Cover Su-Lyn Tay, the creative director of Violet Oon Singapore
Su-Lyn Tay, the creative director of Violet Oon Singapore
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As the restaurant industry rallies around environmental causes, Su-Lyn Tay of Violet Oon Singapore is making the case for an equally urgent one: preserving the recipes, techniques and stories of Singapore's Peranakan heritage before they disappear
At a time when sustainability conversations in the restaurant industry are largely centred on food waste, local sourcing and reducing carbon footprints, Su-Lyn Tay believes another form of sustainability deserves equal attention: cultural sustainability.
As creative director of Violet Oon Singapore, which champions Peranakan and Singapore heritage cuisine across its restaurants in Dempsey Hill, Ion Orchard, the National Gallery Singapore and its latest concept, Bibik Violet at the heritage-rich Temasek Shophouse, Tay sees her role as more than running restaurants. Her mission is to safeguard Singapore’s culinary heritage before it disappears.
From labour-intensive recipes and endangered cooking techniques to the stories embedded within Peranakan cuisine, she believes restaurants have a responsibility to preserve traditions that might otherwise be lost to time.
“A lot of people use shortcuts today, but we are intentionally doing the long-cut,” says Tay. “If we don’t commit to keeping these textures, flavours and techniques alive, our own children will never get to experience them.”
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Above Violet Oon Dempsey
Above National Kitchen at National Gallery Singapore
Violet Oon Dempsey
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That philosophy underpins much of the group’s work. Forgotten techniques are documented and passed on to younger chefs, while recipes are continually tested against the exacting standards of family matriarch Violet Oon herself. Beyond the kitchen, authentic Peranakan tiles, family heirlooms, archival photographs and carefully curated playlists help tell the story of Singapore’s multicultural identity, inviting diners to learn about ingredients such as tao chio (fermented soybean paste), the significance of the tok panjang dining table, and the cultural exchanges that shaped dishes across the Malay Archipelago.
For Tay, preserving heritage has become increasingly urgent. Modern families are busier than ever, and recipes once passed down from grandmother to granddaughter are at risk of disappearing altogether. “Today, grandmothers are teaching domestic helpers how to cook rather than their children,” she says. “When the grandmother passes away and the helper leaves, the recipe often goes with them.”
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Above Violet Oon (centre) with Su-Lyn and Yiming Tay
Violet Oon (centre) with Su-Lyn and Yiming Tay
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Preserving a Legacy
The mission is deeply personal. Tay grew up watching her mother, culinary icon Violet Oon, use food as a vehicle for storytelling long before social media existed. Then regarded as one of Singapore’s foremost food ambassadors, Oon travelled extensively, introducing international audiences to Singaporean cuisine through cooking demonstrations, media tours and cultural exchanges. The family often accompanied her on these trips, watching as she transformed dishes into lessons on migration, identity and cultural exchange.
Those lessons continued at home. Visiting journalists, diplomats and food enthusiasts were regularly welcomed into the family’s house, where wet market tours often ended with cooking demonstrations and dinners around the dining table.
It was there that Tay learnt how Peranakan cuisine emerged from the union of Chinese immigrants and indigenous Malay communities in the Straits Settlements; why dishes such as babi pongteh relied on fermented bean paste rather than soy sauce; how rendang and laksa came to sit alongside Chinese-inspired dishes on the same table; and why many Peranakan families adopted Western-style dining customs while retaining traditional recipes. “Food was always a way of telling Singapore’s story,” says Tay.
Family celebrations reinforced those lessons. Chinese New Year preparations often stretched across an entire week, with relatives gathering in the kitchen to prepare elaborate dishes that are rarely made today. “Cooking and feeding people was my mother’s love language,” she recalls.
Although Violet Oon had launched several food ventures throughout the 1980s and 1990s, scaling the business proved challenging. Creative vision and restaurant operations, Tay notes, require very different skill sets. “A friend once told my mother, ‘Violet, you’re a brand, but you have no product,’” she says. “Everyone knew who she was, but there wasn’t a permanent platform that represented everything she had built.”
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Bibik Violet’s first outlet is located at the Temasek Shophouse, with a second outlet slated to open at Great World soon
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Rather than inheriting an established business, the siblings built one from the ground up, driven by a desire not only to grow a successful company but also to ensure Oon’s decades of research, recipes and cultural knowledge would remain relevant for future generations. Maintaining authenticity across a growing portfolio requires discipline. In the company’s early years, Yiming would visit every outlet each morning, tasting sauces and checking consistency before service began.
For Tay, however, the greatest validation comes not from accolades but from diners who recognise the flavours of their childhood. “Our biggest compliment is when someone says the dish tastes exactly the same every time,” she says. “Or when a grandmother comes in and gives us her stamp of approval.”
That commitment to heritage is perhaps best embodied by the group’s newest concept, Bibik Violet at Temasek Shophouse. While the flagship restaurants are often associated with celebrations and business entertaining, Bibik Violet is designed for everyday dining— a warm, casual space where guests can enjoy heritage dishes over kaya toast and coffee in the morning, a quick lunch or a family dinner. A second Bibik Violet outlet is slated to open at Great World later this year.
For Tay, growth and preservation are not opposing forces. Expansion is simply another way of ensuring Singapore’s culinary traditions remain visible, relevant and accessible. “Our responsibility is bigger than running restaurants,” she says. “We’re preserving stories, traditions and a way of life. If we don't protect these things now, they won't be there for the next generation.”
Credits
Images: Violet Oon Singapore
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Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
