Out of all the pretenders to the mantle of Malaysian/Singaporean cooking, Gourmet Garden stands heads-and-shoulders above the rest. Its owners, originally from Malaysia’s Ipoh region, faithfully reproduce their motherland cuisine the best they know how. They know their clientele are interested in familiar, and authentic flavours for a taste of home. Not the dumbed-down version that other shops saw fit to reproduce for western palettes. This is not an introduction to south-east Asian cuisine. This is the real deal.

Gourmet Garden - Food Court

Indeed, when you consider the fact that they still operate with the hawker mentality; conducting business in an out-of-sight food court location, there leaves no trace of pretension. While other owners would jump at the chance to open a true restaurant location with the amount of business Gourmet Garden receives, I’m happy that Gourmet Garden has preserved (intentionally or not) the hawker experience.

Rather than being one-dish specialists like most hawkers do, Gourmet Garden showcase their wide repertoire of South-East Asian with high proficiency. There are some misses, but also enough hits for me to keep coming back for more. The stir-fry dishes like mee-goreng, nasi-goreng, belacan kangkol are particuarly outstanding; possessing the elusive quality known as “wok-hey” (liken to the Japanese “umami”). I’ve recommended this restaurant to many, and brought relatives here to joyfully see the expressions on their face when they are transported back by the food.

The temptation pulls even stronger on weekends, as Gourmet Garden hosts specials only available those days. Consistent appearances of Poh Piah and Prawn Mee draw many Singaporean/Malaysian ex-pats here. It’s probably the one place you can catch some Indians/Malays ordering and conversing in fluent Chinese!

Weekend customers will be happily surprised by whatever other special Nonya dishes (such as Rojak) or desserts (such as Pulot Hitam) maybe available for consumption that day. Get there early before they run out! On most weekends, I order the Prawn Mee. One look at it is enough to make me weak in the knees, anticipating the first mouthful

Malaysian Prawn Mee

The Prawn Mee’s broth is typically a combination of shrimp and pork stock. Gourmet Garden adds a lot of peppercorn to the soup, giving it a much welcomed kick. The slippery egg noodles satiate your carb cravings but aren’t anything to write home about. Other toppings include green and red chili slices, sambal paste, pork slices, sliced hard-boiled eggs, cilantro and the piece-de-resistance: full head-on, shell-on shrimps! If you’re expecting nice shrimp cocktail pieces shelled for your convenience, forget about it. Part of the enjoyment is to rip apart the shells, licking your fingers as you make a mess. You’ll almost feel like you’ve reverted back to an infant state.

And if you’re like me, I would skip the shelling process. Yes, you will probably be grossed out by the sight of me eating the shrimp with the shell on, leaving only the tail and head portions left. After all, it’s just fiber and calcium! But nothing’s left to waste. True foodies know that the shrimp head contains the most flavour, so it is not thrown aside until the ritual sucking has coaxed all the flavours out of it. I probably resemble a depraved caveman eating his catch, leaking out the occasional “ooo’s” and “ahh’s” in between bites of noodles and sips of the broth. I can’t believe I’m reduced to a feral state as I finish this bowl, not a drop of soup left behind. But it’s an addiction that will keep me coming back for more.