At Terumbu, you get to taste the forgotten food of Pulau Semakau in Singapore

Oct 23, 2026

Cover From October 23 to December 26, 2026, Orang Laut SG will transform the space at Chef X into a café-style pop-up named Terumbu, serving traditional Orang Pulau cuisine made from family recipes passed down from former Pulau Semakau islanders

From October 23 to December 26, 2026, Orang Laut SG will transform the space at Chef X into a café-style pop-up named Terumbu, serving traditional Orang Pulau cuisine made from family recipes passed down from former Pulau Semakau islanders

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Orang Laut SG’s café pop-up at Chef X is equal parts family kitchen and cultural archive—and the food originating from Pulau Semakau is unlike anything else in the city

The grandmother never measured anything. In Firdaus Sani's family, cooking the food of Pulau Semakau has always been guided by a single principle: “Ikut hati kau” or “follow your heart” in Malay. What went into the pot was shaped by what the sea gave that day, seasoned by instinct passed from hand to hand across generations, and learnt not from a written recipe but from standing in the kitchen watching, tasting, adjusting. It is precisely the kind of culinary knowledge that disappears when no one writes it down.

Firdaus Sani, 37, a fourth-generation Orang Laut and Orang Pulau descendant, has spent the better part of the last six years making sure it does not. When his maternal grandparents were relocated from Pulau Semakau to mainland Singapore in 1977, the life they had built on that island—shaped by the surrounding reefs, the day's catch, and the cooking traditions of the Orang Pulau, people of the sea—came with them only in memory. It was through childhood visits to his grandparents that Firdaus first understood what that life had been. Years later, in 2020, he began piecing it back together: old family photographs, recollections, stories from his grandparents, all gathered into a personal page dedicated to Pulau Semakau that eventually became Orang Laut SG, a community-led non-profit working with indigenous coastal communities from Singapore’s Southern Islands to preserve and safeguard their living heritage.

Above Firdaus Sani, 37, a fourth-generation Orang Laut and Orang Pulau descendant

Above Working with his mother, Noorani Rani, Firdaus began documenting the recipes passed down by his grandmother

Firdaus Sani, 37, a fourth-generation Orang Laut and Orang Pulau descendant

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Food, it turned out, was one of the most direct routes back. Working with his mother, Noorani Rani, Firdaus began documenting the recipes passed down by his grandmother—whom he calls Nenek Ninah—preserving not just the dishes but the knowledge woven into them: the understanding of when a dish is cooked to perfection, how much seasoning it needs, when to adjust. These are not things that translate easily into a recipe card. They are carried in the hands and the instincts of the people who grew up making them.

From October 23 to December 26, 2026, those recipes leave the family kitchen for the first time. Orang Laut SG has transformed the space at Chef X, Clarke Quay Central, into Terumbu—named after the Malay word for coral reefs—a café-style pop-up serving traditional Orang Pulau cooking alongside a community gallery that shares the stories, traditions, and memories of Singapore's Southern Islands. It is, in the most precise sense, a living archive.

The menu is built around the ingredients and cooking traditions of Pulau Semakau, where the surrounding waters provided most of what went into a family’s daily meals. The Pulau Bowl brings together three preparations in one: Asam Pedas Ikan Karang, freshly-caught fish simmered in a spicy, tangy gravy of turmeric, dried chillies, and black pepper; Sotong Hitam, or Sotong Nos—green-eyed squid traditionally caught using fishing lines rather than nets—slow-cooked in a rich, savoury gravy of squid ink, garlic, dried chillies, and onions; and Sambal Udang, prawns stir-fried in a fragrant homemade sambal. Served over jasmine rice with vegetables, it is the kind of food that tells you exactly where it comes from.

Above Bubur lambuk tenggiri, the dish that perhaps best illustrates the difference between the Orang Pulau kitchen and the broader Malay culinary tradition most Singaporeans know

Bubur lambuk tenggiri, the dish that perhaps best illustrates the difference between the Orang Pulau kitchen and the broader Malay culinary tradition most Singaporeans know

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The bubur lambuk tenggiri is the dish that perhaps best illustrates the difference between the Orang Pulau kitchen and the broader Malay culinary tradition most Singaporeans know. Bubur lambuk is widely associated with Ramadan, prepared and shared at mosques during iftar. On the Southern Islands, it occupied a different place entirely—a practical, resourceful use of the day’s catch, mackerel slowly simmered with rice, lemongrass, coconut milk, black pepper, garlic, and onions into a comforting, flavourful bowl that had nothing to do with the calendar and everything to do with the sea. At Terumbu, it comes in three variations: with prawns, with squid, or a combination of both. The meal ends with traditional kueh—kueh koleh-koleh for its coconut sweetness, and kueh puteri salat, pairing chewy glutinous rice with fragrant pandan custard.

“For my family, these dishes are more than just food,” Firdaus says. “They carry memories of Pulau Semakau, of the life my grandparents knew, and of the traditions my mother and grandmother passed down to us. Although our family no longer lives on the island, these recipes have remained a way for us to stay connected to where we came from. Bringing them to Chef X is especially meaningful because something that began in our home kitchen can now be shared with people who may never have known these stories. I hope that when people sit down to eat, they leave with not just a taste of our food, but a better understanding of our community, our history and the heritage we continue to carry with us today.”

Terumbu runs until December 26, 2026 at Chef X, Clarke Quay Central, Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 9pm.

For more on Orang Laut SG, visit their website or follow them on Instagram.