Local favorite Singaporean restaurant Shiok! has returned to downtown Menlo Park after the closing of their longtime storefront on Chestnut Street when the building was sold in early 2025.
Shiok! Co-owner Dennis Lim has been helping run the business for the past 13 years. Currently, he’s putting the finishing touches on the restaurant’s new location.
“25 years ago, there really wasn’t much of our kind of food here,” Lim said. “[My sister] was doing a lot of dinner parties, and a lot of people were like, ‘Wow, we’ve never had this kind of food before. We really like it. You should do something to share this.’”
When Lim’s sister started Shiok! in 1999, the business found itself confined in a tiny eight-table restaurant in San Carlos. As demand for the family’s culinary prowess grew, the restaurant and its team of staff moved to a larger location on Chestnut Street, in downtown Menlo Park. The business thrived for years, but when the Chestnut Street building was sold in 2025, Shiok! was forced to relocate.
“Throughout the year, I see familiar faces. So when we had to close last year, it was really, really tough,” Lim said. “It’s unfortunate for me that I lost my lease, but it was even more unfortunate for [the staff]. So we all decided, ‘Let’s try takeout.’ So we went over and we did a takeout place in Redwood City for a year.”
Operating out of a Redwood City ‘ghost kitchen’ meant being severed from the community Lim and his team had worked so hard to build. “My customers became a lot like my friends. I see the kids grow up, I see the parents get older, I see them get married. For me, that’s what this restaurant is all about. During the one year of takeout, it just wasn’t the same,” Lim said.
“Fortunately, last year this place opened up,” Lim said. It was a perfect opportunity to rejoin the community Shiok! had built over the years, so they took it and made the move back to downtown Menlo Park.
Shiok! is frequented by a number of devoted regulars who have supported the restaurant throughout the years. The community notably kept the business afloat during the COVID-19 shutdown, when they came together to order takeout from Shiok!.
“The community is fantastic,” Lim said. “When I closed the [Chestnut Street] site, I got so much support from my regulars.”
The restaurant’s menu boasts a special homemade style, with roots in Singaporean fusion. “Our food is very unique. Our food is Singaporean. It’s not Indian food, it’s not Chinese food, it’s not Thai food—it’s a mix of all the different cultures,” Lim said.
Shiok! takes pride in its made-by-hand approach. Everything is cooked from scratch and made without artificial ingredients, using recipes from Lim’s grandmother.
“That’s why we call it Shiok! Singapore Kitchen. It’s just like eating in my kitchen at home. Everything is fresh, everything is made from scratch. It’s the same food I feed my kids,” Lim said.
The restaurant is now located on Oak Grove Ave and looks forward to serving Menlo Park once more.
