang hoon, black fungus, and mushrooms are braised in a pork and prawn stock until they have fully absorbed the flavors. I would love for more gravy in this one but that's not stopping me from devouring a whole bowl by myself. The Masak Lemak ($14) is another interesting vegetables soup dish that is out favorite. Chef cooks a mix of local vegetables like spinach, kang kong and potato leaves in this lightly spiced gravy enriched by coconut milk. Of course, the Rempah Titek spice is house-made and is made up of dried chillies, shallots, shrimp paste and candlenuts. Of course we couldn't stop drinking that umami soup. The sambals at Folklore are truly delicious and we can easily finish a pot of rice with the Sambal Juliana with Fried Brinjal ($14). Sambal made with shallots, shrimp paste, shallots and chillies enhanced with fresh lime juice, gula melaka, and fried shrimp. Chicken, prawn, and fish stock are used the enhance the flavors of the eggplant. Save room for the dessert highlight which is Kueh Kosui ($6), a steamed tapioca kueh with gula melaka and grated coconut. The kueh is super soft and has a caramel like texture (without the stickiness). I love how this dessert is salty sweet and not overly starchy. A different type of tapoica cake is the Kueh Bengkah with vanilla ice cream ($10). Here, the tapioca cake is grated, mixed with eggs, coconut milk, corn starch and pandan leaves before baking. P.s. pick the darker brown pieces! Oh and give it a good dip in the salty gula melaka!

Overall rating: 3.5-4 for apps and mains; 4-4.5 for deserts The cuisine of Chinese immigrants to Malaya, this food seen as traditional Singaporean, seems to be a hit with critics & patrons alike from Michelin starred Candlenut to Blue Ginger and the recent write up by NYT of this establishment. My sense is that a younger generation of owners/chefs and or chefs/owners with a mainstreaming attitude have helped put it in the map (like Canada & buttertarts I guess!). Go for the deserts! Superb!

Folklore is a family friendly restaurant located at the lobby of the newly opened Destination Hotel, offering an extensive menu of Peranakan dishes. Prices were very reasonable considering the generous portion sizes, each fit for for 3-4 people to share. Despite being annoyed by an inconsiderate family sitting next to my table (restaurants are for eating! not for camwhoring with your babies and intruding into other patrons' space!), the delicious food made up for it. We had the following dishes: 1) 4 angled bean salad: Spicy and refreshing 2) Sambal buah keluak fried rice 3) Hati Babi Bungkus: This was a new dish to me. For the benefit of those not unfamiliar with Peranakan food, hati Babi bungkus comprises meatballs made of marinated minced pork and liver, wrapped in caul fat and grilled. 4) Kueh Bingka with coconut ice cream and gula Melaka: This was my favorite dish and featured one of the best tapioca cakes I've ever had. I will be back!

Folklore is really good Peranakan food in a modern setting. The duck with salted vegetable soup is appropriately flavourful and comforting and all other dishes are authentic and cooked well. Be sure to save room for dessert! The baked custard is delicately sweet and done just right and the sago is heavenly with the perfect amount of bounce and flavour. All in all a wonderful visit!

The flavors were creative, but the meat we were served was shocking. The pork ribs were 90 percent fat. The chicken pieces were dry. It was our one shot at Peranaken food in Singapore and we were disappointed.