Straits Chinese Nonya Restaurant (Cecil Street)

Pop by on Friday evening, expecting the place to be busy. Except it’s not. The huge restaurant was really empty. There were only 2 other table + us.

After reading the reviews, we decided to pick something different. We used one of the 1–1 deal for the Babi pongteh and Sambal kangkong plus the ikan on its own.

The rice is free flow, you can pick between the blue pea rice $2 or the plain rice. You can’t just order one plate to share. There were reviews mentioning it smells super fragrant, however to me it’s just lumpy rice with uneven colour, definitely not fresh out of the pot kind of fluffy rice. We had Chinese tea, it came in a pot. Refillable too.

The server was attentive and friendly. The atmosphere was.. quiet. Obviously. Lol.

Straits Chinese nonya restaurant also uses 2 robots to deliver the food from the kitchen. Pretty entertaining to hear the cheery music and watch it goes back and forth while avoiding bumping into anything/anyone.

Overall, will I go back again? No. I don’t think I will.

The kuey was complimentary, in fact, the kuey tasted so much better than the durian pengat… 😒

The first thing that catches your attention with durian should be the aroma, however when I place this under my nose.. I couldn’t smell any distinctive durian smell.. I don’t know how long it was prepared and kept in the fridge hence that’s why there is no durian smell?

The taste itself is bland, you can feel the texture of the pulp and it’s not sweet. Overall, I would say save your money and calories on this tiny shot glass dessert.

Imo, this was the best dish among what we ate. The rempah from the Sambal was good but it could be spicier (it’s the equivalent of eating Mala but you asked for very xiao la). The veg was crunchy and refreshing and goes well with the rice.

The meat is really tender, the important thing missing was the flavour itself. Personally, it’s really light. I can taste the saltiness and that’s it. The mushrooms didn’t soak up any of the sauce. When chewed, plain mushroom water just gushed out. I also haven’t seen lettuces used in Babi pongteh..

Lovely place with the best Nyonya food I've had. The Ayam Buah Keluak was especially memorable with the meat fully immersed in the rich jackfruit seeds (and cooked for 7 days!). They also serve bluepea rice that smells so fragrant. Impeccable and friendly service too!

This place truly deserves it's Michelin awards.

I'll be back for these authentic Nyonya food.

They told us this was on the house (fortunately for us it really was). Kueh was not too bad, not too sweet.

Overall, I didn’t really have a good experience here due to the many hidden charges that were just served without our knowledge of their costs. I know that Chinese restaurants may do this, but there was just too many - crackers on the table, water served per person, and then for the rice which we asked only for 2 servings, and then they charged us for 3 (we were 3 people). When we asked them about it, they wouldn’t budge or make any negotiations.

Even after using the 1-for-1 Burpple Beyond deal, it was still really expensive. I wouldn’t come back here again. Food was okay but honestly not worth the extravagant prices for such small servings.