Kokoyo Nyonya Delights

虾酱鸡
The Har Cheong Gai from Kokoyo offers a delightful treat with its deep-fried prawn paste chicken wings.
Priced at just $7.90 for four mid-joints, it's an affordable option for savouring a uniquely flavourful and crispy snack.
Perfect for those who enjoy bold flavors in their fried foods!

Kokoyo's Nasi Lemak Sambal Sotong offers an indulgent taste of Peranakan with its double-steamed coconut rice that perfectly complements the rich and spicy sambal sotong.
The addition of crunchy ikan bilis, fried peanuts, signature sambal telur, and fresh cucumbers rounds out this flavourful dish.
Priced at just $11.90, it's a satisfying meal that promises both quality and value.

Kokoyo probably is an establishment that doesn’t really need much of an introduction for those whom have been following up on our posts — for those whom are uninitiated, Kokoyo is a Peranakan establishment located at Blk 263 Serangoon Central Drive that we had visited some time back during its soft launch phase. Much of the founder’s story can be found through the various social media features or the establishment itself. These folks had since went into full launch in recent times; this also means a larger variety of menu items that are being made available on the menu which were previously not included — this would include the variety of Nonya Kueh which is said to be freshly-made by the founder’s grandmother on a daily basis. Whilst the Nonya Kueh is retails retailed at $1.50 per piece, patrons can also choose to purchase them in boxes of six (6) pieces or ten (10) pieces if they so choose to at $8 and $12 respectively.

Given the vast selection of Nonya Kueh which Kokoyo has to offer, it is quite impossible to give all of their Nonya Kueh offerings a go in just one seating — there are already three (3) different flavours for their Ang Ku Kueh and Ondeh Ondeh each here. With this is mind, we went for one of the Kueh Salat, one of the Kueh Lapis
and one of the Ondeh Ondeh (Yam). The Kueh Salat was one of the highly recommended Nonya Kueh items that the folks behind the counter had mentioned; the variant here does come with the familiar Pandan mousse sitting atop a layer of glutinous rice — the glutinous rice coming with a light blue-ish hue in a particular area likely from the use of blue pea flower that is rather typical of Kueh Salat found at indie-run establishments these days. Whilst we do feel that there are other establishments that does a more refined version of the same, Kokoyo’s rendition does seem to be better than some to the commercially-made ones that we have had thus far; the pandan mousse carried a hint of Pandan fragrance and is suitably sweet — the glutinous rice layer at the bottom adds a slight contrast of saltishness that helps to bring yet another dimension of flavours to the Kueh Salat. The Kueh Lapis on the other hand was a crowd pleaser; suitably sweet whilst coming with defined layers that one can peel off layer-by-layer to enjoy, this is bound to be one that would particularly appeal to children.

The Ondeh Ondeh at Kokoyo is done slightly different from the usual; all flavours are sized slightly larger than the usual Ondeh Ondeh that we are used to seeing elsewhere, the Ondeh Ondeh is sized even larger than a golf ball here — we were also told that Kokoyo’s Ondeh Ondeh comes with dry fillings which is a direction that they had decided to take. With all that in mind, the Ondeh Ondeh (Taro) comes with fillings with a texture that replicates that of mung bean fillings typically found in Ang Ku Kueh; that being said, the fillings does carry an earthy note that one would typically associate with yam — the exterior doesn’t stick to the teeth either. That being said, we did find that the exterior to be a little bit on the thicker side. Having tasted Kuehs that other establishments serves up, we can’t exactly say that the variety of Nonya Kueh served up at Kokoyo are particularly gastronomical or life-changing — there are other establishments like Rempapa, Candlenut and Chalk Farm that serves Nonya Kueh that really leaves an impression, though all of those do also seem to be very different types of establishments compared to Kokoyo. What is undeniable is how Kokoyo does serve up Nonya Kueh of a slightly better quality than that of the usual commercially-made ones; all whilst keeping the prices of their Nonya Kueh accessible to those in the heartlands. Looking forward to give more of their selection of Nonya Kueh a go considering how they are a rather convenient spot to stop by for a tea-time treat.