National Kitchen by Violet Oon
I'm slowly eating my way through the collection of restaurants at the National Gallery. National Kitchen by Violet Oon has been on my to-eat list ever since Violet Oon, the doyenne of Peranakan cuisine, announced she was opening yet another eponymous dining concept in the heritage building. I've always liked Violet Oon's Nyonya cuisine, even if I've found her restaurants tend to get a little inconsistent after the 5-year mark. The first time I was here, we got seated outdoors, which fortuitously turned out to be the best seats in the house with its expansive view of the Padang and the Marina Bay Sands beyond. Save for the masses packing the balcony terrace during the F1 and National Day festivities (or any other time when there's fireworks to be seen from this vantage), the alfresco outdoors is a serene contrast to the bustling crowd of the indoors. And it feels a lot more private because tables are spaced much further apart on the balcony. Food-wise, we were