PUBLISHED ONSeptember 29, 2024 3:50 AMByAmierul RashidTake a quick glance at Aleeya's menu and it's clear that this is not your typical Malay restaurant.
Familiar dishes are given a slight twist or ingredient upgrade.
So you'll end up with menu items like Dendeng Wagyu Belado, made with thinly cut Wagyu beef knuckle, or Satay Kerang, where cockles become the protein of choice.
Located in the heart of Rochor, this two-month-old restaurant is the brainchild of three family members – Hairul Isa, Najeeb Ali and Reza Ali.
The co-founders noticed a gap in the market for Malay restaurants and felt that existing options tend to stand on opposite ends of the scale — fine-dining or casual hawker fare.
Aleeya is looking to meet the demand of mid-range diners who are "open to enjoy a more refined" dining experience.
And in doing so, they are hoping to "elevate" the Malay-Indonesian cuisine in Singapore.
"[With nasi padang] you point to the dishes and it costs $1 or $2. But we want to educate people that Malay cuisine need not (always) be placed at that kind of price point," Hairul, 42, told AsiaOne in an interview.
It's about educating the consumer and debunking the notion that food from the Malay archipelago should be seen as cheap, the founders said.
During my conversation with the co-founders, I learnt that Aleeya doesn't take shortcuts when it comes to presenting the product to their customers.
Hairul assures me that everything at Aleeya is prepared from scratch in-house, be it their pastes, sambal, or rempah (spices).
"There's hours being put in the cooking [process] and these recipes have been taught to us by our parents.
"That's how Aleeya wants to position ourselves as a brand," he said.
Having a strategy is good, but possessing the ability to convince diners of your value will always be a challenge for any food establishment.
This can be a tricky situation, especially for a restaurant such as Aleeya which is looking to balance between preserving tradition and wanting to appeal to modern tastes.
Like any Malay-Indonesian restaurant, they also offer rendang.
However, their $38 rendang is made using 180-day grass-fed Angus Striploin Beef.
The co-founders are cognisant that not everyone can appreciate a rendang at that price point, regardless of how amazing it may taste.
And they have no qualms about it.
"We craft our menu meticulously so, of course, it is not the same as what the typical 'padang' stall sells," Hairul says.
He uses asam pedas as an example.
This popular spicy and sour fish stew dish is often prepared using fish head, which is cooked together in the gravy.
The Asam Pedas Ikan Merah ($32) at Aleeya is made with wild-caught red snapper fillets.
The fish is first charred on the grill before it is added to the gravy.
I was impressed by the co-founders' confidence in their business model, and I left it to them to decide which dishes would end up on my dining table.
It didn't take long before the food arrived, and what a visual treat it was.
I was presented with the Dendeng Wagyu Belado ($24), Satay Kerang ($18), Pucuk Ubi Keledek Ungu ($18), and Nasi Kunyit ($3), or yellow rice.
What intrigued me the most was the satay dish.
For the uninitiated, kerang translates to cockles and, come on, how creative is that?
There's no chance you'll come across cockle satay at your next Lau Pa Sat supper hunt.
These wood-fired grilled cockles are paired with ketupat (or rice cakes) and soy sauce dip.
But an important component of the dish is the lime. A quick tip is to squeeze the lime onto the cockles first.
The acidity from the juice brightens up the dish and it is brought to a whole new level.
Moving on to the dendeng, I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of this dried meat snack.
But then again, I've never had dendeng made using wagyu beef knuckle before.
But after a couple of bites, Aleeya might have just converted me into a dendeng lover.
It really is quite an exemplary dish and funnily enough, the meat isn't even the star.
This dish is all about that sambal merah belado (a red chilli paste), and you might want to go slow if you can't handle your spice.
Throughout my meal, there were moments where Hairul had to check if I needed another glass of water.
But even though the dish might have been a bit too spicy for me, I couldn't stop myself from going back for seconds.
Unfortunately, the Pucuk Ubi Keledek Ungu didn't really do it for me as I'm not one for coconut milk-based vegetable dishes.
I find them too heavy, so I avoided much of this dish and simply munched on the Japanese sweet potato, pairing it with the dendeng and yellow rice.
Towards the end of my meal, a server brought me three drinks you won't find at many other Malay restaurants.
A 'Pinot noir', 'rose', and 'prosecco'.
At this Muslim-owned establishment, however, these beverages have zero per cent alcohol.
But don't expect to be simply served with glasses of grape juice.
Hairul explained that their wines are made the same way as any other wine, so no flavour is actually lost.
The final step before the product is complete is one of dealcoholising the beverage.
"Zero per cent-alcohol wines pair well with our heavy cuisine as it clears the palate of the diners," Hairul said.
The co-founder added that Aleeya is excited to "offer a new experience" to the curious local Muslim community.
I would classify myself under said segment of the community and was quickly sipping on all three wines.
Verdict? Prosecco wins, hands down.
It felt like the most delicate (for lack of a better word) of the three options and the fruity flavours had me wanting more.
The harshness of the pinot noir was something of a turn-off so I'll stick to my alcohol-free prosecco for now.
I fully enjoyed this novel drinking experience and realised it doesn't have to be targeted solely towards those with a dietary restriction based on their faith.
Drinking wine without getting drunk? Sounds like a good idea to me.
