HarriAnns Nonya Table Cafe, Singapore

Address:
230 Victoria Street, #01-01A Bugis Junction Towers, Singapore 188024

Opening times: 

Everyday from 8am to 9pm

Website: http://www.harrianns.com/

Our honest review:

The café is located right at the exit of Bugis MRT station (up the escalator) and thus it is really accessible to get to by public transport. As I drove to bugis, it was a slight distance from the carpark to the café. I couldn’t find the café in the main Bugis Mall and only soon realised that it is located right outside BHG. The café doesn’t feel like an actual café and have about 10 seats which are indoor, while the outdoor can cater to approximately 20-30 people. I felt it was a pretty small café with regards to the high volume of people around Bugis all 7 days of the week. The concept felt more like a kopitiam where you had to find your own seats and order the food separately. Even though the queue for ordering was quite long, it moved pretty quickly and there was a high turnover rate for seats availability and thus I did not find it a problem to get seats. The waiting time from ordering to having the food on the table was pretty fast of 5-10mins maximum.

6 assorted mini kueh and kueh dardar

Left to right: Glutinous rice, ondeh ondeh, 6 assorted mini kuehs, kueh dardar, meesiam and laksa

I haven’t tried enough glutinous rice to actually know what to point out, but when I was talking to the two ladies sharing table with us, they told me that it was good; as good as those that they ate at Cambridge Road and Chinatown when they were young. I really liked the chilli at the side though. It was very fragrant and had a very strong shrimp taste to it, enhancing the flavour of the glutinous rice, but yet not overpowering it. The glutinous rice comes with generous serving of fried shallots and peanuts.

Both the meesiam and laksa had good portions of ingredients in them. Best thing of all is that the gravy for both bowls were thick! I really liked the gravy of the meesiam which had piquantly spicy and sweet flavor together with a sourish end taste. As for the laksa, the gravy had balanced coconut milk and shrimp taste. However, I felt that it is still not as fragrant and strong a taste as 328 Katong Laksa. With that being said, it is still one of the better ones I’ve eaten thus far.

I’ve always like kueh in bite size. I was therefore thrilled to see that they sell an assortment of 6 different mini tasting kuehs in a box. I was disappointed to see two repeats in my plate of 6 mini kuehs, allowing me to try only 4 types instead of the 6 available types. I feed-backed to the lady boss after my meal. She apologised profusely and without hesitation, offered me to patronise their cafe again; this time making sure that I would be able to try all 6 variety of kuehs. The kuehs that I’ve tried were the rainbow lapis, redbean kueh, kueh talam and kueh salat. I’ve also ordered an additional kueh dar dar. Overall, the kuehs did not disappoint, the textures for the kuehs were really smooth and yet not too sticky that it get stuck at the back of your throat. My favourite one was the redbean kueh where it reminded me of my childhood potong ice cream, and the best thing is that there are bits of red bean at the bottom of the kueh which were sweet. I felt that the pandan flavour for all the kuehs (kueh dardar, kueh salat and kueh talam) could be slightly more fragrant and stronger! It can be compared to Bengawan Solo's, but still lacking slightly on its fragrance. Nevertheless, these are one of the better ones I’ve eaten so far.

The ondeh ondehs were slightly small but easy to pop the entire ball of goodness into your mouth. When my mum took her first bite, her instant reaction was to grin widely. Because of her reaction, I was very curious and quickly pop one into my mouth. I had the exact same reaction. The texture of the ondeh ondeh was amazing, the kueh ‘skin’ was not very thick and the ratio of the kueh to gula melaka inside was just right. The sudden burst of sweetness in my mouth with the nice chewy texture of the kueh was just mindblowing. My mum, boyfriend and I unanimously agree that this is one of the best ondeh ondeh we’ve eaten.

Price:The total bill came up to $21.90 which I felt was not too expensive for the amount of food the 3 of us have eaten especially that it is in a CBD area. We ordered a total of 3 sets which came with drinks! Set 1 – Coffee, Glutinous rice and 3 ondeh ondeh ($4.60), Set 2 – Meesiam and lime juice ($6.50), Set 3 – Laksa and milo ($6.90), 6 assorted kuehs ($2.70) and kueh dardar ($1.20). I’ve heard that the curry chicken is really famous here, but I did not get to try because it sold out (and I went at 1pm)! For the price and the quality of food, I would definitely recommend people to patron this café! Definitely try the assorted kuehs and ondeh ondeh!