Shioketh Lights Up Pālolo With Fiery Indo-Singaporean Flavors

You already know ‘ono and you’ve probably heard oishii, but what about shiok? I just added the Malay slang for delightful or tasty, pronounced “shi-ōk,” to my vocabulary this weekend. It just might become part of my daily vernacular if I can eat the beef rendang at Shioketh, a new Indonesian-Singaporean street food pop-up at Hapa Market in Pālolo, on the regular.

Indonesian, Malay and Singaporean cultures converge in an ethnic group known as Peranakan or Nyonya who are descendants of the first waves of Chinese immigrants who settled in areas around the Strait of Malacca. Peranakan cuisine is unique for its hybridization of Chinese techniques with local flavors as a result of the cross-cultural and multi-ethnic marriages common in the region.

Even before work took me to Kuala Lumpur in 2018, I’ve been a fan of Peranakan cuisine’s myriad flavors. Malay and Indonesian friends in college, and later in Los Angeles, would invite me to seek out nasi lemak rice bundles, rendang curries, kaya toasts and laksa noodle soups wherever they made surprise appearances. Although none quite came close to what I had in KL, they kept me satisfied. Enter Shioketh, which soft-launched Saturday with the flavors I’ve been missing in six dishes and drinks. A grand opening is set for Sep. 7, after which they will regularly open on Mondays and Saturdays.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Start with the beef rendang ($18.95), an Indonesian dry curry made with chunks of beef rendered soft after braising for four hours in spices and coconut milk. The liquid is reduced until it caramelizes around the beef, imparting a unique sweetness. The spiced aroma when you open the plate is intoxicating. Served with jasmine rice garnished with crispy onions, sliced cucumber batons and grape tomatoes, it is a comforting taste of the region.

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Between the hot, spicy food and the non-air-conditioned space at Hapa Market, you’re going to want a cold drink to sip on as you sweat from every pore. It wouldn’t be a proper Singaporean experience otherwise. The pandan coffee ($5.75) is the way to go. Cold-brew coffee flavored with pandan-infused coconut milk cream supplemented with whole or oat milk and sweetened with gula melaka palm sugar: It’s rich, creamy and everything you want in a pandan drink.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

The ayam penyet ($16.95), twice-cooked smashed chicken, is an entrée worth waiting for. Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are boiled in a broth with a paste of garlic, galangal, ginger and shallots. The thighs are deep-fried until the skin is golden-crispy and, before serving, get a proper whack to crack the skin and meat. Shioketh serves the chicken with perfumed jasmine rice and a spicy chile sambal-infused kecap manis, a thick sweet soy sauce, that is both painful and addictive.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

The pandan waffle ($8.95) is the sweet savior amid all the spice. Flavored with the subtly floral vanilla cream-like extract, this waffle also gets a side of gula melaka palm sugar whipped cream and peanut butter or Nutella. Although the texture is softer than I like, the flavors more than make up for it. You can order it with a scoop of ice cream (add $4) if the plain waffle isn’t sweet enough for you.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Side dishes also skew Peranakan like the sambal goreng ($3.95), a vegetarian dish of tofu, tempeh and long beans stir-fried in a paste made with garlic, chiles, shallots, galangal, lemongrass and kecap manis. I’ll be the first to warn you about the spicy kick hidden a few bites in. Blooming eggs ($5.95) are interesting, in a good way. In a hot wok, the omelet blooms into a fluffy, eggy cloud garnished with pork floss, crispy shallots and sweet soy sauce. I’d order this with rice and be happy.

SEE ALSO: New Windward Café Has Singaporean Flair and Weekend Laksa

Emily Terukina is the Singaporean expat who brings these fiery recipes to life, while her husband Gavin runs the behind-the-scenes, including the shop’s graphics and web design. Emily arrived in Hawai‘i in 2014 and spent the last decade working in Waikīkī and more recently as a host and kitchen helper at The Pig and the Lady. She left those jobs in February to open Shioketh after missing the food from her native Singapore. My hope is that this leads to something more permanent for food that’s both exciting and shiok for a lot of us in Hawai‘i.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

Shioketh pops up at the Hapa Market Grill space in Pālolo on Mondays and Saturdays. There are a few tables for dine-in, though plating is all for takeout. Follow Shioketh on Instagram for schedule updates and events they’re participating in.

Open Monday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1720 Pālolo Ave, shioketh.com, @shioketh