‘Eurasian chow Singapore must not leave behind’

By KF Seetoh, makansutra

Each year, around this time, the usual outpouring of joy and dedication — hand at heart, palm and head turned upwards in appreciation and tears of joy are common expressions of this celebration. I am of course talking about food here (especially the tears of joy part like when the Maxwell onde onde lady says you are the lucky last customer after a 30 minute wait, and it's only 12 noon).

All stories in all manners about our local makan assail your senses, like discounts, blog musings, best versions, recipes, National Day buffets, raves about our usual top 20 dishes, and how even lobster is finding its way onto fried Hokkien prawn mee. But stop a while, look closely, notice how each year, makan icons of another very true blue Singaporean pioneer race gets left deeper into the storage shelf, as all the others — Malay, Indian, Peranakan and Chinese, gets frontline airtime. Why are there no mentions of Eurasian makan? Well, the devil is in the details, or mmm... retails.

It is very hard to find decent Eurasian chow here, unless you are so blessed to have Kristang friends have you over at their house for makan regularly. I currently count three only — Casa Bom Vento, Damian D' Silva's now defunct Soul Kitchen and Big D's (he's preparing for his next set up now), and Quentin's, a Eurasian restaurant in the East. Not many others are setting up Kristang makan joints. The Kristangs are south east Asian Christians, originally from Portugal, and are the de-facto roots of Eurasian culture here.

1 Queen St, outside Kum Yan Methodist Church
Tel: 62569696, 62562636
11am - 5pm daily (best before 2pm as she sells out the mains by then)

I would now like to add another makan pin to that stable. I had been trying to track her down for a while, not long after I bought her The Eurasian Cookbook. "In the four years I was in the business, I moved a couple of times," says Mary Gomes, regaling how she was retrenched some ten years ago in the volatile banking industry and decided to follow her heart in the food business. Her current no-frills, homely 45 seater café does not even have a signboard. Nobody cares. It's just an A-frame chalkboard outside that yells out her daily specials under the heading "Mary's Café".

She only offers one special set each day. "I do all the cooking and prepping alone and this is all I can handle each day," she explains. Her daily sets which costs around $7, ranges from the classic Devil's or Debal Curry, fried dry mee siam with chicken to chicken buah kelauk with apom berkuah. Side dishes like pork pongteh, Eurasian feng, and rendang are occasionally offered.

Her Devil's Curry has enough heat and tang with enough oomph to lift it off the touristy flavour charts. Pity she only uses chicken, sausages and potatoes with mildly pickled cucumbers. "I would love to put ham hocks, sio bak, ribs, sausages and achar, like how I do for my children, but it can cost quite a bit for the average lunch budget here," she explains.

But she'll do it for a private order or catering service. Her Nonya pork pongteh has a Eurasian accent — a fragrantly sweet tone that sits smoothly with the tauheo due to her generous use of caramelised onions. Sweetly addictive. One reason why she can afford to sell 5 pieces of kueh pieti at $2 is that "home touch" reason — it comes with no frills, just softly crunchly and sweet savoury stewed bangkuang (turnips) in a pieti shell with bits of hard boiled eggs on top. Like it's done by your not-so-rich favourite aunty. Come past 1.45pm each day and you'll likely get a "sorry, all sold out" from Mary. All that's left are usually cakes in the shelf. Her sugee cakes are just rich enough(with eggs) and nicely nutty (with almonds). She also makes fresh pang Susie — a sweet potato gummy bun stuffed with minced meat fragranced with nutmeg and cinnamon powder. She also touts a true and rare Eurasian salted fish achar, which is a riot with rice or on its own.

Mary, how about touting some curiously wonderful stuff in your book, like Belimbing Beef Curry, Pork Tambreneu or even Prawn Sambal Bostador, then sweeten us with Sesagoon and Eurasian Bajeh... all unique Eurasian dishes we love to shout about?

Selamat makan Singapore, and happy birthday.

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