Cover Violet Oon at the new restaurant's mini herb garden (Photo: Violet Oon Restaurant)
Violet Oon at the new restaurant's mini herb garden (Photo: Violet Oon Restaurant)
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Spanning 6,000 square feet, Violet Oon Singapore features a main dining room, elegant private rooms, a pet-friendly alfresco area, as well as an expanded food menu with a beverage programme
Violet Oon, Singapore’s doyenne of Peranakan cuisine, made headlines last year when her subsidiary company, Halo Concept, secured a coveted location at Dempsey Hill with a monthly rental bid of $52,615—significantly outbidding competitors whose offers ranged from $20,000 to $33,000.
The much-anticipated Violet Oon Restaurant at the food enclave finally opened this month in a sprawling 6,000-square-foot space within the former British army barracks, located next to Burnt Ends. The establishment spans two floors, featuring a main dining room, private rooms, a mini herb garden and a pet-friendly alfresco area.
Oon reveals that the expansive new venue was designed to “welcome diners to my home”; thus, her daughter and creative director Su-Lyn Tay collaborated with the designers to incorporate personal mementos from Oon’s decorated career into the Peranakan-inspired design.
In case you missed it: Where to find the best Peranakan dishes in Singapore, according to a Peranakan
Above The main dining room on the first floor
The main dining room on the first floor
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The sleek black, gold and emerald colour palette still runs through the space, peppered with Nyonya tiles the team reused from old Peranakan homes and the now-shuttered concept at Jewel Changi Airport. The warm touches though come in the form of framed recipes from Oon’s old cookbooks, articles that Oon wrote in her previous career as a journalist, and photographs that give diners a glimpse of her life in the early days. Looking at the photographs, we learnt that Oon also used to sing opera.
Oon shares that the menu is the “perfect marriage of the East with the East”, with 80 per cent of the offerings being their classic signatures while the rest are must-try new creations. From the latter, Tay tells us how the hati babi bungkus is one of her favourites as her mother would only prepare it during special occasions like Chinese New Year. “It’s very laborious to prepare,” she elaborates of the Peranakan delicacy made with spiced pork liver stuffed in caul fat and deep-fried until juicy. The best way to eat it, explains Tay, is with the homemade pickles for some acidity and sambal belacan for that extra kick.
Expanded menu at the new Violet Oon Restaurant
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Other novel highlights include the daging panggang sambal hijau, grilled black Angus ribeye finished with a sprinkle of crispy garlic chips and piquant green chilli sambal, and the gulai nangka or jackfruit simmered in a coconut gravy sauce and topped with salted fish for an extra layer of umami.
In the spirit of a Peranakan feast, the dishes are made for sharing, so go ahead and order your classic favourites too, whether it is the beef rendang, fork-tender beef shin in a creamy and spiced coconut sauce; the dry laksa, rice noodles in a decadent gravy topped with bean sprouts and prawns; or the chap chye, an assortment of vegetables in a prawn bisque sauce.
Above Tropics of Kin
Above Temasek Cooler
Tropics of Kin
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Even the beverage programme was refreshed at Violet Oon Dempsey to complement the more extensive menu. Asian flavours dominate the cocktail menu, with concoctions like the Temasek Cooler, Mancino Secco vermouth mixed with lemongrass, sage and oregano; and Tropics of Kin, a reimagined version of a classic Brazilian drink called Batid. Oon’s version sees the Agricole-style Husk rum infused with jackfruit and galagal, and used as the base layered with coconut and condensed milk, and herb cordial of pandan and coriander.
The Dempsey Hill outpost is the third—and largest—location in Violet Oon’s namesake restaurant empire, joining existing venues at Ion Orchard and the National Gallery Singapore.
Violet Oon Restaurant
Address: 7 Dempsey Road, 01-05, S(249671)
Credits
Images: Violet Oon Singapore
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
