FOOD & DRINK
leases on both premises expired in 2013, anticipating a steep rise in rent on top of business rates, explains Suan-Neo. Her husband Arumainayagam reminisces
fondly: “When we shut the restaurants, we got tons of email asking ‘when are you opening your next restaurant?’” Suan-Neo chimes in: “Customers wrote
to me wondering, ‘where can we eat your food? We miss your cooking’.” Tey had already started selling their sauces at the restaurants. Emboldened by encourage- ment from their former customers, they initially offered two sauces and then ex- tended the range to 10, including some vegan ones, each one amassing a Great Taste Award. Nonya Secrets cooking sauces derived
from “recipes handed down from my Peranakan heritage, a fusion of Chinese and Malay cultures which emanates from the intermarriage of Chinese settlers to the indigenous Malays in the 16th century,” Suan-Neo enthuses. Te spicy peanut sauce was her father’s recipe and the Nonya Sambal was derived from her mother. Te chef miraculously squeezes in layers and layers of flavours from an orchestra of in- gredients such as lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, chilies and the list goes on. Te sauces are made locally, importing fresh lemongrass and galangal from Vietnam while leaving out preservatives. For fear of ruining the taste, she refuses to use chemi- cals to prolong shelf life. Using her sauces is like eating her restaurant food that’s been vacuum packed in a jar.
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Does the couple miss the restaurant
trade? “Sometimes,” says Arumainayagam but it’s a resounding “No” from Suan-Neo. She says: “I am a very hard task master [in the kitchen].” In addition to the pressure of creating new recipes, she “spent a lot of time in the kitchen”. She explains: “Te dinner party ambience was replaced with a high-intensity business environment.” She found the customers’ appreciation of and recognition for her food “very rewarding”. Some customers have become and are still friends. But running a group of restaurants was no mean feat while being under finan- cial pressure, taking responsibility for training the chefs and finding trained chefs willing to work in an Asian restaurant. “Te daily compliments that I now get
with the sauce company is even more pleasing,” she says sprightly. She brims with excitement, talking about “the endless opportunities” with the sauce business, such as increasing online sales and UK- based stockists as well as expanding over- seas. Suan-Neo’s drive is fathomless. I was
originally due to meet her at one of the food fairs but she was too ill to attend. Not being able to sit still, she decided to finish cutting the hedge at home. Te next step in her career? “I would be happy to pursue a career as a celebrity chef and follow in the footsteps of Mary Berry and Madhur Jaffrey,” she says. Aged 66, she could be a young Singaporean Mary Berry. Let’s also thank her mother for all the kitchen chores that Suan-Neo was made to do.
Terry Tong, a Hong Kong Chinese living in London and a former lawyer, is the founder of Yippie Limited. Its website,
yippieonline.com, has reviews on Pan Asian restaurants across London with recommendations on dishes and blogs about the latest restaurant openings and chef interviews.
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