Rendezvous Restaurant Hock Lock Kee

I have heard so much about the nasi padang at Rendezvous Hotel and how it served very good food for close to 70 years now. From its coffee shop space from years ago, it has moved to the 2nd level. Filled with the old-school furniture of marble (or is it granite) topped table and wooden chairs, it looked like the coffee shop of yesteryears but with air-conditioning.

For just the 3 of us, we ordered a fair bit of food - 9 dishes! You select the food at the end of the room and they will serve the food to you. Service was hit and miss. Quick in bringing the food out, but slow in topping up glasses of water.

We ordered beef rendang (I had to try this after reading many reviews that this is the best dish), mutton rendang, sayor lodeh, chap chye, sotong curry, chicken korma, bergedil, chicken liver and gizzards in curry. Actually there were so many pots of curry over there.

My favorite dish is undeniably the beef rendang. The meat was tender, almost melt-in-your-mouth quality except it was not that fatty, the curry had a nutty taste to it that my eating companions commented it reminded them of satay sauce. Personally I detected a faint hint of nuts after they mentioned it as I felt it was a bit too salty. I also like the chap chye as the curry over it was of the tangy type. That gave a kick to the otherwise boring usual vegetables.

I didn't really like the sayor lodeh. The curry was pale and milky and lacked any punch or taste. Maybe I am used to the robust version dished out in other places. The chicken korma was ok - meat was tender and the curry was not spicy. Definitely a good dish for children to start off with. The mutton rendang was also pretty good. Not too much of a meaty smell or taste. The bergedil tasted different, it had a pretty strong aftertaste, not sure what other spices were in it. Sotong had a bit of fishy taste though it was not hard and rubbery at all. I didn't try the liver and gizzards at all, not my cup of tea.

I don't mind the food, but it is not a place that will get me craving for certain dishes.

Location
Rendezvous Hotel, Level 2
Tel: +65 6339 7508