Led by a new executive chef, Po Restaurant has introduced a refreshed menu that celebrates the traditions and distinctive flavours of Peranakan cuisine.
Preserving family recipes is central to Peranakan cooking, making Po Restaurant’s setting particularly fitting. Housed within a historic godown at The Warehouse Hotel, the restaurant first opened in 2017 and takes its name from the Chinese word for grandmother. Since then, its culinary identity has centred on recipes, memories and stories passed down through generations.
That respect for heritage extends to the interiors. The dining room features 1970s-inspired globe pendant lamps, traditional rattan chairs and retro detailing, balanced by marble surfaces and touches of greenery that reflect the hotel’s contemporary setting.
Now led by Executive Chef Fredric Goh, Po Restaurant’s refreshed menu continues that philosophy. Time-honoured Peranakan dishes have been reworked from familiar family-style favourites into more refined plates, while retaining the flavours and techniques that define the cuisine.
“My cooking is an amalgamation of the traditional recipes my grandmother taught me and my own interpretation of them. Peranakan cuisine has so much character, and I want guests to experience what makes these flavours distinctive while staying true to the way I grew up eating them. At the same time, how each dish is finished and presented reflects the way I cook today,” shares chef Fredric.
Among the signatures is Nasi Ulam, a dish that demonstrates the labour-intensive nature of Peranakan cooking. It combines 15 individually prepared herbs, spices, and savoury ingredients, presented separately at the table before being folded into fragrant coconut rice coloured with blue pea flower.
For Chef Fredric, the Buah Keluak Pork Jowl holds particular personal significance. Succulent pork jowl, prized for its balance of meat and fat, is served with a rich, earthy sauce made from buah keluak, the nut of the pangium tree. Native to Southeast Asia, the ingredient is naturally poisonous and requires careful preparation. The nuts must be soaked and scrubbed for several days before being cracked open and their flesh removed for cooking.
The dish also recalls Chef Fredric’s childhood memories of preparing Chinese New Year feasts with his grandmother. Before sunrise, he would take on the role of sous chef as the pair worked together in the kitchen, an experience that continues to influence his cooking today.
Elsewhere, the menu includes Bakwan Kepiting with Abalone, a celebratory soup traditionally associated with wedding banquets, alongside Jantung Pisang, a curry made with banana blossom.
For dessert, the Kueh Salat Ice Cream Sandwich offers a playful conclusion to a menu rooted firmly in heritage, memory and generations of Peranakan cooking. An ambitious take on one of Peranakan’s most popular kueh of the same name — a traditional rich cake topped with a silky pandan custard. This dessert also mirrors another local favourite: the ice cream sandwich by elderly pushcart vendors making their rounds across Singapore. Instead of rainbow bread or crisp packaged wafers usually served with the comforting classic, Po Restaurant’s version sandwiches pandan ice cream between fragrant, house-made love letters crackers made with coconut milk.
Under the helm of chef Fredric, this latest chapter unfolding at Po Restaurant runs much deeper than what is served at the table; It is an intimate interpretation of the celebrated past, how it is preserved, and the toil it takes for those continuing to breathe life into them.
Where: Po Restaurant, The Warehouse Hotel, Havelock, Singapore
When: Daily from 7am to 10:30am and 12pm to 10pm
Contact: www.po.com.sg