Little Nyonya Singapore

The Little Nyonya may have been a ratings winner with TV audiences for Singapore's MediaCorp TV channel 8, but I doubt the newly opened Little Nyonya Singapore will emulate such levels of success with the diners of Brisbane. Read on after the jump break to find out more.

Little Nyonya Eight Mile Plains Restaurant
24/261 Warrigal Road (Warrigal Square)
Eight Mile Plains QLD 4113
P: 3341 7770
Sun - Thu: 11am - 10pm
Fri - Sat: 11am - 10:30pm

The recently opened Warrigal Square shopping centre may well become another Market Square like dining hub, and it was with much anticipation that wifey and I awaited the opening of the Little Singapore Restaurant Group's latest addition to their growing stable in one corner of this complex. Our interest piqued (and perhaps peaked, for reasons explained below) when we found out it would feature Nyonya cuisine. After drooling over the food shown in The Little Nyonya TV series, wifey and I hunted down a fair number of Nyonya/Peranakan eateries on our last trip to Singapore. Could this new restaurant, so close to home, give us a taste of Peranakan fare without the overseas flights? Once we knew it was open for business, wifey put out a call on facebook and gathered some like-minded diners to sample their food.

Bar area, on the right as you enter the restaurant. Doubles as waiting area.

Dining area.

I didn't take a close look, but it seems that the tables are divided into two roughly equal areas - one (foreground in the photo above) with the larger round tables, and the other (background, past the wall/windows) with the smaller (square?) tables. Note also the isosceles trapezoidal shaped plates which I suspect is not a Peranakan feature. It's also handy to know that the round tables can fit perhaps 10 at the most - 8 comfortably, 9 without much room to spare; we had 12+1, so they gave us two tables. Speaking of which, we seemed to have a bit of trouble communicating with the staff, over the issue of the tables, and also during the few times when wifey rang to make and update our booking. Not sure if it was a language issue... I also had a bit of a minor issue when making payment with an American Express credit card, which it turns out they don't accept - I asked if they accepted AMEX when I handed the bill and showed the card to the waitress, she seemed to say yes, but returned some 5-10 minutes later to say no...

Fancy floor tiles.

The restaurant does look very nicely designed and decorated, and is noticeably more up market compared to the other eateries in the Little Singapore family. I have it on hearsay that the furniture was imported from Malaysia, contributing to the delay in opening time - construction photos available here. There are also lots of Peranakan artifacts on display, which all contribute well to the overall ambiance. One thing that didn't contribute to the ambiance was the 80's instrumental pop music (a la  Richard Clayderman et al) - where this fits in a Nyonya restaurant I don't know.

In any case, we were here for food. So without further ado, this is what we ordered:

#14 Salty Plum Spare Rib (with dried plum) - $19.30

One of the dishes from the Chef Selection section of the menu. Probably the pick of the dishes we had. Having said that, it pretty much tastes like any other good spare rib you can get from a half decent Chinese restaurant.

#22 Nyonya Pork (Grill white Pepper with Plum) - $19.30

I don't think this is something I've tried before, but we chose this on the basis of it having Nyonya in the name. I'm not sure what else is Nyonya about this dish. It was ok, but no stand out.

#24 Singapore Chicken (Double taste Deep Fried Chicken) - $21.70

Another from the Chef Selection. What came out looked nothing like what I expected, based on the menu description. The "double taste" must have referred to the fact that the chicken is done two ways - well that's what the Chinese name suggests anyway, not that I noticed at the time. The chicken on the left was shredded and in a tangy sort of salad arrangement; the chicken on the right looked like a crispy skin chicken, except the skin wasn't all that crispy, and any deep frying must have been in passing.

#73 Assam Fish (Fillet choice of Grilled or Steamed - this was steamed) - $22.90

The third of our three dishes from the Chef Selection. One of my dining companions said that this dish was recommended by people he knew. I didn't particularly mind the dish, as there were hints of Peranakan flavours with the assam (tamarind). But it was more like a tickle with the toes rather than a kick in the shins.

#54 Belacan Kangkong (Prawn Paste Water Spinach) - $17.80

This should have been a characteristically tasty and slightly fiery dish. It was ok, but certainly not something I would buy again for almost $18... and I don't really recall tasting much belacan.

#57 Princess Tofu (three layer with oyster sauce) - $19.00

It sounded interesting, and we were curious as to the layers, which as it turns out was within the tofu itself. $19 for tofu though? I don't know...

The damage: All up we paid about $19 a head for this meal. It's also worth keeping in mind that rice is $2.90 / person, and tea $1.50. We didn't order any entrees but to give you some idea of the prices:

• Popiah is $10.10 for 2
• Satay (skewers) $11.50 for 4
• Spring rolls (vegetarian) $8.90 for 3
• Curry puffs (vegetarian) $8.90 for 3
• Otak otak $11.50 for 4 (the next table ordered this, and the pieces looked... well... not generous)

At the end of the day, this venue promised much, but delivered significantly less. Maybe they're aiming at a higher segment of the market, or maybe they need to pay for all the decor and furnishings in the place, but the high asking prices are a mismatch for the food served.

Likelihood of revisit? Low. Once is probably enough at this stage. There are probably a few other items on the menu I wouldn't mind trying out, but don't know if I want to risking those sorts of prices for likely disappointment. This Little Nyonya just has too little Nyonya for my liking.