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 befores5 online casino, 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 and his grandmother. (Photo: 8Days/Kelvin Chia)