Entree Kibbles: Martina's Kitchen @ Seletar Aerospace Park [Singapore]

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Martina's Kitchen @ Seletar Aerospace Park [Singapore]

What is Seletar famous for? Aside from the Yishun dam bordering its territory, I guess citizens would remember it for hosting the second and much smaller civilian airport in Singapore; Seletar Airport!

I was there for a different reason and it involved checking out the many colonial houses in the area; from my understanding, they are owned by the government and could be leased for residence, commercial and/or dining activities.

My last visit was about a decade ago when I used to have a family car, and was surprised to see the development of quite a number of eateries! This time, my purpose was a meal with a friend from my pet shop days, at Martina's Kitchen!

Martina's Kitchen - serving modern Peranakan fare, including Western food to appeal to a wider set of diners, it only opened for business at the end of last year yet managed to command a high score of 4.8 from over 300 reviewers on Google Maps.

Food aside, let your eyes be marvelled by the exquisiteness beaded nonya footwear, which you could purchase! p.s. I am glad I am not a woman as I honestly can't afford them!

Loving the playlist; many nostalgic songs that made our visit comfortable and memorable! We heard that there will be live bands playing every Fridays and Saturdays too.

Love at the view outside and you would know what I meant about being so comfortable in the air-conditioned restaurant. Those who love the heat and humidity would be pleased to note that outdoor seatings would be available too.

Humongous mahjong tile, where we scanned to order.

I don't think this would require any introduction. Those who still think they are mints should remember that mints, if given, would likely be after the meal, to freshen your breath. Now, let's proceed to our food, and drinks; obviously not in chronological order.

Carlsberg Draft Beer - I find it hard not to order, especially with the happy hour promotion that saved me S$2 for a pint of ice cold bubbly beer! Water was provided at no cost.

Crackers - this was also complimentary from the restaurant and while it was bitter tasting; the sambal chilli was a great dip in enhancing its palatability, and complimenting my draft beer!

Dry Laksa - Imagine seeing every strand of the thick bee hoon coated in the laksa gravy and it must be one of the tastiest laksa around, with a unique, addictive nuttiness! If this comes in wet gravy, I think I will give it a try too!

Butterfly Blue Pea Rice - to me, this was just to make a plain looking bowl of white rice look more colorful. While it resulted in no change to the taste of the rice, this was said to be infused with pandan to make it more aromatic. Didn't matter to me as I needed the rice to soak the gravy from the rest of the dishes!

Udang Lemak Nanas - to be honest, I was quite disappointed with the size of the prawns, and the portion since this cost S$26! The gravy was zesty, on the sweeter spectrum, and the pineapple pieces were stewed soft and yummy! So appetising!

Sotong with Winged Beans - my first time having winged beans and there was a subtle, manageable bitter aftertaste. Love the sambal, where its spiciness kicked in only a few seconds later! Sotong was a letdown though; rubbery without much of a taste!

Babi Pongteh - I absolutely love this; to the extent I am even craving for it right now as I was typing out this sentence! It was honestly a very good braised pork dish with soft slices of pork belly soaked in a delicious gravy that was both savory and sweet; the optimal combination in my opinion. Adding the roasted chestnuts was a fantastic idea!

To say I was satisfied would be an understatement and I almost wanted to ask for extra serving of rice so that I could happily drench it with the various gravies (from the different dishes)! I didn't as I continue to be mindful not to have too much rice for dinner.

Ondeh Ondeh Waffle Ice Cream - a dessert that wasn't classically Peranakan although totally accepted by me given my love for waffle, and this was accompanied by "homemade coconut ice cream, tropical fruits and served with a small pitcher of gula melaka syrup".

Anything with aromatic gula melaka would be nice. Having said that, the waffle tasted more coconut than pandan, and while the texture was crisp; I would prefer a thicker and crunchier bite. Coconut ice cream was unsweetened and I initially thought it was coconut flavored, hardened whipped cream! Maybe I should just stick to conventional nonya kueh instead for desserts.

=====

Before and after! As you can probably deduce from my review, I was happy with the food, and the service from the staff was friendly, with the usual me bantering with them in a relaxed, joking manner. Price was a bit steep for my shallow pocket so while I would love to be back again, it would have to be a couple of months later.

Address