Aleggro /LynnettesKitchen

T (May '23)

SCORE: Tell yo' friends - the grand dame of Singapore's peranakan kitchens

ORDER: Archar, braised crab vermicelli, sambal tempeh goreng, oxtail rendang, sugee cake

VALUE: $170/head, BYO on top, plenty left for the next day

One of my oldest friends, from my CHIJ days, is an accomplished violinist. Growing up, her mother taught her that she could achieve her ambitions, whatever they may be, and would showcase examples of women who had achieved success in their fields. One such example is Lynnette Seah, who inspired generations of women with her music, before inspiring me with a different kind of symphony, conducted from her kitchen.

Lynnette is not the kind of woman who would be content with the mediocre, which is an excellent approach for anyone in a kitchen. She develops recipes based on her palette, preferences and personal history, and sees herself as a dinner host rather than someone who cooks for profit. She will join you for dinner, engage with you and share her life with you. Most of all, she shares her table and her food.

Lynnette always serves her meals with what I call "real sambal", the kind contact lens wearers should avoid brushing their fingers against for fear of an unpleasant end to their evening. Dotted with chilli seeds and with true burn, they are a good warm up with the keropok and belinjo crackers set on the table, and a precursor to a soup course.

The soup this time was a bakwan kepiting, which is good for the type. I am a giant soup lover though and swear fealty to the har peow soup at Good Graces, chicken in coconut at Empress or the charred soup at Lucky House. The soup was followed by the stuffed (with shitake and glutinous rice) squid in balsamic vinegar. I always find this to be an interesting dish, where the sweet acid of the vinegar works really nicely as a counter to the squid. Where I end up on the fence is with the glutinous rice, which I like but never feel I need. It is an interesting dish though, and worth trying.

Then we had the crab course(s). I'm a terrible Singaporean because I rarely enjoy chilli crab. Jumbo's has too much lemon for me and Long Beach ends up tasting like soap. I am more for black pepper crab at Jumbo and white pepper at Long Beach, both of which are trumped by the milk poached crab bee hoon at Mellben. Lynnette's braised crab bee hoon is second only to the Mellben dish and she gets better crabs, HUMONGOUS, dripping in roe if female or with giant claws if male. Her broth is insanely flavourful, aided by a healthy top up of crisp pork lard. Her chili crab is pretty good and one of the better versions I have had. She is generous with the egg white in the sauce, and her commitment to natural ingredients avoids the effects of using concentrates (soapiness, too much lemon, etc). Her mantou was cute, smaller than average but neccesary for the carb load.

After ALL of that, we got to the mains. Nasi Ulam, my favourite version in the country, Sambal Goreng Tempeh with sweet chye poh (yay) and beans, prawn and petai sambal, babi buah keluak, beef rendang (I prefer her oxtail). Dish after glorious dish of comfort ingredients and tradition, served with Lynnette's conversation and company. We got so carried away that I totally missed taking a picture of her amazing sugee cake. Even worse, I was last to leave and missed out on grabbing some to take home with me, so am going to steal S's picture of the slice she had for breakfast...

I really do think everyone should try Lynnette's Kitchen if they get a chance. It's a gift, and, thanks to the dabao ratio, it keeps giving.

/LynnettesKitchen