Candlenut

If I could give Candlenut more than 5 stars I would. The dinner I had here is one of my favourite dinners ever and I cannot wait to go back.
The restaurant is modern and spacious. It was close to full when we arrived but didn’t feel too crowded or noisy. There is an interesting selection of bottled beers and a small, but very reasonably priced, wine list.
Dinner is a tasting menu which some people dislike but I personally love, especially when it is a cuisine with which I am unfamiliar. And what a meal it was! The first course was 4 starters, each just a mouthful or two. There was eel, charred octopus, crab cake and beef satay. Each was delicious but the table was unanimous in that the crab cake was the standout winner. The second course was made up of 5 dishes: soup with mackerel, crab and pork, mushroom kerabu, pork cheek stew, red snapper & baby squid. What a feast! Every dish was exquisite and full of flavour. We all loved the mushroom kerabu. I think the pork cheek was my favourite but I would happily eat them all again, and again!
Dessert was a choice from 5 options. I went for the buah keluak ice cream which was delicious. My companions went for kueh salat and the kueh bingkah. Each was very well received.
All in all this was an amazing meal and I cannot wait to go back. Excellent value for money as well, 60++ per person, and we couldn’t even eat all of the food.

Candlenut is losing a star only because they have decided to go omakase style for dinner and charge for bottled water. What’s wrong with tap water (boiled or unboiled)?
Also it is now more expensive at S$ 50 per head when it used to be around S$ 35 per head when we could order ala carte for dinner. Set menu or ala carte is still available for lunch.
Food here is consistently good.
ASSORTED CANAPÉS
Kueh Pie Tee (turnips and prawns and and parsley topping in a crispy cup) — very nice
Grilled pork cheek — Super tender; very good
Bergedil, tempeh, ikan bilis sambal (potato pattie) — good
Roast chicken kerabu, ginger flower on top of betel leaf — interesting, very nice
MAINS
Pong tauhu soup, pork & crab meatball, shellfish bisque — very good
Kangkong curry, dried shrimps & white bait — different but still nice
Dry roasted coconut beef shin (chicken if you don’t eat beef) curry and kamfir lime — very tender beef and nice
Charcoal grilled red lion snapper, fiery sambal (& you better believe it) — my Favourite
Wild caught black baby squid — Super tender and nice — I don’t normally like black squid
Thai Hom Mali rice
Palate Cleanser — Gelatin with Apple or Lime sorbet (if you don’t eat beef as Gelatin has traces of beef)
DESSERT (choose 1)
Buah keluak ice cream, Valrhona chocolate, warm caramel and warm chocolate espuma — we didn’t have this
Signature chendol cream, Pandan jelly and gula melaka (brown sugar) — Best! Die, die must eat!
Mango, jackfruit, sago, passionfruit, calamansi lime sorbet — good.
Free dessert — yellow kueh and kueh salat — not bad

My family were visiting and I took them to Candlenut for lunch the other day. We tried to just walk in for dinner a few days ago and the place was completely full, but I just felt that they have to try this place for their Singapore foodie trip to be complete and so we returned for lunch. Then I realised I must have been to this place like ten times in the one year since I moved to Singapore. It might even be my favorite place on this little island — yes, that’s how much I enjoyed and appreciated the food and cooking here.
This is not your typical tourist oriented Peranakan restaurant, the décor is modern and minimalist. It does not come with the elaborate carvings and tiles that usually adorn Peranakan restaurants. I feel this gives the place a more down-​to-​earth feel, that it is something eaten by locals and not just geared towards tourists. Service is efficient but can be more polished (small orders get missed from time to time and you need to prompt the servers sometimes), but those are things that can be overlooked if the food is of sufficiently high quality.
Although I have been to this place numerous times I have yet to savour everything on the menu. The main reason is there are a few dishes that taste so good that I have to order them on subsequent visits with new friends. To name a few favorites: the Kueh Pie Tee is the little crispy «hats» that comes with pickled turnips and pork fillings, this is always fun for visitors and is a good appetizer. The real gems I feel are the Buah Keluak and the Chap Chye. The gist of the Buah Keluak is a thick and rich gravy prepared from an Indonesian black nut, with a choice of chicken or wagyu beef rib. I have never tasted something quite the same before — the flavor is very rich in texture, you can taste the nutty/​bean-​paste like aroma but at the same time, the gravy is so creamy and smooth that it does not taste vegetarian. I prefer the wagyu beef rib where the beef is braised till baby soft. My secret tip is that you should always gulp down heaps of plain rice to make the most out of the gravy.
My other favorite, which you will never have guessed, is the vegetable dish Chap Chye. It’s a bowl of mushroom, dried bean curd, pork belly and black fungus bursting with flavors. It reminds me a bit of the Cantonese Lo Han vegetable dish which can be found a plenty in vegetarian restaurants. I later on find out why — both uses a sweet gravy as a base — while Lo Han vegetable dish uses a sweet soy sauce the Candlenut version uses prawn stock gravy. To be honest, all other dishes I have tried so far are good — mom’s curry, redang, assam fish, yeye’s kari, yellow crab curry… you name it.
Do save some room for the desserts — the chendol is essentially a Peranakan panna cotta rich with the alluring sweetness of coconut cream, gula melaka and pandan. Texture of coconut is a refreshing coconut sorbet apt to cleanse the palate after the rich meal. If you like durian go for the durian soup, you will definitely not be disappointed by the scoop of durian ice cream with fresh durian purée.
Although the cooking at the Candlenut has been referred to as Nongya fusion, I see a lot of tradition in there. It reminds me of my grandma’s cooking where tasty dishes are created by some of the most ordinary ingredients, it’s a showcase of the chef’s ability to create subtle flavors and textures and that’s what will draw me back again and again.

We visited for the popular restaurant week event and had to take a late-​night 8pm reservation. The service was modest and a bit unaware. We had to explicitly ask for each course to be removed and to be brought, even though things like empty plates and glasses sitting around for an extended period of time typically trigger activity at most restaurants.
The food was a tale of extremes. I couldn’t get enough of the thinly sliced beef appetizer, which had a citrus flavor from the marinade. At the same time, the minced pork was so salty that I could not bear to eat it, even though it would have been great if the salt were toned down. Similarly, the main courses featured quail and fish. These meats were cooked to perfection. I haven’t had others prepared so well in Singapore. While the dark soy sauce on the quail was tasty, the chili sauce for the fish was way overblown. As a strong spice eater, this is one of only a few times in my life that something has been so spicy I could not even eat it. Once again, at the right balance, it would have been a great sauce. As it was, I don’t think anyone could safely eat it. Ultimately, it came down to a few small, but glaring errors, alongside a superb foundation. With a little tuning, this could easily be a top choice.

The food here is quite good and I have been here several times. It is quite similar to Blue Ginger, only more casual and a bit cheaper, cost wise.
The interior is modern and sparse. It is conveniently located — near the Dorsett Residences, near the Outram Park MRT.
Food wise, my favorite dishes are the crab curry, chicken curry, chap chye and mushrooms. It is a good place to take out of town friends to introduce them to Peranakan food in a nice setting. The service is good as well.
Although the food at Blue Ginger is comparable (and sometimes better), it is a good value for the quality of food so I tend to go here more often.

Excellent food and service. Just really loved the dishes we had. Had a reservation and we were seated immediately on arrival. Wait staff was very attentive. Worth trying if you are in Singapore. We thought the prices were reasonable.

lovely, delicious peranakan food at this modern restaurant along the perimeter of the dorsett residences. the food is properly executed with finesse, and it comes dished out in a style you’d associate with european dining.
I’m very impressed with this place — dishes that taste both nostalgic and refined, service is friendly and ready, and we finished our meal with a lady who was sharp and just prickly enough to feel like you’re dealing with a true peranakan aunt.
it’s also convenient, and reasonably priced — really, what more?
peranakan is a pricey cuisine to indulge in, and it’s dying out too quickly. there are still a couple stalwarts in singapore, and I think this could become one of them (if it isn’t already).
it’s a concise menu; all good, though some were more delicious than others.
1) salad of wing beans diced up with dried prawns, crispy fried fish and a tangy lime dressing — lots of textures and flavor from everything. very more-​ish, and a great starter.
2) candlenut satay — marinated chicken grilled till charred and served up as should with satay sauce and mashed pineapple
3) buah keluak chicken — OH-​SO-​TENDER chicken dice simmered in a sauce gravelly with ground candlenuts and beautifully seasoned, and very very delicious.
4) prawns cooked in sambal with petai beans were pretty good, with a sweet-​sour sauce coating the shell-​on prawns
5) assam promfret with al dente bits of fresh tomatoes and ladies fingers
6) sayur lodeh was decent too, though the flavor was a little muted for my taste — the chap chye is up for ordering on my next visit
but dessert — they have five on offer, and we ordered three: the banana caramel pudding, a durian soup, and that beautiful buah keluak. the banana cake was tender, and went very well with the gula melaka ice cream and well-​caramelized bananas (with a fantastic sugar shell atop); the durian soup was pungent (but mild enough for newbies), and the tube of feuilletine broke up the creamy soup;
that buah keluak? it went so why-didn’t-I-think-of-it well with chocolate, manifesting in a hint of smoky nuttiness after the dark chocolate. all the other accoutrements on the plate were great — but that ice cream really held the fort.
so, good, good, great. they know what they’re doing here.

The hubby and I have been frequenting Candlenut ever since it opened and it has become our all time favorite restaurant in Singapore. We are huge fans of Peranakan cuisine. Blue ginger is great and all but seems to be more touristy, and I would say Candlenut is more of a gem. Candlenut has the perfect mix of more traditional nonya dishes as well as unique modern ones Each dish seems incredibly thought out, requiring a lot of preparation given the robust flavors and myriad of herbs and spices. The service is friendly, warm and attentive.
Candlenut’s more unique and popular dishes I highly recommend:
Assam sotong — sautéed with squid ink, a bit tangy and sweet due to the tamarind sauce
Yeye’s kari — according to the menu this is a 4^th generation recipe from the chef’s great grandfather, it is a white coconut curry with green chilli padi, green peppercorns, kaffir lime leaf. Totally unique, where do you ever really see white curry?
Mama’s curry — a very fragrant chicken red curry with yummy potatoes
Wingbean salad — wingbeans with crispy fish, shallots, lemongrass, chilli, cashew nuts, mint, coriander with lime dressing
Buah keluak — candlenut’s version is very fragrant and delcious, get the wagyu beef rib option, you won’t regret it.
Desserts
banana caramel pudding — this is served with gula melaka ice cream, yum! and so addictive
and of course their signature buah keluak dessert…

Perfect place for a birthday meal. The new takes on traditional Singapore food are delicious. The chicken curry was very tangy and so packed with flavor and was delicious covering rice and potatoes. The lamb shank was also amazing. The crispy skin and spicy sauce melted in my mouth. The chicken wings were also quite the standout with a mild amount of spice, but great crunchy skin. Best of all, it is BYOB for wine.

Maybe I didn’t order the right items? Maybe my taste buds have changed? Or maybe I should just include Candlenut in my no-​go list? Compared to Blue Ginger, this was place was an epic fail.
I came here for a business lunch and was not impressed by the décor or the services, and especially the food. The restaurant was perhaps looking for a minimalistic approach, but I would describe it as ‘empty’ and not the traditional colorful décor I’m used to seeing in a Peranakan restaurant. Plus, the AC was low! I was sweating balls. There was also no music so beware of awkward silences. The restaurant was quiet and there was a handful of people dining, perhaps 3 tables occupied. Plus, the staff sort of stood around and wasn’t sure what to do. Seemed like a bad choice since Tapas-​san across the alley was hoppin’. We tried the following dishes,
1. Satay (mixed)
2. Sambal Kacang Petai
3. Rendang
4. Buah Keluak, the signature dish.
I loved the rendang and the sambal kacang petai (sticky petai beans) wasn’t bad either. I feel like you can never go wrong with satay so yea, liked that too. The buah keluak (savory dish) was disgusting though. I understand that it was stewed for 5 days and is the most famous Peranakan dish that can be ordered, but it was seriously tasteless. Almost bland and had a weird aftertaste. My dinning companions all agreed that it was not worth it. Not impressed and will never order it again.
On the other hand, the Buah Keluak dessert was to die for though! Made from the same nut as the savory dish (hence the name) but with 80% dark chocolate! WOW! This is the dish I would come back to eat forever and ever!
Overall: Because of the atmosphere and décor, I’ll choose Blue Ginger over Candlenut any day! I do recommend the desserts at Candlenut though so maybe I’ll return when I get a sweet tooth craving. The durian soup and banana caramel pudding are safe bets, but if you’re a true chocolate lover, go for the buah keluak!

Based on reviews here and Tripadvisor, I elected to take a group of American and Australian colleagues for dinner for some authentic local food. (I simply despise overblown places like Ku de Ta or Cut, always preferring the art of a local restaurant operator). This review is from my last visit in December 2013.
And indeed, the food is remarkable. Beautiful presentations, deliciously fresh ingredients, and a wide variety of options. Nothing was off, nothing over-​done or under-​done. The curries were sweet and savory, creamy without being heavy, the shrimp was cooked perfectly, and the lamb shank was amazing. A good selection of fun micro-​brewed beers and ciders, along with some wine selections (no cocktails).
Unfortunately the ambience negated what should have been a flawless dinner. I’m hoping that this was an isolated incident and not typical of every night, but we started dinner at about 8 pm and the lighting was so bright that it felt as though we were eating in a Walmart or hospital operating room. I found this strange because the food obviously represents a great deal of attention to detail — how they don’t understand the importance of ambient lighting escapes me.
I definitely plan to return, but it will be with a different expectation with regard to the experience. The food is phenomenal, but don’t expect a either a romantic experience or one worthy of impressing business colleagues. — 1 star for the horrible lighting.

Maybe restaurant week is not the best representation of a restaurant’s overall quality, but I thought the food here was marginal. I got the set menu which started with hamachi sashimi that was definitely not sashimi-​quality fish. The main was braised pork jowl, which was good but unremarkable. I was going to go with 3 stars, but they get a bonus star for great service and for a nice selection of reasonably-​priced craft beer. (Yes, I am a sucker for a $ 10 Magic Hat.)

Candlenut serves Peranakan (mix of Malay and Chinese) in a fine dining manner but without inflated prices. The chef, Malcolm, is inspired by his family’s background, and he certainly sends out beautiful and delicious dishes!
Service: The service is great, even when the restaurant gets full. People there really care that you have a good experience.
Ambience: Simple, modern and classy. Not too loud but not stuffy either. I think the wood décor really matches the type of food the restaurant puts out.
Food: Definitely go with a group so you can try a number of dishes. Dish after dish, my taste buds were in awe. My favorite was probably the crispy pork belly — I could honestly not stop eating these! And the minced meat wrapped in beancurd is superb. As for dessert (yes, save room for it), you have to order the Chendol cream — it is light and refreshing. Even if you are full, you’ll most likely want 10 cups of it.

Candlenut’s lunch experience was above my expectation! Located at Dorsett Residences, it is easily accessible as it is just located right at Outram Park MRT station by New Bridge Road!
Peranakan cuisine is not widely available in Toronto, I doubt there is even a restaurant serving up this cuisine. But I love Chinese and Malay food, so a combination of both sounded good!
During lunch time, there is a choice from their regular menu or their special lunch set.
We ended up sharing 2 lunch sets: Sambal Petai Prawns ($ 16) and Ayam Buah Keluak ($ 16). Ingredients were both really fresh, especially the prawns! The spice level is low but pretty balanced. I did find the sauce for Ayam Buah Keluak really interesting and complex.
Our waitress was really attentive and kept checking on us to make sure we didn’t find the food too spicy?! Really? At the end of the meal, she recommended the Durian Soup ($ 8) as dessert which I really enjoyed! Just wish the portion was a little bigger!
Candlenut is good place for a leisure lunch after a morning walking in the heat. The lemongrass drink that came with our lunch set was refreshing! The interior deco is simple but classy.
Highly Recommended!