International Plaza, Tanjong Pagar, Singapore
An In-Depth Dish Analysis & Culinary Review
Introduction
In the dense culinary landscape of Singapore’s Central Business District, affordable eating is a paradox: demand is high, rents are prohibitive, and the mid-range sandwich eatery has crowded out almost everything below the $7 threshold. Chop Chop, a 16-seat Halal eatery occupying a quiet corner of International Plaza’s second floor, presents a studied counterargument to this trend. Opened in August 2025 by F&B veteran Marcus Luo, the establishment has attracted a loyal following for a single, audacious reason: a grilled chicken thigh with turmeric rice priced at $3.80.
This review examines Chop Chop through the lens of dish analysis — exploring the sensory dimensions of texture, hue, aroma, and flavour construction — alongside a broader assessment of the eatery’s concept, operational model, and culinary merit.
Ambience & Setting
Chop Chop makes no concessions to atmosphere in the conventional sense. There is no signage at the shopfront — Marcus deliberately avoided the multi-thousand-dollar deposit required to mount external branding, opting instead for an interior wall display of the shop’s name and a small chick mascot. The result is a space that feels almost deliberately anti-performative: functional, minimal, and clean.
Sixteen seats line a compact floorplan. Natural light from the corridor provides the primary illumination during lunch hours, casting a warm, diffused glow over the food counter where the combi oven’s output is plated to order. The absence of background music or decorative intervention draws attention squarely to the food — which, as it turns out, is exactly where it belongs.
The space is redolent with the fragrance of turmeric and warming spices that drifts into the second-floor corridor well before you reach the counter. This olfactory signature — cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, toasted shallots — functions as an involuntary form of marketing, drawing in foot traffic from surrounding offices.
Verdict: Not a destination dining room, but a purposeful, no-distraction environment that lets the food speak.
Dish Analysis
- Grilled Chicken Thigh with Turmeric Rice — $3.80
Visual Profile & Hue
The plate arrives simply composed: a half boneless chicken thigh (approximately 140g) rests against a mound of golden rice, accompanied by three slices of cucumber. The chicken exhibits a deep amber-mahogany surface where the overnight marinade — soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar — has undergone Maillard browning and caramelisation during the combi-oven cycle. The interior cross-section, if broken open, reveals a pale, moist bisque interior against the seared exterior, a gradient characteristic of properly rested poultry.
The turmeric rice reads visually as a warm saffron-gold, deepened slightly by the cinnamon and star anise in the cooking blend. Fried shallots crown the surface in irregular amber curls that add textural contrast and visual warmth. The cucumber slices, cold and verdant, provide the only cool-toned relief on the plate — their pale jade-green anchoring an otherwise warm colour palette.
The house-made Thai nam jim arrives in a separate tub, a vivid chartreuse-green from the green chillies and garlic, specked with visible herb particulate. It is visually the most assertive element on the tray.
Texture
The chicken thigh, cooked in a large-batch combi oven, achieves results that belie its production method. Combi ovens regulate both temperature and humidity with precision, which prevents the moisture loss common to conventional convection cooking. The result is a thigh that is tender without being flaccid — the muscle fibres yield cleanly under a fork without the chalky, compressed texture that plagues poorly rested batch-cooked poultry.
The surface carries a light, supple firmness from the caramelised marinade layer rather than a crackled skin (the thigh is skinless), which differentiates it texturally from char-grilled variants. This is a soft chew rather than a crisp bite — a distinction that suits the pairing with rice.
The turmeric rice is cooked to a slightly distinct separation, each grain remaining individual rather than cohesive, a texture associated with the absorption method common in Southeast Asian rice cookery. The fried shallots introduce brief crispness that softens rapidly as they absorb steam from the warm rice beneath — a textural window of about two to three minutes before they transition to a soft, intensely flavoured garnish.
The cucumber slices are cold and hydric, providing sharp crunch against the yielding protein and yielding starch — a textural counterpoint of considerable importance to the dish’s overall balance.
Aroma & Flavour Construction
The fragrance of the rice is the dish’s most compelling sensory dimension. Turmeric contributes its characteristic earthy, faintly medicinal warmth; cinnamon adds a woody sweetness; star anise introduces a mild aniseed depth; and cardamom — the most volatile of the four — provides a bright, almost citric top note. Together, they build an aromatic profile closer to a biryani spice base than to a standard steamed rice accompaniment, which explains why the fragrance is perceptible from the corridor outside.
The chicken’s flavour is straightforward but well-executed: soy sauce provides umami salinity, oyster sauce adds a richer, molasses-adjacent sweetness, and sugar accelerates surface browning while balancing the salt. The marinade penetrates the thigh over the overnight rest, ensuring the flavour is consistent throughout rather than concentrated at the surface — an important quality distinction in batch-cooked protein.
The nam jim sauce is the dish’s transformative element. Green chilli and garlic form its base, producing a sauce that is simultaneously sharp, spicy, tangy, and herbaceous. Applied to the chicken, it cuts through the richness of the marinade and brightens the palate; applied to the rice, it introduces acid contrast to the earthy warmth of the spice blend. Its role is structural — without it, the dish risks reading as one-dimensional. - Grilled Chicken with Jade Noodles — $4.80
Visual Profile & Hue
Where the turmeric rice presents a warm, golden-amber palette, the jade noodle variant is cooler and more assertive in colour. Spinach noodles carry a deep, muted green reminiscent of aged jade stone — not the bright, saturated green of fresh spinach, but a subdued, mineral hue that deepens further when tossed in the garlic oil dressing. The xiao bai cai served alongside adds lighter, paler green tones, and fried garlic bits scattered across the surface introduce small points of golden-brown contrast.
Texture
The spinach noodles possess a springiness — a resistance and rebound on the bite — that distinguishes them from standard wheat noodles. This elasticity is attributable to the gluten network formed during production, which spinach does not significantly weaken. The garlic oil coating contributes a surface lubricity that prevents clumping and ensures each strand separates cleanly. The xiao bai cai provides a soft, slightly fibrous chew with mild bitterness, functioning as a palate cleanser between bites of the oil-dressed noodles.
Flavour Construction
The noodle base — garlic oil, soy sauce, fried garlic bits — is a study in restrained umami amplification. Garlic oil contributes fat-soluble aromatic compounds that coat the palate, building flavour persistence; soy sauce provides a clean salinity; fried garlic introduces texture and a roasted, caramelised depth. The ensemble is simple but considered, and importantly, it holds its own without sauce — an unusual quality for a noodle dish at this price point.
The chicken pairing is unchanged from the rice version, but the noodles’ punchy garlic profile arguably suits the chicken’s soy-oyster marinade more directly than the spiced rice does — the flavour bridge between protein and carbohydrate is more linear and immediate. - Grilled Seabass with Jade Noodles — $8.50 ★ Recommended
Visual Profile & Hue
A generous slab of seabass arrives with a kecap manis-based sauce pooled beneath and around the fillet. The fish surface carries a pale golden colour from the grilling process, with darker, slightly caramelised edges where the sweet soy glaze has reduced and set. Against the deep green of the jade noodles, the presentation is visually the most composed of the menu’s four dishes — a contrast of warm gold and cool green that photographs well and reads appetisingly in person.
Texture
Seabass (specifically Lates calcarifer, or Asian sea bass / barramundi, which is standard in Singapore’s food service) possesses a large, moist flake structure that separates along natural myomeres when properly cooked. The combi oven format, again, proves well-suited here: controlled humidity prevents the surface desiccation that plagues pan-fried fish at scale, while the precise temperature ensures the proteins denature fully without contracting to toughness. The result is a fillet that is described as flaky and moist — characteristic of fish cooked to approximately 60°C internal, where the collagen in the connective tissue has softened but the myosin proteins have not over-contracted.
The kecap manis sauce adds a viscous, glossy coating to the fillet surface — sticky and slightly tacky on the palate, creating a different mouthfeel from the relatively dry chicken preparations.
Flavour Construction
Kecap manis — Indonesian sweet soy sauce — is a fermented, palm sugar-sweetened condiment with a treacle-like sweetness, a soy salt base, and faint spiced notes from the production process (typically including star anise and galangal). Applied as a glaze to seabass, it creates a savoury-sweet profile that is more complex than the chicken’s marinade: the fish’s natural sweetness (seabass has a higher free amino acid content than chicken) amplifies the sauce’s sweetness, while the fish’s mild salinity harmonises with the soy component. The pairing with garlic-oil noodles completes the dish, the aromatic depth of the noodles complementing the sweet-umami glaze without competing with it.
This is the dish that demonstrates Chop Chop’s ceiling. At $8.50, it represents strong value by any CBD benchmark. - Sides — $1.50 with main; $3 à la carte
Baked Pumpkin
Kabocha-style pumpkin cubes, roasted until the natural sugars concentrate and the flesh softens to a creamy, spoonable consistency. Hue: deep orange with slightly darkened, caramelised cut edges. Texture: yielding, smooth, with no resistance. Flavour: sweet and earthy, with a faint butteriness from the cell breakdown of the gourd during baking. No additional seasoning appears necessary — the pumpkin’s inherent sweetness is sufficient, and its mildness functions as a palate reset between bites of the more assertive mains.
Baked Egg
Described aptly as a firmer chawanmushi variant. The baked egg is a steamed or oven-set egg custard, cooked in a mould with button mushrooms folded into the mixture. Its texture is noticeably more set than traditional chawanmushi — a result of a higher egg-to-dashi ratio or a slightly elevated cooking temperature — producing a tofu-like firmness that can be sliced cleanly. Hue: pale ivory-yellow with visible mushroom fragments. Flavour: mild, subtly eggy, with a background umami from the mushrooms. Its role is contrast — a gentle, savoury foil to the more robust proteins on the plate.
Roasted Potatoes
Standard par-roasted potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper, with a lightly crisped exterior and a mealy, yielding interior. Hue: golden-tan exterior, white interior. Unremarkable on their own, but reliably satisfying as a textural counterpoint — particularly effective alongside the seabass, where a starchier accompaniment than noodles might be preferred.
Dish Scoring Summary
Each dish assessed across five sensory dimensions on a 10-point scale.
Dimension Score /10 Notes
Flavour Depth 8.5 / 10 Nam jim and spiced rice elevate beyond price point
Texture Contrast 7.5 / 10 Cucumber and shallots key; chicken well-rested
Aroma Profile 9.0 / 10 Turmeric spice blend is the standout quality
Visual Presentation 6.5 / 10 Functional; no garnish artistry, but clean and appetising
Value Proposition 10 / 10 Unmatched at this price in the CBD; no qualification needed
Delivery & Access Options
Chop Chop currently operates exclusively as a dine-in and takeaway counter. The eatery is not listed on major third-party delivery platforms (GrabFood, foodpanda) at the time of writing, which is consistent with the operational philosophy: delivery commissions — typically 25–30% — would be structurally incompatible with a $3.80 flagship item. The math does not work at scale.
For CBD office workers, the practical access routes are as follows. Walk-in service is available Monday to Friday, 10:30am to 5:00pm, at #02-67, International Plaza, 10 Anson Rd, S079903. The second-floor location is accessible via the building’s internal escalators and lifts from the Tanjong Pagar MRT exit. Takeaway orders can be collected directly at the counter; no online pre-order system has been publicised, though enquiries can be directed via Instagram. The eatery is closed on weekends.
Corporate bulk orders — for office lunches or catered meetings — are a plausible avenue given Marcus Luo’s background in catering and the eatery’s batch-production capacity of up to 700 meals daily. This channel, if formalised, would meaningfully close the gap between current output (160–180 meals/day) and the breakeven target of approximately 200 meals/day.
Reconstructed Recipe: Grilled Chicken Thigh with Turmeric Rice & Nam Jim
Based on published ingredient information and standard culinary technique. Not an exact proprietary formula.
Grilled Chicken Thigh Marinade
Ingredients (per 4 portions): 4 boneless chicken thighs (skin-on or skinless, ~140g each), 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp white sugar, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil (optional).
Method: Combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and pepper. Coat chicken thighs thoroughly and rest covered in the refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours, ideally overnight. The extended marinade time allows the salt to migrate fully into the muscle tissue via osmosis, ensuring even seasoning throughout. Cook in a preheated oven at 180°C (fan) for 22–25 minutes, or in a combi oven at 160°C with 50% humidity for 20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 74°C. Rest for 5 minutes before service.
Turmeric Rice
Ingredients (per 4 portions): 2 cups jasmine rice (rinsed), 2.5 cups water or light chicken stock, 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 star anise pods, 3 cardamom pods (lightly crushed), 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp neutral oil. For garnish: 3 large shallots, thinly sliced and fried in oil until golden.
Method: Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add star anise, cardamom, and cinnamon; toast for 60 seconds until fragrant. Add rinsed rice and stir to coat in the spiced oil. Add water or stock, turmeric, and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to the lowest heat, cover tightly, and cook for 12–14 minutes. Remove from heat and steam, covered, for a further 8 minutes. Fluff with a fork, remove whole spices, and garnish with fried shallots before service.
Thai Nam Jim (Green Chilli Sauce)
Ingredients: 4–6 green chillies (bird’s eye or long green, adjust to heat preference), 3 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice (fresh), 1 tbsp white sugar, 1 tbsp water, small handful fresh coriander (optional).
Method: Pound garlic and chillies in a mortar to a coarse paste — avoid over-processing to a smooth puree, as textural particulate is characteristic of authentic nam jim. Add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and water; mix to dissolve. Taste and adjust: the sauce should be simultaneously sharp (lime), spicy (chilli), salty (fish sauce), and sweet (sugar), with no single note dominating. Coriander can be stirred through at the last moment. Store refrigerated for up to 3 days; acidity brightens further after resting overnight.
Overall Assessment
Chop Chop operates at the intersection of institutional food production technique and hawker-style pricing — a combination that is rarer than it sounds. Its most significant achievement is not the $3.80 price point itself, but the consistent quality delivered at that price point, sustained through operational discipline rather than ingredient compromise.
The turmeric rice is genuinely excellent — its aromatic complexity would not be out of place in a restaurant charging three times as much. The nam jim is deftly balanced. The chicken is well-rested and juicy. For a lunch establishment producing up to 700 meals a day via combi oven batches, this is a notable culinary standard.
The seabass with jade noodles is the menu’s high point and the dish that most convincingly argues for Chop Chop’s durability as a concept. The $8.50 price point remains aggressive for the CBD, and the quality-to-cost ratio is the strongest on the menu.
What Chop Chop lacks in atmosphere, it more than compensates for in integrity — of concept, of execution, and of purpose. In a food landscape increasingly oriented toward the performative and the Instagram-optimised, there is something quietly radical about a 16-seat eatery on the second floor of a commercial building, no signage, no frills, doing the math carefully and feeding people well.
★★★★½ — Exceptional value; recommended without reservation 02-67, International Plaza, 10 Anson Rd, S079903
Mon–Fri, 10:30am–5:00pm | Closed weekends | Halal-certified