HarriAnns Nonya Table – 3rd Generation making Authentic Nonya Cuisine

Specializing in making traditional authentic Peranakan delicacies, HarriAnns began in the 1940s when Grandma, Madam Chia Nguk Eng, started a push-cart selling her Nonya Kueh and Teochew-style sweet and savoury glutinous rice in the Tiong Bahru vicinity. She had to feed her two sons after losing her husband so she did what she did best – cook!

In 1950, Grandma Chia moved to Tiong Bahru market as the Ministry of Environment clamped down on street hawkers. Her delicious foods quickly gained her a huge following and her elder son, Harry, quit school to help her at the market. Grandma Chia retired in 1996 and handed down her treasured family recipes to Harry and his wife, Ann, hence the re-naming of their stall as “HarriAnns”. Towards the end of 2013, Harry handed the reins of this business to his son, Alan and in July 2014, HarriAnns Nonya Table café was born.

This unpretentious café, located in Bugis, draws a huge crowd as the set meals for the scrumptious Nonya cuisine are really affordable. It’s the third generation running the operations now but they still faithfully uphold Grandma Chia’s traditional techniques of making each kueh painstakingly by hand and using the freshest premium ingredients.

HarriAnns Nonya Table offers customers the All Day Breakfast Menu and the Peranakan Meals. There are 6 different sets of All Day Breakfast for you to choose from and we had Set A6 ($5) which includes Grandma’s Signature Glutinous Rice, 4 pieces of bite-sized Nonya Kueh and a cup of coffee or tea. Although the café is situated in a modern shopping mall, having the Nonya Kueh paired with coffee brought us back to the nostalgic days of the old Singapore. Each kueh had a good soft consistency and we liked that it doesn’t get stuck onto our teeth. The tasty glutinous rice mixed with braised soft whole peanuts is very fragrant. This breakfast set will certainly begin our day on a chirpy note!

There are 4 Peranakan Meals to choose from, namely Nonya Laksa set, Nonya Curry Chicken set, Mee Siam set and Ayam Ponteh set and these dishes are all prepared following the instructions of Grandma Chia’s traditional recipes. All set meals come with 1 Honey Iced Lemon Tea or Calamansi with Lime drink. We went around 7pm in the evening for dinner but they’re already sold out on the Nonya Laksa so we settled for the Nonya Curry Chicken set and Mee Siam set.

The Nonya Curry Chicken set ($8) boasts chicken that’s cooked till tender and moist in their signature thick and rich curry rempah. Complemented by aromatic pandan rice and a portion of Nonya Achar, which gave a hint of a refreshing sourish-spicy twist, we couldn’t stop taking one bite after another. The Nonya Curry Chicken is simply enjoyable and satisfying.

The Mee Siam set ($7) consists of stir-fried vermicelli served with a spicy sweet and sour gravy made from rempah spice paste, tamarind and salted soy bean. Topped with fresh prawns, half a hard-biuled egg, chives and fried bean curd cubes, it arrived looking fiery spicy, with the fragrance whetting our appetites. Imagine slurping one mouthful which gives a burst of flavours in your mouth! We found this dish to be the highlight of our meal.

HarriAnns Nonya Table is the place to go if you’re looking for affordable and delectable Peranakan food in a casual setting where you can catch up with friends over the weekend or unwind with colleagues after work. Don’t forget to take-away some of their kueh as they make a good snack!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.