It all started when Shaun Ng came to the US and had dreams of opening his own Singaporean restaurant. He partnered with Robert Zuetell and his wife, Gina Galvan, who own a restaurant concept business. Together, they researched and, at the time, SoCal had just started on the up-climb to Southeast Asian food like Vietnamese and Thai. With the upfront costs of opening a restaurant, it was just too soon to know if it would work. Last year, Robert saw the huge popularity of gourmet food trucks and decided to do some field work. He attended the 1st Annual OC Foodie Fest and it just amazed him – a sold out event and every single truck had an hour plus long line. The light bulb lit up so bright that even his sunglasses couldn’t shield it. They needed to bring Singaporean Street Hawker food to SoCal and the food truck was the ticket. On October 10, 2010, Chomp Chomp Nation debuted with a truck designed in the Year of the Tiger with coloring distinctive to tigers – orange with black stripes.
Like a tiger, Chomp Chomp Nation has been prowling the streets of SoCal delivering tasty Singaporean delights that appeal to the American palate. Robert took a lot of time with the menu as typical dish names in Singapore were simply too foreign for SoCal unless you were from Singapore or you had been there before. In order to bring guests in, he chose names that infused American iconic dishes and used presentations that were familiar. He did a great job. He brings them in with the name and then they come closer to read the description. As I watched, about 90% of the people went from the menu right to the order window. It was amazing!
To read more and see photos, please visit:
http://www.examiner.com/restaurant-in-anaheim/chomp-chomp-nation-brings-singapore-s-street-hawker-food-with-an-american-twist-review
Mahalo!
OC Food Diva
No comments:
Post a Comment