Old Bibik’s Famous Peranakan Rendang @ MDIS Building

Located within MDIS building, Old Bibik’s Famous Peranakan Rendang serves rendang prepared daily from scratch, using a grandmother’s secret recipe, with fresh ingredients and at wallet-friendly prices.

Every venture starts with an idea or belief. For one of the owners, Adrian, he felt that his grandmother’s rendang recipe kicked ass and would do extremely well. This is why with no prior experience, he roped in his old army buddy, Ah Wee, and dived headlong into the food and beverage business (even though both of them have fried no more than 10 eggs combined).

Adrian and Ah Wee wanted a change from their corporate careers. Wee was a business analyst in the semi-conductor industry and Adrian was the marketing manager for a travel agency. Their lives was a constant weekly loop of deadlines, reports and administration. So after having the business idea, they they managed to get ourselves a small food stall called OLD BIBIK at Lavender Food Square after only a month of planning and cooking trials.

It was a humbling journey of self-discovery when they first opened their stall in Lavender. They soon realised that cooking 1-2kg of meat a day for family and friends was extremely different from cooking 10-20kg for customers. The production of Rempah, the sauce for the rendang, was quadrupled from what they anticipated. In the end, they wound up spending up to 8 hours a day preparing it. It also didn’t help that they were unfamiliar with the new commercial stoves and woks. They were practically throwing away loads of beef and chicken every day because of their inability to harness the fiery nature of a commercial stove. Especially with the sky high rental, it was a stressful beginning for them.

Thankfully, they never give up. That’s important. And because of their never-say-die attitude, they are able to do better each day. They spent the early days fine-tuning the recipe, re-working the kitchen processes, sorting out their inventory and delivery schedules with the suppliers. By the third week, things got better and one of their customers came to them, saying that their chicken reminded him of his late mother’s cooking.

Upon the closure of Lavender Food Square, Old Bibik has moved to MDIS building, a short walk away from Eunos MRT. They came back stronger, with the addition of a Peranakan chef to help in the kitchen. Using the recipes from one of their grandmother’s secret collection that has been handed down from generation to generation, Old Bibik hopes to provide quality and MSG-free rendang at affordable prices.

The beef rendang (set meal $8.90) is really quite delicious with the rempah sauce which is prepared using fresh ingredients and manually blended every day. The rendang is slow cooked for over 2 hours, the result is fork-tender meat that has been thoroughly infused with the rich flavour of the spices.

I am a big fan of their Chicken Rendang (set meal $7.90) has thick gravy and intensely flavorful. Each rendang set comes with stir fried vegetables, egg omelette and power packed belacan chili.

It’s the first time I’ve tried an Assam Egg ($3). Apparently it was a novelty dish eaten during post world war 2 within the kampong when meat and rice was at a premium. The Bibik’s of old would sauté some onions and chili together with some Assam water before throwing a freshly fried egg into it. The egg would then absorb the essence of the Assam broth and this simple dish was reserved for special occasions such as a birthday. Old Bibik decided to bring back this 70 year old recipe for their customers and so far it’s been well received.

Didn’t have much impression of Assam Prawns ($12). But the golden brown Kunyit Fried Chicken ($4) is deep fried till perfection. Other dishes include Nonya Chap Chye ($5), Sayur Lodeh ($5), Assam Pedas ($9), Ayam Poteh ($8.90) and many more.

Old Bibik’s Nasi Rendang Address: 190 Changi Road #01-01 MDIS Building Singapore 419974 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldbibik Opening Hours: 11am – 11pm Daily

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Old Bibik’s Famous Peranakan Rendang will be taking part in Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014 for the very first time. They will be doing beef and chicken rendang! This is a fund raising event for the beneficiaries under the care of Touch Community Services. Let’s do a part for charity. See you there!

Singapore Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014 Venue: SUNTEC Convention Hall 401-402 Date: 22 Nov 2014 (Saturday) Time: 11am to 5pm

PURCHASE YOUR FOOD COUPON HERE www.ultimatehawkerfest.sg

P/S Thank you GoGoVan for sponsoring their service. It is an app that connects van drivers and users, wants to make last-mile deliveries easier for users in Asia. For more information, visit http://gogovan.sg/