It isn’t easy finding great chendol in Singapore. To us, the gold standard for the dessert here is nasi lemak specialist The Coconut Club’s. But schlepping all the way to Ann Siang Road and braving the hipster crowd for a bowl ($3.80; $5 with Hokkaido adzuki beans) isn’t always the most practical solution. Now, what if we told you that there’s a cheaper, humbler and almost as tasty version using Coconut Club’s famous milk at five hawker stalls across Singapore?

It’s true. Nyonya Chendol, which already has a following among foodies, recently made the switch about two months ago to Coconut Club’s premium coconut milk (they used to buy their less divine pasteurised milk from another supplier). Its founder Dora Tan, 42, explains: “Because The Coconut Club’s milk is the best I’ve tried so far. It’s double the price of what I paid previously and it affects [my] profits, but I chose not to pass it on to our customers.”

The Coconut Club is known for its nasi Lemak and chendol for good reason: its fresh coconut milk is quite simply the best in town. The former Michelin Bib Gourmand eatery (the title was most likely removed because it just relocated to new digs and wasn't open in time for this year’s inspection) takes the source and its process very seriously.

The Coconut Club’s sales director, who requested not to be named, tells us that depending on the dish’s requirements, the coconuts used range from Kampong coconuts to the higher-in-fat premium Mawa coconuts. They're sourced from coastal areas in Malaysia where more fertile soil produces tastier coconuts. And the nuts are harvested then shipped to Singapore at the peak of their freshness and flavour.

And then there’s the superior extraction process: the fresh milk is harvested in a machine designed by an engineer in Thailand who also builds parts for F1 cars. The late Coconut Club co-founder and chef Lee Eng Su shared with us that the restaurant staff used to hand-crank 100kg of coconut milk manually daily (it’s now about 1,000kg). They then spent a couple of years figuring out how to improve the process before putting their theory into a machine, with the help of the Thai engineer. Unlike other similarly preservative-free, unpasteurised fresh coconut milk (which you extract by hand-squeezing shredded coconuts bought at the wet market) that only stays fresh for a day, Coconut Club’s lasts five days thanks to a painstaking process of cleaning its coconuts (bacteria causes coconut milk to go bad quickly) and its unique temperature-controlled machines. Engsu had wanted their coconut milk to be “like the Valrhona of coconuts”. Fittingly, it’s marketed as White Sutera (sutera means “silk” in Malay) to their clients.

Pictured: The Coconut Club's chendol

And that is why their milk, now processed in a central kitchen, is sold to posh joints like one-Michelin-starred modern Peranakan restaurant Candlenut, Shangri-La hotel, The Naked Finn, Indigo Blue Kitchen by Les Amis, and even chendol hawker chain Nyonya Chendol. Some day, you may also be able to pick up a packet of this gourmet, super fresh coconut milk in-store at Coconut Club (there’s talk but no concrete plans to do so yet).

Dora is the owner of the chendol chain which opened its first outlet in Old Airport road in September 2017. Her family used to run a dessert shop called Dessert Hut in Chinatown. “It’s difficult to find good chendol in Singapore — most people have to travel to Malacca and Penang for an authentic bowl, so I decided to specialise in it,” she chirps. “I sell Nyonya-style chendol, which is categorised as such mainly ’cos of its softer jelly. It’s rice flour-based instead of the more commonly used mung bean powder in other styles of chendol. Ours is similar to the chendol in Malacca made by Peranakans,” she adds. Hawkers pay her a one-time franchise fee and she delivers the ingredients made in her central kitchen to them daily. There are a total of six Nyonya Chendol stalls in Singapore.

Camera-shy Dora is a former insurance agent who now manages her chendol biz full-time. She learnt the basic chendol recipe from a Malaysian hawker who used to sell the dessert in Johor, but made some modifications to it. She adds: “There are three main components to chendol: the jelly, gula melaka and coconut milk. The jelly, which is the chendol, is very time-consuming to make. One batch takes four hours. It’s made from white rice flour and pure pandan juice, and requires constant stirring, which we do in a commercial mixer. We also grind our own jasmine rice flour using a stone grinder”. Super artisanal.

“We use a special mix of three types of gula melaka and boil it down at our central kitchen in Mandai,” says Dora. What kinds of gula melaka? “It’s a trade secret,” she says coyly.

We visited the branch in Redhill Food Centre back when it was still using Coconut Club’s coconut milk (it isn’t for now as the hawker there can’t get used to its shorter shelf life, instead the premium milk is used at Nyonya Chendol’s other five outlets). There are four versions of chendol offered: Original ($1.50), with Red Beans ($2), with Sweet Corn ($2; pictured), Chempedak ($3) and D24 Durian ($3.50).

We decided to keep things classic with the Original and Red Bean options. While there is too much ice (that’s why a bowl only starts from $1.50, we guess), the lofty mountain of it is admirably fine-textured and drizzled with an irresistibly gooey, super fragrant gula melaka syrup that’s smoky, caramelly and robust. It swirls most deliciously into the creamy, naturally sweet, uber fresh-tasting coconut milk. And that jelly tastes as if a garden of aromatic pandan leaves were squeezed into each bowlful, its texture silky and melt-in-the-mouth. Go for the original bowl, the red beans are slightly mushy and forgettable. Tip: Get an extra scoop of that “Valrhona of coconut milk” for 50 cents to drizzle decadently on your ice — it’s totally worth it.

Well, aside from that to-die-for pandan jelly worms, not quite, because we find the ratio of ice to milk at the latter better. Moreover, Coconut Club’s milk is also slightly thicker and more lemak. Still, for $1.50 a bowl at Nyonya Chendol, we really can’t complain.

The Coconut Club’s coconut milk is served at all Nyonya Chendol outlets (except Redhill), including #01-115 Old Airport Road Food Centre. Open daily 10.30am to 10pm, or till sold out. https://www.facebook.com/nonyachendol/

Photos: Florence Fong, Nyonya Chendol & The Coconut Club