Peranakan Babi Pongteh + Babi Tauyu Sets ($13.90+ each)!
Peranakan-Nyonya restaurant lunch with BB — Babi Pongteh set (pork in fermented bean stew) and Babi Tauyu set (pork in dark soy braise). Each with rice, marinated egg, meatball soup, curry vegetable. $13.90+ each.
Lunch date with BB at a Peranakan-Nyonya restaurant — went for two iconic Babi (pork) dishes. Babi Pongteh + Babi Tauyu sets. $27.80+ total. 😋
What was on the trays ($13.90+ each):
- Babi Pongteh (top tray) — the fermented soya bean (tau cheo) pork stew with chunks of pork belly, soft potato cubes, sliced onions and green chilli, in a deep brown-orange gravy. Peranakan signature.
- Babi Tauyu (bottom tray) — pork in dark soya sauce braise with chunks of cucumber and chopped scallions on top. Sweeter, more soya-forward than pongteh.
- Each set comes with: white rice (大碗), a marinated egg with bright orange chilli-vinegar sauce, lettuce garnish, a meatball soup with scallions, and a curry vegetable side (looks like sayur lodeh / chap chai with bean sprouts + cabbage in turmeric coconut milk).
- Beautiful blue-and-white Chinese porcelain plates throughout — the proper Peranakan ware.
Babi Pongteh is the Peranakan stew classic — fermented soya bean (tau cheo) gives the gravy its distinctive umami-funky depth. The potato cubes soak up the gravy and become the dish’s secret weapon.
Babi Tauyu is the simpler darker cousin — just pork in dark soya sauce braise, sweeter, more comfortable. Cucumber cubes are the cool palate cleanser dropped in at the end of cooking.
The marinated eggs on every set are the Peranakan touch — chilli-vinegar dressed, not the standard hard-boiled egg.
Total: $27.80+ for both sets.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. Pongteh was the standout (proper tau cheo depth), tauyu was the comfort pick, the marinated egg + meatball soup + curry veg side rounded out into proper home-cooked-feeling lunch sets. Nyonya done right. 😍👍🏼
