A Chronicle of Feasts: The Permata Singapore Narrative

In the long sweep of history, certain buildings bear witness to the great tides of human affairs. Gedung Kuning, the Yellow Mansion at Sultan Gate, is such a structure. Built in the 1840s as a residence for Tengku Mahmud, grandson of Sultan Hussein of Johor, it has weathered colonization, occupation, and the relentless march of modernity. Today, it houses Permata Singapore, where one discovers the best halal buffet in Singapore.​

I approached this establishment not as a casual diner but as a student of culture, curious about how a space transforms while retaining its soul. The journey begins even before entering, as you walk through Arab Street, that storied quarter where traders once dealt in textiles and spices, where diverse communities built something resilient.​

The building itself speaks volumes. Its Palladian-style architecture reflects the colonial period's aesthetic impositions, yet the yellow walls—that distinctive color of Malay royalty—assert an identity that no empire could fully erase. When the British documented this area, they saw property. The Malays who built and inhabited these spaces saw home, heritage, meaning.​

Inside Permata Singapore, Chef Mel Dean has orchestrated what might be called a "living museum" of Nusantara cuisine. The 1-for-1 halal buffet presents dishes from Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, each one a chapter in a larger story of migration, adaptation, and survival. Consider the Tulang Merah—a dish from the 1950s created by Abdul Kadir, featuring marrow, sinew, and tendon in spicy red gravy. This is not refined cuisine designed to please colonial palates. This is food born from making do, from transforming less desirable cuts into something glorious.​

The halal restaurants in Bugis exist along a spectrum. Some cater to tourists seeking convenient "ethnic experiences." Others serve the daily needs of working people. Permata Singapore occupies a unique position: it is simultaneously a heritage site and a functioning restaurant, performing the difficult task of preservation while remaining relevant.​

As I sampled the Nasi Lemak Permata and Laksa Goreng Nyonya, I reflected on how Arab Street halal food represents more than culinary tradition. It represents resistance to cultural erasure. When Kampong Glam was designated as the Malay quarter in Raffles' 1822 city plan, it was an act of segregation. Yet the community transformed this imposed boundary into a fortress of identity.​

The buffet's multiple stations—seafood, appetizers, hearty dishes, desserts—create a narrative structure. You move through the meal as you might move through history, encountering different influences: the Indonesian rawon, the Nyonya laksa goreng, the sambal varieties that speak to archipelagic connections.​

What makes Permata Singapore the best halal buffet in Singapore is not merely the quality or variety of food, though both are exceptional. It is the context. You are eating in a building that has housed royalty, merchants, and families across generations. The wooden interiors, the high ceilings, the view onto Sultan Gate—these elements transform consumption into communion.​

As I left, satisfied and contemplative, I understood that places like Permata Singapore serve a purpose beyond hospitality. They are acts of cultural continuity in a city that too often demolishes yesterday to build tomorrow.