Restoran Bibiwok @ Bandar Puteri, Puchong

Fusion Flavours of Nyonya and Thai Cuisines

It’s quite rare to find a restaurant serving Thai and Nyonya together. A recent invite from the foodie gang had us tasting Restoran Bibiwok, a restaurant serving Nyonya and Thai dishes in Bandar Puteri Puchong. Open in 2006, the restaurant also has another concept running above its Thai and Nyonya restaurant that specializes in Thai BBQ and Steamboat. Owner cum chef Richie Yeo learns from the best, his Nyonya aunt and grandmother on the Nyonya cuisine while he picked up his own personal favorite Thai cuisine along the way. The pork-free restaurant has been serving a list of Nyonya and Thai dishes to many foodies and has garnered quite a following to many who enjoy flavours of both Nyonya and Thai together.

The restaurant is fairly big and spacious. Decorated with a Peranakan theme, the restaurant is elegant and inviting. Besides the clean and bright colors of the whole restaurant, Peranakan details like lantern, wood carving panels, Nyonya furniture pieces and ornaments together with precious photos of yesteryears adds charm and personality to the restaurant ambiance.

Flipping through the menu at Bibiwok, there are certainly many favorite dishes of mine available for order. There are plenty of Nyonya dishes as well as Thai dishes. Both cuisine shares similar flavours so enjoy them together is delicious. Expect lots of robust spice-laden flavours with well-balance sweet, savory, spicy and sour notes.

For drinks, we had their Fresh Cucumber with Calamansi (RM7.90) and Thai Serai Ginger Tea (RM4.90). My Fresh Cucumber with Calamansi is beautifully refreshing and thirst-quenching plus it goes really well with the heavy flavours of the dishes we had.

We had a sharing platter of Nyonya Thai Combination Entrée (RM40) to start off our meal. It was a gorgeous platter of Thai Serai Sticks, Pie Tee, Vegetable Fritters and cucumber salad served with housemade tangy chili sauce.

Thai Serai Sticks of minced chicken wrapped around lemongrass are fried till golden. The skewers are juicy and tasty with a nice aroma from the lemongrass. The golden crispy Pie Tee cups are to be filled with sweet and juicy jicama filling topped with egg omelette and a spoonful of chili sauce. These are delicious with lots of savory and sweet notes while the crispy shells gave the dish its unique texture. The Vegetable Fritters are pretty decent and makes good snacking as we waited for our main dishes to arrive.

To go with steamed rice, we had their Nyonya Chicken Rendang (RM18). A signature of Bibiwok, the Nyonya Chicken Rendang is a spice-rich curry that reminded us of why we love Nyonya cuisine. The Rendang is thick, creamy and beautifully robust in flavours. Simmered slowly, the Rendang ingredients have harmonized well and produced a decadent curry with chicken pieces that goes really well with rice.

We also had their Thai Assam Curry Steamed Fish (RM40 onwards). Steamed Siakap fish is smothered in a pool of spicy and sourish piquant Thai Assam curry. Lots of vegetables such as long beans, cabbage, eggplant, beancurd puff, lady fingers and herbs are added for extra bite. We took our time enjoying the fish as it is kept warm on a heated light. The gravy is utterly moreish and I found myself enjoying the curry gravy a lot. One can also have this with other fishes available.

A testament to a good Thai meal is Tom Yam soup. Our Signature Tom Yam Soup with Seafood (RM24 – small, RM41 – large) looked fiery and inviting. This one passed with flying colors. Super spicy with good notes of sourness, the Tom Yam soup here is what every Tom Yam soup should be. Hints of creamy notes from the addition of coconut milk made the soup even more luscious. Pumped with lots of herbs, chili and seafood, it really whet the appetite that evening.

More seafood treats of Nyonya Chili Garam Prawns (RM26 – small, RM46 - large) was much welcomed by all of us. Large prawns cooked in classic Nyonya chili garam sambal is a sure crowd-pleaser. The prawns have taken on the sambal flavour so well. The pungent sambal oozed with bold spicy notes and has just enough heat to make us want to keep on eating it. Yum!

After the few amazing dishes, the Thai Green Curry Duck (RM26) didn’t live up to the earlier ones. To be fair, the green curry is very delicious together with the vegetables, herbs and lychees. I found the duck pieces a tad dry and didn’t quite soaked up the curry flavour. Other than that, I still enjoyed the green curry gravy with my rice.

I also enjoyed the Otak Omelette (RM13). Fluffy and crispy pieces of Otak Omelette is served with green chili sauce. The omelette has loads of Otak ingredients such as onions, herbs, chili and spices in it. Though it didn’t completely convinced me that it was Otak Otak, I still love the omelette because it was cooked very well and well-seasoned.

Kerabu Belimbing (RM12) is such a pretty dish at sight. Star fruit pieces are tossed in piquant dressing together with onions, chili and crispy small fish before being topped with coriander is additive. This is a kerabu salad that I would enjoy often because there is lots of textures and complex tasty flavours. It makes a great appetizer as well as a main course to be paired with rice.

Sambal Brinjal Special (RM12 – small, RM18 – large) is also pretty delicious. Tender slices of eggplant are cooked separately and served with a thick zesty sambal on the side. Expect heavy rich flavours from the sambal and be prepared to eat lots of rice with this dish.

For desserts, we had their Thai Ruby Jack Fruit (RM5.90), Chendol Gula Melaka (RM4.90), Steamed Banana with Gula Melaka (RM7) and Sago Gula Melaka (RM4.90). A mix from both worlds, the desserts made a nice sweet ending to our robust meal.

Bibiwok has so much more to offer and we barely covered a quarter of their list. I would love to return to try their Thai BBQ, Nynoya Curry Fish Head, Thai Creamy Salted Egg Squid, Buah Keluak Chicken, Nyonya Itik Tim Soup and more. Bibiwok has been around that packed area for a while and the reason is pretty obvious. Good food with affordable pricing is what Bibiwok has to offer to their diners!

RESTORAN BIBIWOK

16 Jalan Persiaran Puteri 1

Bandar Puteri Puchong

47100 Puchong

Tel: 03-8068-6284

Website: www.bibiwok.blogspot.com

Business Hours: 11.00am-4.00pm & 5.30pm-11.00pm