I was an occasional lunch-hour visitor at Spice Peranakan back when they were at Bukit Timah. Last week a few friends and I decided to have dinner at their new premises at Biopolis and fulfill our Nonya cravings.
To begin, the location is a huge contrast and a definite thumbs-up from the previous 'humble' corner in a disused shopping centre. From a rather 'colourful' oldies rock pub next door back then, the new backdrop Biopolis had to offer was easily one of the night's highlights. The al fresco dining area was cool despite the insanely hot weather as of late.

Now the food - I'm not a Baba connoisseur by any means, so my comments are painfully layman. All I know is, in the time you have a Peranakan meal prepared and consumed, you'd have had time to consume probably three full meals at any fast food joint. More on that later.

Can't really remember the list of dishes (as usual), but they were typical Peranakan fare. The ones that made me hungier for more were the ayam goreng and fish otah. The beef rendang and ikan assam pedas were pretty inspired too. The folks in the kitchen have certainly been doing some epicurean research since my first visit.
The ayam goreng - it was cooked to perfection, the sauteed onions and deepfry seasoning were a sublime blend. The otah, moist (steamed, I assume) and generous with a texture that's reminiscent of coagulated pig's blood from a distant past I used to mix with rice. Good stuff!

Midway through the meal, I began to wonder how much love and effort is put into the food we eat these days. I wondered how wrong, on so many levels, it would be if I were to dial KFC delivery ever in the future. How globalisation and modernisation has gotten us into a vicious cycle of impatience and chronic dissatisfaction with many aspects of our lives. I digress.

Service was attentive - although we waited longer that we would've preferred for the food to arrive. For some reason that evening, it took some time for rice refills to arrive. Having great food on the communal plate but having no rice to eat it with - it's a unique situation I hope you and I shall never find ourselves in. That said, the staff were most courteous and gracious in their line of duty.

Total damage was around $20 each for a group of six. For the same amount, you could probably have three value meals at Mac's, or five good plates of hokkien mee. Maybe have you on a kueh-buying rampage at Bengawan Solo. Then again, when was the last time you had a good sit down at a dining table outside home, fruitful conversations with friends or family abound, without having the urge to get it over and done with, so you could race home and watch the next korean drama episode?

Was the price of the food worth it? Quite, considering the immense effort put into every dish, as seen in Ways of the Matriarch on TV. Will I go back again? That depends on the occasion, not a place I'd go for lunch weekly unless I happen to be in the area. But at night, it's a beautiful sensorial treat indeed - who would've figured that an authentic Peranakan restaurant would make a more-than-worthy addition to the compounds of a biomedical R&D institute, among the usual bistros and cafes?

Cheers to the people at this establishment, they're now responsible for that final inspiration to register with HGW. I have been procrastinating food reviews for way too long!