Marie's Lapis Cafe brings authentic Nyonya and Peranakan cooking to Kaki Bukit Mall at 537 Bedok North Street 3 in Bedok. Serving Singapore since 2020, the cafe is built on fourth-generation family recipes — including its award-winning Tok Kong Mee Siam — and cooks with homemade rempah and sambal, slow simmers and patience.
The kitchen's signature ingredient is buah keluak, the earthy Peranakan 'black gold', showcased in the Nasi Ayam Buah Keluak, a Buah Keluak Spaghetti and a wok-fried Mee Tai Mak. Alongside the Nyonya classics — beef and chicken rendang, Ayam Ponteh, Gerang Assam Fish, Ngoh Hiang (an 8Days magazine top pick) and more — you'll find Peranakan-Italian fusion pastas, a western comfort selection, and a fully plant-based vegetarian line.
Kueh lovers can pre-order trays of Kueh Kosui and Kueh Salat two days ahead, and jars of homemade Nonya achar are available to take home. The cafe welcomes dine-in, takeaway and delivery.
Marie's Lapis Cafe has been serving Singapore's finest Peranakan cuisine since 2020, from its spot at Kaki Bukit Mall on Bedok North Street 3. This is a cafe built on family heritage: many of its recipes — from the Mee Siam to the Gerang Assam Fish — are fourth-generation Nyonya cooking, made the way they have always been made, with homemade rempah, patient slow simmers and pride in every pot.
The menu reads like a tour through a Nyonya grandmother's kitchen, but it doesn't stop there. Alongside the heritage dishes you'll find Peranakan-Italian fusion pastas, a western comfort selection, a fully plant-based vegetarian line, and traditional kueh made to order. Dine in, take away, or have it delivered — the kitchen covers all three.
The headline act is the Nasi Ayam Buah Keluak, a treasured Peranakan delicacy built on buah keluak — the earthy 'black gold' of Nyonya cooking — braised with chicken and served with rice, with a story in every bite. The rendangs reward patience: the beef version simmers for hours until the spiced coconut milk caramelises into something glossy and fork-tender, while the ayam rendang is, in the cafe's own words, grandmother-approved Peranakan comfort at its finest.
Ayam Ponteh brings tender chicken and potatoes together in a sweet, sticky, spiced gravy, and the Non Spicy Mutton Curry takes three hours of slow-cooking with premium Indian spices to reach its fragrant, velvety, melt-off-the-bone texture. Seafood lovers should head straight for the Gerang Assam Fish — barramundi in a tangy-spicy homemade rempah with pineapple, eggplant and ladyfinger, a fourth-generation recipe the kitchen calls unforgettable.
Around the mains sit the everyday heroes: Chap Chye braised with cabbage, mushrooms, black fungus and knotted lily buds; Sayur Lodeh, a creamy coconut-milk vegetable stew; and Clear Chicken Ball Soup with hand-rolled chicken and fish balls in slow-cooked broth. Fragrant Blue Pea Rice, tinted naturally with handpicked butterfly-pea flowers and garlic, accompanies almost anything. The Ngoh Hiang — crispy bite-sized rolls stuffed with juicy chicken, prawns and crunchy water chestnuts — earned a top pick from 8Days magazine.
Then there is the dish the cafe is best known for: Tok Kong Mee Siam, an award-winning, fourth-generation family recipe. Beehoon comes topped with prawns, tofu and chives in a homemade dried-shrimp gravy, finished with a squeeze of calamansi lime. It has drawn attention well beyond Bedok — the cafe was featured when Class 95's Yasmine went on her mouth-watering mission to find Singapore's ultimate Mee Siam, and its Nyonya dishes have starred on 8Days' TikTok too.
Where else can you order buah keluak spaghetti? The fusion line asks what happens when Italy's beloved pasta meets Peranakan 'black gold', and answers with al dente strands cloaked in an earthy, umami-rich sauce with plump prawns and scallops. A fiery Spicy Sambal Seafood Spaghetti leans on homemade sambal of ginger flower, belacan and lemongrass, Buah Keluak Mee Tai Mak wok-fries chewy rice noodles with the same sauce, tender chicken and crushed kernels, and a timeless Prawn Sambal Spaghetti completes the set.
For simpler cravings, the western selection delivers: aglio e olio kissed with golden olive oil, garlic and chilli flakes; wild-caught Alaska pollock fish and chips; a rich three-cheese mac and cheese with turkey ham; farm-fresh mushroom soup; truffle shoestring fries; and crispy calamari tentacles that stay crunchy to the last bite.
The dedicated vegetarian line reimagines Nyonya and local classics with soy-mushroom 'meats', 100% plant-based: rendang 'mutton', black vinegar 'chicken', heritage curry 'chicken', herbal 'chicken' soup and kam heong braised 'chicken', most served with blue pea rice and an omelet. Chap Chye and Sayur Lodeh are vegetarian-friendly too, so no one at the table is left out.
Save room for kueh — with one catch: the trays take two days to pre-order. The Kueh Kosui arrives mochi-soft and coconut-coated, loved by pastry chefs; the Kueh Salat layers silky, double-boiled pandan custard over chewy blue-pea glutinous rice, handmade and preservative-free. Jars of homemade Nonya achar — a bright pickle of cauliflower, cucumber and carrots — let you bring a taste of the kitchen home.
Whether you come for the award-winning Mee Siam, a plate of Ayam Buah Keluak or a tray of kueh for the family table, Marie's Lapis Cafe serves Peranakan food with a story in every bite — four generations deep and still simmering.