This new Peranakan eatery at Serangoon is opened by a 23-year-old who uses his grandma’s recipes

While most 23-year-olds are still studying or job hunting, baby-faced Ernest Ang has taken the road less travelled. After completing his National Service, the engineering diploma holder spent just six weeks looking for a full-time job, before making the major decision to open his own Peranakan eatery instead. 
His two-week-old 60-seater, fondly named Kokoyo after the way his 72-year-old granny mispronounces the word ‘coconut’, is a no-frills joint tucked at a corner of a HDB block in Serangoon Central.
From the shop’s cartoon logo (that’s modelled after his grandmother), to its ongoing “bring your grandparents for 20 per cent off” promotion, it’s clear that Kokoyo’s main inspiration is Ang’s grandmother whom he’s very close to and lived with as a child.
Despite their closeness, he said it took him a long time to convince the matriarch to share her recipes with him.
His grandmother’s recipes are so closely guarded that even Ang’s mum hasn’t been able to get a hold of them.
“My grandma’s very stubborn – when she says no, it’s really a no. I asked her to teach me before, but she didn’t want to share her recipes, even my mum doesn’t know them. And now some of the things she teaches me, she tells me not to tell my mother,” he laughed.
Ernest Ang first took interest in learning how to cook his grandmother’s dishes three years ago. He developed a passion for cooking when he was 16 years old, and at 20, decided that he wanted to learn his grandma’s recipes for fun, since he grew up eating them. Like him, his grandma used to run a small Peranakan eatery before he was born, which operated for roughly 10 years before shuttering due to family issues. 
So after months of prodding his popo to impart her expertise, his persistence paid off.
“I kept ‘poking’ her, and every time she cooked for us, I helped her prep. I observed [her cooking], and over time she gave in more and more,” he said. 
Why is granny so secretive about her recipes? “There’s no right and wrong recipe when it comes to Peranakan food. Every Peranakan household recipe varies and they cherish it like a precious gem,” she explained cryptically. 
Ang added: “Because of her declining memory and health, it took her some time to recognise my passion for cooking [and finally share her recipes]”. If he ever hires a cook to help out at his eatery, he admits he probably won’t be able to give them the full recipes. 
However, he proudly said that everything on the menu has attained his grandma’s hard-earned stamp of approval: “She has to approve [and taste all the dishes] first, before I add it to the menu”. 
As we’d expect from Ang’s traditional grandma, the elder’s initial reaction to his business was not the most enthusiastic.
“She was like, ‘why don’t you want to get a job outside?’, ’cause in my grandma’s experience, the F&B industry is not very stable. Initially, she was not very supportive of it. But she supports everything I do, so if I insist, she’s okay with it,” he said.
Now, the elder has come around, and even paid half of Ang’s S$80,000 (US$61,980) investment to open the eatery, while he forked out the remaining S$40,000 using savings from part-time jobs he took on while studying in poly. 
But why did Ernest Ang, who has a diploma in Electronics from Nanyang Polytechnic, decide to open his own restaurant?
“When I ORD’ed, I wanted to go and work ’cause I don’t like studying. But the job market was bad, and my CV wasn’t strong, so I got quite a lot of job rejections,” he shared. Ang told us he applied for F&B jobs as an operations manager, as he doesn’t enjoy engineering. 
Though six weeks is a short time to stop his job hunt, he said he got the idea to start his business after discussing it with his friends, who encouraged him to do it. His parents, who work in entirely different industries (his dad runs a business selling sensors, while his mum works in HR), were also supportive from the get-go.
“My parents are quite supportive, they don’t object to what I want to do as long as I can give them a good reason for why I want to do it,” he said.
He added: “I looked into why most F&B businesses fail, and asked my friends [who have parents in the] scene also. The cash flow is good initially, but when there’s no stable product, it can only last so long until the business starts losing money. But when I look at it, my product quality is definitely okay, since it’s my grandma’s recipe. And unlike many people in the scene, I don’t come in just for the cash grab.
“Of course, money is important but it’s more about honouring my grandma’s recipes.” 
These days, Ernest Ang devotes almost all his waking hours to Kokoyo. He reaches the shop at 7.30am, and stays behind till 11pm to prepare his ingredients for the next day. Currently, he’s the only cook here, but has six staff helping out, three of which are his friends. 
Despite the working hours being way more rigorous than a typical nine-to-five job, Ang said he has no regrets.
“I enjoy what I do. I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m like ‘Wah, I hate my life!’ I don’t think I’ll get to that point,” he laughed. 
At the same time, he debunks the rumours that being a young business owner is very glamorous: “People always say there’s lots of freedom, but it’s not true! I haven’t met my friends in a while. Maybe next time if [my business] does well but for now, there are no perks. I have to be here every day from Monday to Sunday, but I don’t regret it,” he said.
Given that he’s only been in business for around two weeks, Ernest Ang said he doesn’t have any plans for expansion yet. However, with the current influx of customers, he estimates that he’ll be able to break even on his investment in roughly 10 months. 
Kokoyo currently has 14 items on its menu, with a focus on nasi lemak mains like Nasi Lemak Inchi Kabin (S$10.90), Nasi Lemak Beef Rendang (S$11.90), and Nasi Lemak Sambal Sotong (S$11.90). There are also dishes like Teochew Fish Soup (S$8.90), Babi Pongteh (S$10.90) and Kari Kay Chicken Curry (S$8.90). 
Kokoyo’s best-selling dish. Our nasi lemak comes with coconut rice, a medium-sized deep-fried chicken leg, egg sambal, and quintessential sides of ikan bilis and peanuts. From the first bite, the coconut rice here is ultra fragrant, moist and fluffy. Ernest Ang explains that he steams the rice, which involves soaking the grains overnight, and double-cooks it by par-steaming the jasmine grains then later steaming it fully to make it fluffier. 
The chicken is also impressive – crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside. It’s also made with a whopping 22 spices, instead of the usual 10 that inchi kabin (Nonya-style fried chicken, typically marinated overnight with spices and coconut milk) is made with, said Ernest Ang.
So on top of typical ingredients like chilli powder, cumin powder and turmeric, he adds ingredients like biryani masala to enhance the flavour. Though we can’t say it’s exceptionally spice-filled, the chicken here is definitely flavourful and coated in a punchy marinade that’s quite addictive. 
Though the inchi kabin here is tasty, we actually prefer the beef rendang. The chunks of shin beef here are coated in a mildly spicy, thick gravy. Our favourite part of the dish is the fork-tender beef, which is equal parts fatty and meaty. 
If you’re expecting typical Teochew-style fish soup here, be prepared for something totally different. Ernest Ang makes his soup with a mixture of ground nuts and peanuts to cut the fishy flavour, he said. At first sip, his rendition tastes a lot more like a slightly diluted peanut soup. It’s nutty, and somewhat comforting, but not at all like how you’d expect fish soup to taste.
There’s little to no hint of seafood flavour, except for the slices of dory and batang in the broth. Though it’s tasty overall, we’re not sure we’d order this if we’re looking to curb our fish soup cravings.
Though Ernest Ang’s grandmother doesn’t visit Kokoyo often due to her weak legs, she whips up around 200 pieces of eight types of nonya kueh from home for him to sell at his shop daily. Offerings like lapis sagu, pulut hitam, ondeh ondeh and ang ku kueh are sold at S$1.50 per piece, or S$12 for 10 pieces. 
All of granny’s kuehs we tried are tasty, with chewy skin that’s not too thick, and filling that’s not overly sweet. We particularly enjoyed the peanut ondeh ondeh and yam ang ku kueh. The peanut ondeh ondeh is nicely springy, with a finely grated nut filling that’s crunchy and salty-sweet. Meanwhile, the ang ku kueh is stuffed with a smooth, sweet yam filling. 
Kokoyo Nonya Delights is at #01-43, 263 Serangoon Central Drive, Singapore 550263. Open daily 11am to 8.30pm.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/