"Permata, the restaurant occupying the iconic Gedung Kuning or Yellow Mansion in Sultan Gate, reopened last month with a new chef and concept.
It no longer serves a buffet. Instead, chef Mel Dean has come up with a menu of what he calls progressive Nusantara cuisine featuring about 40 dishes from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. What that means is recipes based on traditional dishes but presented in new ways and with different ingredients, borrowing ideas liberally from contemporary Western cooking.
An example is the kerabu daging Sri Mersing ($16), a beef salad that is made with grilled chateaubriand and green mango tossed with ginger flower lime dressing. Then there is rawon risotto ($28), which is beef stew infused with buah keluak and served over creamy risotto rice and topped with a ramen egg.
The rusuk percik ($36) or percik lamb rib is delicious, with the New Zealand lamb ribs braised with chilli, shallot, galangal and lemongrass until tender before being chargrilled.
The chef has also brought back a noodle dish sold here in the 1970s called mee wak katok ($26), but upgraded with slices of chateaubriand and a poached egg.
For dessert, try the cek molek molek ($12), which is a sweet potato doughnut from Kelantan. Here, it is dusted with icing sugar, sprinkled with almond flakes and served with vanilla ice cream. There is also espresso caramel on the side as a dip." Wong Ah Yoke, The Strait Times
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