Nancy’s Kitchen is a restaurant in Melaka that specialises in Baba Nyonya/Peranakan cuisine, located right across the street from Kocik Kitchen (another famous Nyonya restaurant in Melaka). Having been around since 27th October 1999, this restaurant is the brainchild of Nancy (as the restaurant name would imply), who was born and raised in a Peranakan household of a small town called Batu Berendam, Melaka. Raised in a humble family and close relatives, she was taught to cook at young age. Without any properly written recipes, her cooking skills were established by watching and helping her mother in the kitchen. Today, her recipes have been passed down to her 3rd generation.
Like most Baba Nyonya/Peranakan restaurants, diners can expect to have banana flowers, spring rolls, chicken rendang, chicken in tamarind, Nyonya laksa, seafood with stink bean, Peranakan chicken curry, Nyonya mixed vegetables, fried cincalok, deep fried fish fillet in spring onions or sweet & sour style, and much more. Unlike most Baba Nyonya/Peranakan restaurants, Nancy’s Kitchen serves some great pork dishes such as babi cincaluk - Peranakan braised pork, pork with bean paste, and pork in tamarind. At Nancy’s Kitchen, the signature dish to take note of is the chicken candlenut. If these dishes are ordered in a set, they come with a portion of rice, drinks, and the obligatory serving of cendol.
Nancy’s Kitchen also does in-house catering, with a slight change in the menu with items such as Ngoh Hiang that aren’t readily available in the dine-in menu. In short, Nancy’s Kitchen one of the premier destinations to experience Peranakan cuisine and should not be missed out on.
