Old Nyonya

Old Nyonya is a Peranakan hawker stall at Maxwell Food Centre, the well-known hawker centre on the edge of Chinatown. It sells simple, home-style Nyonya dishes such as rendang chicken, curry chicken and laksa, at hawker prices.

Eatbook reports that the business has been around since 1960. The stall makes its own spice paste for the rendang, and it says its seafood bee hoon soup comes straight from Mum's kitchen. Peranakan cooking, also called Nyonya food, blends Chinese and Malay traditions. This stall is an easy, low-cost way to try it.

What to order

The signature is the rendang chicken. A chicken drumstick is cooked down in coconut milk and spices until the sauce turns thick and rich. You can have it with coconut rice as a nasi lemak plate. Reviewers mention achar (spiced pickled vegetables) and fried bean curd skin on the side. One 2026 review describes blue rice coloured with butterfly pea flower, served with anchovies, peanuts, egg and sambal chilli.

The laksa is the other big draw. It is a spicy coconut noodle soup, and Eatbook notes that it is said to be creamier than other bowls in the food centre. For a bigger treat, the Royal Laksa adds more seafood, such as crayfish, scallops and prawns. In a review published by the food blog Not Quite Nigella in April 2026, the bowl came with a whole Moreton Bay bug, a type of slipper lobster, cut in half.

Other dishes on the stall's menu include:

• Curry chicken with rice, yellow noodles or bread
• Seafood bee hoon soup, a mild soup with thin rice noodles
• Sides of fried fish rolls, achar and Shanghai greens
• Bubur cha cha, a sweet coconut milk dessert, when it is available

Good to know before you go

• How it works: order and pay at the stall, then find a seat in the shared hall. Our guide on how to order at hawker stalls explains the steps.
• Spice: the laksa and rendang both carry some heat. The seafood bee hoon soup is listed as non-spicy if you prefer milder food.
• Group orders: the stall takes larger orders for delivery on set days through its online ordering page. These need a day's notice.
• Seats: the food centre gets very busy at lunch. Read our tips on hawker centre etiquette before you go.

Getting there

Maxwell Food Centre is on Kadayanallur Street, a short walk from the main temples of Chinatown. Old Nyonya is at stall 4, unit #01-04. Maxwell MRT station, on the Thomson-East Coast Line, serves the food centre.

Nearby

Maxwell is a good stop on a food walk through the area. Our Chinatown cheap eats crawl maps out a half-day route, and the Chinatown neighbourhood guide has more ideas. For another hawker meal in the business district, try Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang at Lau Pa Sat.

You can also browse more Peranakan restaurants, see our hawker favourites, or read up on Peranakan food first. For more choice, see all restaurants in Marina Bay and the CBD.