Ambience
COCA’s Suntec City outlet situates itself within one of Singapore’s most prominent commercial landmarks, occupying a second-floor unit in the sprawling Suntec City Mall. The setting inherits the mall’s characteristic cool, air-conditioned hum, insulating diners from the midday tropical heat outside. As a Thai hotpot chain with decades of regional heritage, COCA’s interior design typically blends warm amber lighting with clean, functional table arrangements suited to communal dining — a deliberate nod to the convivial spirit embedded in Southeast Asian food culture. The lunchtime crowd, likely comprising office workers from the surrounding CBD and convention-goers from Suntec’s many corporate events, lends the space an energetic, time-conscious atmosphere distinct from the more leisurely dinner service.
Dish Analysis
Tom Yum Tiger Prawns
Hues: The dish presents a vivid burnt-orange and crimson palette, the colour a product of lemongrass-infused broth reduction clinging to the prawn shells. The shells themselves shift from translucent grey-blue in their raw state to a deep coral-red upon exposure to heat — a Maillard-adjacent transformation driven by the denaturing of crustacyanin proteins.
Textures: Well-executed tiger prawns yield a firm, almost snappy bite at the exterior muscle, transitioning to a tender, juicy interior. Overcooked specimens collapse into a rubbery, fibrous texture — the enemy of any prawn dish. The tom yum sauce coating introduces a slightly viscous, clingy mouthfeel, punctuated by the occasional textural interruption of bruised lemongrass fibre or kaffir lime leaf.
Flavour Profile: Tom yum is architecturally a study in contrasts — the sour brightness of fresh lime juice sitting in tension with the deep umami funk of fish sauce and dried shrimp paste, the whole structure lifted by galangal’s camphor-like sharpness and tempered by chilli’s slow-building heat. When applied to tiger prawns, the natural sweetness of the crustacean flesh acts as a counterweight, preventing the sauce from becoming overwhelmingly acidic.
Chilli Crab Sauce Tiger Prawns
Hues: Singapore’s most iconic sauce renders the prawns in a glossy, tomato-red lacquer with flecks of golden egg drop suspended throughout — a visual signature as recognisable as the dish’s provenance.
Textures: The sauce is characteristically thick and semi-emulsified, with the beaten egg ribbons introducing soft, silken pockets against the firm prawn flesh. The interplay between the slightly gelatinous sauce and the snappy shellfish creates a layered tactile experience.
Flavour Profile: Chilli crab sauce is fundamentally a balance of sweetness (tomato, sugar), heat (fresh chillies, sambal), and umami depth (fermented shrimp paste, egg). Applied to tiger prawns rather than whole crab, the sauce-to-protein ratio shifts, making each bite more sauce-forward — advantageous for those who regard the sauce itself as the principal attraction.
Kam Heong Tiger Prawns
Hues: Arguably the most visually complex of the three prawn preparations, Kam Heong presents a deep, almost mahogany-brown coating flecked with the yellow of curry leaf and the dark speckling of dried shrimp.
Textures: The dry-ish wok-tossed preparation results in a slightly caramelised, tacky exterior on the prawn shell — an effect produced by the reduction of coconut milk and oyster sauce under high wok hei temperatures. This contrasts pleasingly with the moist interior flesh.
Flavour Profile: Kam Heong (金香, literally “golden fragrance”) is a Malaysian-Chinese culinary invention that layers curry leaf’s herbal volatility, dried shrimp’s oceanic depth, and oyster sauce’s savoury sweetness into a compound that is simultaneously familiar and complex. The aromatic profile is arguably the most sophisticated of the three prawn dishes.
Hua Diao Chicken Phoenix Soup
Hues: The soup presents as a warm, golden-amber broth — the colour drawn from prolonged simmering of chicken bones and the oxidative tannins of hua diao (花雕酒), a Shaoxing-style aged rice wine from Zhejiang province. The surface carries a faint iridescent sheen from rendered chicken fat.
Textures: A well-reduced hua diao chicken broth achieves a slightly viscous body from collagen extraction — notably different from a thin, watery stock. The mouthfeel is coating and warming, with the alcohol having largely cooked off, leaving behind the wine’s complex ester compounds.
Flavour Profile: Hua diao introduces notes of dried fruit, mild oxidation, and a subtle nutty quality reminiscent of dry sherry. Against a chicken base, this creates a broth of considerable aromatic depth — savoury, warming, and with a lingering sweetness. It is a soup designed for restorative, contemplative consumption.
Thai Mango Salad
Hues: A riot of green and white from julienned unripe mango, punctuated by the red of bird’s eye chilli and the golden-brown of crushed roasted peanuts. The dish’s visual vibrancy is a reliable indicator of its flavour intensity.
Textures: Unripe mango contributes a firm, crisp, almost apple-like crunch — fundamentally different from the yielding softness of ripe mango. This is the textural anchor of the dish. The crushed peanuts layer in a secondary crunch, while the dressing provides just enough moisture to bind without wilting the mango strands.
Flavour Profile: Som tam-adjacent in its architecture, the Thai mango salad is a masterclass in the four cardinal tastes of Thai cuisine — sour (lime), sweet (palm sugar), salty (fish sauce), and spicy (chilli) — held in dynamic equilibrium. The mango’s natural tartness amplifies the lime’s acidity, making the dish feel exceptionally clean and palate-cleansing.
Recipe & Cooking Instructions: Kam Heong Tiger Prawns (Reconstructed)
This is a reconstructed recipe based on classical Kam Heong methodology.
Ingredients (serves 4) 500g tiger prawns, shell-on, deveined — dried shrimp (har mai), 2 tbsp, soaked — 3 stalks lemongrass, bruised — 4 sprigs curry leaf — 3 shallots, sliced — 4 cloves garlic, minced — 2 tbsp oyster sauce — 1 tbsp light soy sauce — 1 tsp dark soy sauce — 2 tbsp coconut milk — 1 tsp sugar — 2–3 bird’s eye chillies, sliced — cooking oil.
Method
Begin by patting the prawns thoroughly dry — residual moisture is the enemy of wok hei, as it steams rather than sears the protein. Heat a wok over the highest available flame until it begins to smoke. Add oil and sear the prawns for roughly 90 seconds per side until the shells are lightly charred and the flesh has just turned opaque. Remove and set aside.
In the residual oil, fry the dried shrimp until fragrant and beginning to crisp — approximately two minutes. Add shallots and garlic, stirring continuously to prevent scorching. Introduce the curry leaves and lemongrass, allowing their volatile aromatic compounds to bloom in the hot fat for 30 to 45 seconds.
Return the prawns to the wok and add oyster sauce, soy sauces, coconut milk, sugar, and chilli. Toss aggressively over maximum heat, ensuring every prawn is lacquered in the sauce. The goal is rapid reduction and caramelisation — the sauce should cling to the shells rather than pool at the base of the wok. Total wok time from this point should not exceed two minutes.
Plate immediately and serve with steamed rice or, in the context of a zi char spread, alongside fried rice for textural and flavour contrast.
Overall Assessment
At $15++ per person, COCA’s zi char lunch buffet represents a compelling value proposition within Singapore’s increasingly pressurised casual dining landscape. The menu’s rotating structure guards against palate fatigue across repeated visits, while the anchoring of free-flow tiger prawns across three distinct preparations demonstrates a sound understanding of what drives perceived value in a buffet context. The culinary register — straddling Thai and Chinese-Malaysian zi char traditions — is coherent and well-suited to the lunch crowd’s appetite for bold, satisfying flavours within a contained time window.