Here is the honest version of planning a multigenerational family meal: you are not going to find one dish that everyone loves equally, and that is fine. What you are looking for is a table generous enough that each person finds something that feels right for them, without anyone having to make a big deal about it. Shared dishes help enormously with this. So does knowing, roughly, what each generation at your table actually expects from a meal that satisfies.

For the Grandparents: Familiar Flavours, Properly Made

The thing about cooking for older family members is that they are usually the hardest to impress with novelty, and the easiest to impress with quality. Ah Ma is not looking for something she has never tried before. She is looking for something that tastes the way it is supposed to, made with the right ingredients and enough patience to do it properly.

So when you are ordering for the grandparents at the table, lean towards dishes that are grounded and familiar rather than experimental. Slow-braised preparations, gently spiced dishes, a good soup—these land well not because older palates are unadventurous, but because people who have been eating well for decades know immediately when something has been made with care.

The shared table format suits this generation particularly well, too. They tend to eat less but take their time over it, which means they can take what they want, come back for more at their own pace, and spend the rest of the meal doing what grandparents at a family dinner do best.

Our Recommendation: The Nourishing Chicken Soup, gently steamed with free-range chicken, Chinese herbs, and Hakka Yellow Wine, is the kind of dish that feels like it was made with this generation specifically in mind.

For the Parents: Range and Something Worth Talking About

More often than not, the parents at a multigenerational dinner are the ones holding the whole thing together. You are the ones doing the ordering, keeping an eye on what the kids are eating, checking whether Ah Ma needs more rice, and somewhere in between all of that, trying to find the time to enjoy your own meal.

What helps most is a menu with real range, dishes that give you genuine options rather than forcing you to choose between what the older generation will eat and what the younger ones will tolerate. This is also the generation most likely to appreciate a dish with a story behind it, something with cultural heritage or an unusual preparation that gives the table something to talk about and savour between courses.

For bigger family gatherings, we say this is also the moment to think about a centrepiece. A larger shared dish built for the whole table gives the meal a focal point and makes the whole thing feel like a proper occasion instead of everyone just eating at the same time.

Our Recommendation: The Steamed Threadfin Tail, available for six to eight persons with a choice of Singgang Mangger or Soy Sauce and Chai Poh, makes exactly that kind of centrepiece. It requires a two-day pre-order, so plan ahead.

For the Teenagers: Flavour First, Everything Else Second

Teenagers at a family dinner have a reputation for being difficult, but in our experience the issue is rarely what people assume. It is usually not the unfamiliar ingredients or the unusual dish names. It is just that nobody wants to sit through a meal where the most interesting thing on the table was chosen to be safe.

Give teenagers something with real flavour and a bit of boldness, and they come around faster than expected. A dish with a memorable spice profile, an interesting combination of ingredients, or something that arrives at the table looking like it means business is almost always a better bet than defaulting to the most neutral option on the menu.

Our Recommendation: The Prawn Macaroni Toast, made with deep-fried macaroni, prawns, and coleslaw, has enough familiarity to be approachable while still feeling a little unexpected. The contrast of crisp texture, fresh seafood, and creamy coleslaw gives teenagers enough material to unpack and savour. 

For the Children: Approachable Without Being Boring

Young children need something they can actually eat, which usually means milder flavours, familiar textures, and nothing that requires a lengthy negotiation to get onto the fork. What it does not mean is that their plate has to be completely without character.

The most practical approach is to make sure there are one or two things at the table that work as easy, unfussy eating for younger diners, while the rest of the table explores more widely. A good rice, a simply prepared dish, something mild but well made—these give children something to anchor their plate while everyone else gets on with the meal.

Our Recommendation: The Nasi Minyak, a fragrant ghee rice at $3, is a reliable anchor for younger diners and pairs naturally with almost everything else on the table.

A Note on Dietary Considerations

Before you finalise the order, it is worth doing a quick check around the table. In most families of any size, there is at least one person with a dietary preference or restriction, and it is much easier to plan for this upfront than to figure it out once everyone is seated.

For vegetarian diners, there are several substantial options worth knowing about:

• Jackfruit Rendang: Slow-cooked in a rich blend of spices and coconut milk, with the same depth and texture you would expect from the meat version.
• Brinjal Pacheree: Sweet, tangy and gently spiced, featuring eggplant alongside black mustard seed, cumin, Bentong ginger, dried chillies and garlic.
• Stir-Fried Market Veggies: Prepared with fragrant garlic, artisanal soya sauce, and 10-year-old Hua Tiao Chiew. Simple, but done properly.

The shared table format helps here too, since everything arrives at the centre and people take what works for them, without anyone having to make a thing of it.

The Table Does Most of the Work

A multigenerational meal planned well really does run itself. When the dishes are chosen with the whole table in mind rather than any single diner, the food creates the conditions for the kind of meal that nobody wants to leave early. That, more than any individual dish, is the point of eating together.

At Gilmore & Damian D’Silva, the menu is built around the kind of sharing that makes a multigenerational table work, with dishes that span heritage Eurasian cooking, seafood, vegetarian preparations, and family-sized centrepieces designed for four to eight persons. The restaurant is located within National Gallery Singapore, which makes it a particularly fitting setting for a family occasion that deserves more than an ordinary backdrop. Reserve your table and plan your visit here.