Violet Oon Singapore at ION Orchard

Violet Oon Singapore at ION Orchard is a Peranakan restaurant on level 4 of the ION Orchard mall. It is one of several restaurants from Violet Oon, the Singapore cook and former food critic. In June 2025 it moved up to this floor from level 3.

Oon learned Nyonya cooking from her aunts and grandaunts as a teenager and wrote out her first recipe book by hand at 17. That family cooking still shapes the menu, which also covers Singapore cafe classics with Hainanese and British roots.

What to order

Start with a few small plates to share. The menu calls these makan kechil, or small eats.

• Kuay pie tee: crisp pastry cups, shaped like small top hats, holding bamboo shoot, turnip and a prawn.
• Ngoh hiang: fried five-spice rolls of prawn, crab meat and chicken in bean curd skin.
• Ayam buah keluak: a spicy, tangy chicken stew built around the dark keluak nut.
• Babi pongteh: pork belly braised slowly with bean paste, mushroom and bamboo shoot.
• Garam assam fish: red snapper in a sour, spicy gravy with pineapple.
• Beef hor fun: flat rice noodles fried with beef tenderloin and black bean sauce.
• Hainanese pork chop: Kurobuta loin in a cream cracker crust, with tomato sauce and fries.

For dessert, try kueh beng kah, a tapioca cake with palm sugar syrup and coconut milk. A separate plant-based menu includes grilled king oyster mushroom in turmeric coconut sauce and a mushroom version of pongteh.

In the afternoons there is a Singapore High Tea set for two. It mixes savoury bites, such as chilli crab in a crispy shell, with sweets like ang ku kueh and bika ambon honeycomb cake. The bar makes cocktails with local flavours, including a kopi-based drink called Midnight Straits, as well as house ginger beer.

Want to know more about this cooking? Read our guide to Peranakan food.

The setting

The design takes its cue from a grand old family house. Expect deep green tones, antique Peranakan tiles and gold trim. There are 102 seats across a main salon, an indoor veranda styled like a secret garden and three private dining rooms. A shop next to the dining room sells cookies, jams and cakes to take home.

Good to know before you go

• Booking: reserve through the official restaurant page, which also covers private dining.
• Dietary needs: the menu labels vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes. Pork and shellfish appear in many others.
• Spice: several dishes are spicy, so ask staff if you are unsure.
• Takeaway: available, but the kitchen needs some notice.

Getting there

ION Orchard says it is right next to Orchard MRT station, on the North-South and Thomson-East Coast lines. The restaurant is on level 4, and its website points to an entry from the Orchard Boulevard side. The mall also has parking.

Nearby

The restaurant makes an easy break during a day on Orchard Road. For another Peranakan meal in the area, try Simply Peranakan Cuisine. You can also browse restaurants in Orchard and River Valley, our Peranakan restaurants in Singapore or hotels in Orchard and River Valley.