Charlie's Peranakan Food

Charlie's Peranakan Food is a hawker stall in the basement of Golden Mile Food Centre on Beach Road, which many locals still call Army Market. Charlie and his wife, Amy, cook home-style Peranakan dishes from recipes handed down by Charlie's mother. The food is made from scratch, and the menu runs to more than 30 dishes of pork, chicken and vegetables.

Peranakan cooking, also called Nyonya food, comes from the Straits Chinese community. It blends Chinese cooking with Malay spices, coconut milk and tamarind.

A family recipe book

The stall has been around since at least the 1980s, when Charlie was cooking in Bukit Merah, and it has moved several times since. One past home was a restaurant in Katong. After a break of about eight years, Charlie and Amy reopened the stall at Golden Mile Food Centre in 2017.

What to order

The dishes are eaten with rice. Order two or three to share if you are in a group.

• Ayam buah keluak: chicken in a sour tamarind gravy with buah keluak, a black nut with a rich, earthy paste inside. You get a small wooden stick to scrape out the filling.
• Babi ponteh: fatty pork belly with bamboo shoots and mushrooms in a sweet and savoury sauce of fermented beans and dark soy.
• Nangka lemak: young jackfruit cooked in a creamy coconut gravy.
• Beef rendang: a spiced, slow-cooked beef curry and a long-time favourite at the stall.
• Ngoh hiang: deep-fried meat rolls, good for sharing.
• Chap chye: cabbage braised with mushrooms, tofu skin and glass noodles, a good balance for the richer dishes.

If you are new to Peranakan food, start with the buah keluak. It is one of the best-known Peranakan dishes.

Good to know before you go

• How it works: order and pay at the stall, then find a seat in the food centre. Our guide on how to order at hawker stalls explains the steps.
• The space: the stall is in the basement. Openings in the walls let air in, so the seating area does not feel too stuffy.
• Etiquette: read our hawker centre etiquette rules before you go, including how to clear your tray.

Getting there

Golden Mile Food Centre is at 505 Beach Road, and the stall is unit B1-30. It is about a nine-minute walk from either Nicoll Highway or Lavender MRT station.

Nearby

Kampong Glam lies further down Beach Road. Visit Kampong Glam and Haji Lane for shops and cafes, and see the Sultan Mosque. For more Nyonya cooking, browse our Peranakan restaurants or other hawker favourites. You can also see more restaurants in Bugis and Kampong Glam.