Family meals out: the bane of many a designated organiser. Finding that enigmatic middle ground between what mom likes and what you love can easily feel like an impossible task. Sisyphus may have been sentenced to push a boulder perpetually, but we think making him shove his mother into a “too much this, not enough that” restaurant just once would’ve been harsher.
Enter Choon Hoy Parlor (CHP), the latest concept by chef Dylan Ong of Saveur and The Masses fame. Taking over the old Beach Road site of The Masses, which recently moved to Capitol Singapore, the mod-Sin outfit is named after Ong’s mother, with dishes that combine the best of local classic comforts with punchy contemporary preparations.
The menu at CHP is a mix of tapas-style snacks and large-format dishes, put together by Ong with fellow chefs Benji Chew and Renee Tang. It’s casual, easy and homey, just like the decor, which is reminiscent of a 1980s Chinese salon, with a few neon lights scattered here and there to remind us we’re in the 21st century.
We start with a basket of mini fried pomfrets, served with a plum taucheong dip. The lightly battered fish, which goes through the fryer twice, is crisp, airy and moreish — definitely something to rival the ubiquitous salmon skin that’s had a chokehold on the local snack scene for years.
See also: Summer Palace joins hands with Chengdu’s Silver Pot for four-hands dinner
Coin prata, presented like miniature tacos with a lamb masala filling, is spicy and buttery. We hear this is a secret recipe that group chef Dexter Ko picked up from an Indian peer. A minty Greek yoghurt sauce on top cuts the richness just a little, so even finishing three isn’t much of a challenge. Where the dish slips slightly is on the prata, which leans a little thick for our tastes.
We then move on to the ayam goreng berempah, generously coated in serunding. The spiced coconut shreds perfume the entire dish, and really the entire table. The chicken itself is moist and fragrant — it’s marinated for three days with ginger, galangal and curry leaves, among others.
As the first of our bigger sharing plates, the bone-in coffee angus short rib, comes to the table we know we’ve met a star dish. The scent of coffee, brought alive by grilling the meat on binchotan, is just light enough to be noticeable without overpowering the spices in the Vietnamese-style marinade. The beef, meanwhile, is sweet and fork-tender, almost as if it’s been braised for hours.
See also: Sensorial delights at Le Pristine in the refreshed Grand Hyatt Singapore
Then comes a new iteration of Tang’s signature dish, a dry laksa. The original was created during her time at Jelebu Dry Laksa, which closed earlier this year. This new version, aptly dubbed “v2.0”, comes in a portion that’s good for three. The dish is somewhat of a fusion of flavours from laksa and Hokkien mee. Though undeniably rich, the fragrant rempah — another secret recipe — keeps us returning for more.
It’s often said that dessert is the most important part of a meal, and sadly it’s here that CHP disappoints. The durian cendol comes with a base of sponge cake that gets compressed under the weight of corn espuma, coconut ice cream and D24 puree, so we miss what we can only guess was an attempt at lightening up the dish.
Still, as we swallow our last bites at CHP, we’re left rubbing our bellies satisfied. Even with its occasional missteps, we’re pretty sure mom would approve.
