“Welcome, welcome!” he crows cheerfully. While the vivacious 53-year-old make-up artist is best known in the media industry for prettying up the likes of socialites and local actresses such as Crazy Rich Asians actress Constance Lau, friends also know him as a formidable cook. Tinoq briefly had a professional cooking background before going into the beauty industry — he used to work at an Italian restaurant. He also conducts cooking demos for kitchen appliance brands like Bosch.

“I decided to go into make-up instead because I found working in a professional kitchen too stressful,” explains Tinoq of his career switch — he’s been a make-up artist and occasional stylist for 30 years. Anyone who’s met the man would describe his personality as “colourful”. It’s an adjective that extends to the delightful private dining experience that he serves up from his pink-washed 527 sq ft flat with help from his partner, Dylan Goh, a hair stylist.

The duo started opening their home for makan six months ago after moving into this neighbourhood behind Tiong Bahru Plaza. In fact, you could say that Tinoq has brought life and colour to this nondescript, old estate with not only his generous personality but the impressive edible garden he’s created behind his ground-floor unit of flats.

The diner has proven so popular, chefs, socialites and foodies have been flocking to Tinoq’s flat for a taste of his brand of kampong cuisine.

Tinoq and Dylan host dinners for a minimum of eight people and a maximum of 10 in their dining room bathed in pink light. Lining one wall is a shelf heaving with vintage bric-a-brac like enamel vases that Tinoq enjoys collecting — and they’re all for sale.

Walk past that flamboyant dining space, past the bedroom (where the common loo is), and you’ll see a petite kitchen overlooking a… massive herb garden. It’s an approximately six-metre strip of grass-covered common area on which Tinoq has grown a thriving variety of edible plants. “When I moved here last November, I saw the potential of this garden space,” Tinoq trills. “So I made friends with my neighbours who were already growing plants here.”

He bought a long hose so that he could water the entire patch of green that stretches across the length of the block and improved the condition of the soil with eggshells, coffee grinds and tea leaves. He also salvaged plants that his neighbours had thrown out and nursed them back to life with patience and care. Today, the garden teems with edible herbs and flowers like lemongrass, various species of kaffir lime, Indonesian bay leaves, turmeric, buntong ginger, bananas, hibiscus and butterfly pea flowers, most of which go into the “kampong-style” dishes that he serves.

Thanks to the edible garden, which anyone in the neighbourhood is welcome to pick from, Tinoq has revived the kampong spirit among his neighbours. It helps that he plies them with delicious treats like ngoh hiang and fried lemongrass chicken whenever he cooks for his private dinners.

“Sometimes, my neighbours and I sit out here in the garden and drink coffee,” says Tinoq. “When we go overseas, they will water the plants. One of the reasons I moved here was because I like to take care of old people, and there are a lot of them in this neighbourhood.”

Tinoq spends about half an hour each morning tending to the plants and cleaning the garden. “Being here is very cleansing for me. I love looking at the flowers blooming and the butterflies that fly in.

As part of the private dining experience, Tinoq proudly shows visitors around the garden pre- or post-dinner, explaining the various species of plants that he has cultivated. Apart from his gorgeous collection of indigo butterfly pea flowers, which he uses to colour his rice, he also boasts the rare white version for making tea and salads.

The garden also boasts flowers like rose of Sharon, which changes colour thrice daily, from white to various shades of pink, and which Tinoq uses in salads. He also batters the petals to make tempura. 

"I have lotus plants in large water-filled pots with guppies and goldfish at the bottom to keep mosquitos away. I love watching my fish,” he says. He inherited his green fingers from his parents who lived off the land in their kampong home. “My parents grew herbs and plants outside the house and I learned things like how to use young papaya to tenderise mutton for curry, or how to make tea using leftover lemongrass stalks.”

The pale version of its brilliant indigo cousin.

The broad leaves of his turmeric plants are finely sliced and cooked with beef rendang.

He’s especially proud of his “rare” kaffir lime leaf plant, which is “full of thorns but more intensely fragrant than the usual species”. He uses it in dishes like nasi ulam, otak otak and curries.

That's Indonesian bay leaf in English.

While Tinoq does the bulk of the cooking, the soft-spoken and preternaturally calm Dylan (he truly is the yin to Tinoq’s yang) helps with the kitchen prep and looks after guests in the dining room. Taking centre stage in the kitchen is a combi-steam oven which Tinoq uses to cook his rice to perfection.

Tinoq, who is of Indian and Chinese descent, lived in a kampong in Pasir Panjang (where Mapletree Business City now sits) as a boy and helped his late mother, who ran a canteen in Gillman Barracks at the time. “My mother was an amazing cook,” he recalls. “She was very adventurous and would recreate dishes she enjoyed outside in her own kitchen. I’m very much like her — I love doing that too.”

“I love collecting enamel objects, especially plates and bowls, because they remind me of my childhood. I buy them on my travels to places like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia,” he enthuses. Prices for dinner range between $100 and $120 for about eight dishes, depending on what he’s cooking that week or if guests have special requests, which he welcomes. 

Tinoq’s repertoire harks back to a time when cholesterol was just a big word that doctors used to scare you into eating oats. He cooks with heart and soul that shows in hearty Peranakan-tinged dishes like Minangkabau-style rendang, bakwan kepiting and deep-fried ngoh hiang.

“Sometimes people will ask if I can recreate a dish from their memories, and I will try my best to do so,” says Tinoq. “I love making people happy that way. Cooking is a celebration of life. Part of why I’m doing these dinners is because when people sit down at the table to eat together, any differences disappear”.

To make his phenomenal hae been hiam (dried shrimp sambal), Tinoq uses dried shrimp from Thailand, which he swears is the best, lots of pork lard and crispy garlic. Think of the silky vegetables as vehicles for mopping up all that mildly spicy, umami, devilishly good, chunky sambal. He really should bottle and sell it.

We love the loose, smooth texture of the spiced minced meat in these beautifully crackly beancurd skin rolls, though others in our group weren’t so hot about the sweetness that the unusual use of chopped candied winter melon imparted. Still, we all agreed that this was one of the best ngoh hiang we’ve eaten, especially with the piquant homemade chilli cuca (vinegary chilli sauce).

A crowd favourite in our party. Chunks of beef chuck are stewed for at least eight hours in a very finely minced rempah made with the likes of galangal, garlic, ginger, cinnamon and cloves, and finely sliced turmeric leaves and daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves), all harvested from Tinoq’s garden. The result is a toasty base redolent of kerisik (toasted coconut paste) and beef that has fallen apart so much in the cooking that it’s turned to tender strands. Intensely flavourful, even if the meat’s texture is more like pulled pork rather than meltingly soft beef chunks.

It’s not exactly traditional to flavour this classic Peranakan soup with dried flat fish (ti poh), but we don’t think the bibiks would mind. The broth — made from flower crabs, pork bones, and dried fish — brims with plenty of seafoody flavour and is divine, as are the wonderfully textured, juicy meatballs flecked with flower crabmeat. This is one bakwan kepiting to beat.

This dish was inspired by his neighbours from the kampong who used to run a nasi lemak stall. “I remember they would use a long wooden ladle to fry the rempah and the smell was always amazing!” says Tinoq. The sambal, made with lots of shallots, assam (tamarind), garlic, chillies and belacan, is rich, almost sticky and swimming with fresh sea prawns that he buys from Tiong Bahru market. While some of us love the piquancy of the dish, others loved it less because of its very sweet notes.

The abundant butterfly pea flowers from Tinoq’s garden stain the beautifully chewy coconut-infused steamed jasmine rice a brilliant shade of blue. Beside it, the nasi kunyit, scented with perfumey turmeric from the garden, coconut milk and kampot peppers, provide a contrasting shade of yellow. Together, they make a delicious base for all the tasty dishes.

All ready to be thrown into rice, or tea. Fab for making nonya kueh too. 

The dining room features boisterous, mismatched prints that reflect the mood of the makan experience.

The multi-talented duo pre-red carpet with Crazy Rich Asians actress Constance Lau. They styled her for the movie’s premieres in LA and Singapore. "We're old friends, and yes, she's dined at my place before!" says Tinoq of the willowy beauty. 

Tinoq did her make-up and helped choose her dress while Dylan styled her hair. 

The men were also responsible for her look at the film's Hollywood premiere. She was the only Singaporean actor in CRA to be featured on Vanityfair.com’s “The Must-See Looks from the Crazy Rich Asians Premiere” list.

This is a private dining experience unlike any other. It is bold and bright in every way, from the food’s rich flavours to the dining room’s décor and the hosts’ personalities. $100 to $120 does seem a lot to pay for the kind of homey fare Tinoq dishes out, but it is unmistakably food made with heart and those amazingly fragrant homegrown herbs. Tinoq splits his time doing this and his regular make-up work, so seats are very limited. Should you find yourself a space at his table, feel free to ask for make-up tips.

For reservations, e-mail pasirpanjangboy@gmail.com or SMS 9338-6439.

Photos: Ealbert Ho