Tried Nyonya for the first time

[kelea]

After hearing about it from friends and reading a couple of positive reviews on the board, I thought I would go try it out.

Between the two of us, we ordered a roti canai, a roti telur, seafood tom yum noodles, hokkien mee and hainan chicken. (Quick a tall order for two girls, but I wanted to try all the food I missed from Singapore.)

Sadly the only thing that was impressive about the meal was the bill. All that food for $35, which was pretty impressive.

The roti canai was not what I was expecting. This huge fluffy thing pancake which is a weird variation from the original. I was hoping to get my layered roti with just the right amount of crispiness on the outside and light layers throughout. The thin roti at nyonya just didn't cut it. The curry that came with it however was delicious.

The roti telur was rather skimpy all around in terms of filling, resulting is a rather bland tasting dish. The 'too-thin' roti wrapped around it wasn't fried crispy enough and gave the dish no hold.

My hokkien mee was definitely NOT hokkien mee. It came up extremely dark brown with too much soy sauce all over the noodles. The flavor was still tasty but it was definitely not hokkien mee. It was no different that just noodles fried with a little fish sauce and a whole bottle of sweet soy sauce.

But the most disappointing of all was the hainan chicken. The chicken was definitely overcooked and was mushy in texture. There was no ginger puree or the thick soy that is suppose to come with it. The rice was a little too dry and had barely any chicken flavor.

All in all, I was sorely disappointed at Nyonya....can't say I am dying to go back. Next time, new malaysia..

[kelea]

Thanks for all the feedback! Xigua, didn't realize there was a difference. The noodles did taste pretty good though. I will give New Malaysia a try since it seems to take the cake!

[xigua]

You're welcome. I'm singapore but much prefer the brown malaysian hokkien noodles actually.
New Malaysia is pretty good, so is Skyway.
Sanur sells curry puffs and nonya kueh if you're into those things.

[boogiedown]

new malaysia is definitely a lot better than nyonya (its quality has declined drastically over the years and i've been going there since '95-ish).

[randumbposter]

Maybe you went on a bad day. The hainan chicken I usually get there, usually comes out tender. Odd that they didn't give you ginger or soy sauce, you can always ask for it. I think most of the roti canai in ctown is thin. I prefer overseas asian for my malaysian fix. My indian friend liked the roti canai there.

[Miss Needle]

I've also had smooth silky Hainese chicken from Nyonya with blood by the bones. Hopefully what you had was an aberration.

[kobetobiko]

Hi kelea,

Thanks for the report. I have never been to Singapore, so I am not sure how authentic hokkien mee is supposed to be like. I happened to try it at New Malaysia (a few years already), and the noodle, as I recalled, was of thick noodles with dark soy sauce and a lot of pork cracklings. If you are planning to try it at New Malaysia, could you please kindly report back on what you think about the dish?

Thanks again for your review!

[xigua]

The dark brown hokkien mee is Malaysian, not Singaporean. If you're looking for the pale Hokkien prawn noodles found in Singapore you'll be disappointed. But the very flavorful, lardy brown noodles are excellent in most places and reminiscent of what you'll get in KL.