My first experience dining at Violet Oon at National Gallery Singapore sometime ago was really great that made me want to come back. Honestly, I am not a big fan of Peranakan food. But I must say, Violet Oon dishes are really impressive! I and a few good friends wanted to have dinner again at Violet Oon at National Gallery last Saturday but it was fully booked (they are always booked fast!). My friend found out that they have another location at Clarke Quay, Violet Oon Satay Bar & Grill. It's been a year or so but we didn't know.
Just like the National Gallery outlet, this one at Clarke Quay has a very charming interior. It gives me the warm and lovely feeling. Very cosy. At first, the four of us was seated at a small square table but we quickly realized it would be too small. Ideally, this kind of square table is good only for two. We moved to the long table near the bar. It is more spacious although we had to share it with other patrons. The star dish for the night for me was this Garam Assam Barramundi pictured below.
We started with a starter, Kueh Pie Tee, julienned bamboo shoot and turnip poached in a prawn bisque served in a deep fried "top hat" cup topped with prawn, chili sauce, and a sweet fruit sauce. My second time ordering this (the first time was in National Gallery outlet). It's nice.
For our main course, we chose Garam Assam Barramundi with Pineapple and Ginger Flower (grilled barramundi topped with a piquant compote of diced pineapple perfumed with ginger flower julienne and laksa leaf) and Daging Panggang Sambal Hijau (200-day grain fed black angus beef rib eye grilled and infused with garlic kesturi topped with green chili padi sambal and garlic confit). Both were mouth-watering and absolutely delicious. The grilled barramundi tasted really delicious and blended well with the pineapple sauce. The grilled beef with green chili was amazing. The beef was medium-well, it's tender and juicy. We were all very happy with our choices.
We chatted while enjoying our lovely dinner and needed to order one more dish. We decided to get Prawn Satay (grilled tiger prawns marinated in aunty nanny's lemak coconut rempah drizzled with fresh squeezed calamansi juice). They're just OK. The prawn was not marinated enough, couldn't taste the coconut rempah.
I think their Chicken Satay (chicken chunks marinated in spices, grilled and served with a spicy peanut sauce topped with grated pineapple, steamed rice cake, cucumber, and red onion) or Pork Satay (pork tenderloin marinated in spiced, grilled and served with a spicy peanut sauce topped with grated pineapple, steamed rice cake, cucumber, and red ontion) or Beef Satay (150-day grain fed black angus beef marinated in spices, grilled and served with a spicy peanut sauce topped with grated pineapple, steamed rice cake, cucumber, and red onion) would have been nicer. I saw the table next to us ordered them but we already had beef and one of us does not eat pork and one of us does not eat chicken. So we had no other choice than prawn.
We had a very nice dining experience here, not only the food tasted superb, the service was great too. The waitresses were nice and served their customers happily and efficiently. The ambience was great. The price is slightly on the high side, we spent $40 per person.
A highly recommended restaurant. They are very popular, so best to make reservation to avoid disappointment.
Happy Dining!
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