Rumah Kim Choo (Kim Choo Kueh Chang)

One woman, one stall under a banyan tree, and a coin in the steamer to warn when the water ran low. The family is still wrapping.

Rumah Kim Choo is the Katong stop that does two jobs at once: buy Peranakan rice dumplings to take home, then climb the stairs to a heritage gallery that explains where they came from. It suits gift hunters, heritage buffs and anyone with visitors in tow. The compromise is that it rewards a browse, so it makes a poor quick-snack stop; give it time.

The family's story is the gallery's subject, and it is a good one. In 1945 Lee Kim Choo set up a makeshift stall under a banyan tree at the corner of Joo Chiat Place and Everitt Road to support her family, cooking from recipes her grandmother, Tok Siew Neo, had taught her, at a time when few Peranakan women ran food businesses. In the 1970s the business moved into a shophouse at 60 Joo Chiat Place, where dumplings are still handmade. In 1997 her daughter-in-law Helen Lim introduced bite-sized dumplings, which Lee doubted and customers took to, followed by chicken and vegetarian versions. In 2003, during the SARS outbreak, the family bought these two East Coast Road units, part of a terrace dating to around 1928. Lee's grandchildren, including brothers Raymond and Edmond Wong, now run the business.

Downstairs is the shop: the family's dumplings and other traditional food, Peranakan collectibles and a boutique for bespoke Peranakan wear. Buy the kueh chang here, because the family says they are sold only at its own stores, not in supermarkets. The bite-sized ones make the easiest gift, and they are now tied with food-grade cotton twine instead of nylon, the kind of small change that tells you someone is still paying attention.

Upstairs, the gallery is laid out like rooms in an old Peranakan home, with a bridal bed, nyonya kebaya, ceramics and wooden cabinets mixing Chinese and European styles, over original timber floorboards. Walk past the big furniture to the small objects, which are the best of it: a pair of beaded kasut manek that Lee commissioned from a sworn sister to help her out financially, the tiffin carrier she used to bring drinks to her staff, and the coin she dropped into the dumpling steamer so its clinking would warn her when the water ran low. A low-water alarm that cost one coin is hard to improve on.

How to do it well: buy first, while you remember, then go upstairs, and plan the rest of the afternoon around East Coast Road and Joo Chiat, where the original shop at 60 Joo Chiat Place is the other half of the story. Kim Choo runs public Peranakan beading workshops on set dates, so check kimchoo.com before planning a day around one, and check the closing time too, which varies.

Good to know Kim Choo lists this branch at 111 East Coast Road, with the original shop at 60 Joo Chiat Place. Check kimchoo.com for opening hours, which vary, and for workshop dates before you go.

Rumah Kim Choo (Kim Choo Kueh Chang) | 109–111 East Coast Road, Singapore 428800