Shiok Singapore Kitchen is finally heading back to downtown Menlo Park, this time with a new storefront on Oak Grove and a lot more room to breathe. After more than a year of hunting for a new home following its forced departure from Chestnut Street, the family-run Singaporean spot is gearing up to welcome back regulars who have trailed the Lim family’s cooking for decades. In a landscape where building sales often spell the end for small restaurants, Shiok’s return is a rare Peninsula comeback story.
New space and buildout
According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Shiok is moving into 625 Oak Grove Avenue after a roughly $100,000 buildout of a 2,700-square-foot space. Owner Dennis Lim put that money into a larger dining room and a bigger kitchen than the compact Chestnut Street shop ever had, a deliberate bet on a more visible, walk-in-friendly location in the core of downtown Menlo Park.
Forced out of Chestnut Street
The move was not exactly voluntary. The building that housed Shiok at 1137 Chestnut St. was sold, and the Lim family suddenly had only weeks to clear out, local coverage noted. The Palo Alto Daily Post reported that Lim said the family was given about 30 days to leave and scrambled to find any available kitchen on the Peninsula. That short notice pushed Shiok into survival mode, with the owners juggling temporary setups while chasing a stable downtown address.
Temporary home in Redwood City
Since the Chestnut Street closure, Shiok has been operating out of a temporary spot. The restaurant’s official site lists 426 MacArthur Avenue in Redwood City as its current address and highlights a focus on catering and delivery. The site also traces Shiok’s history back to 1999 and underscores recipes rooted in the Lim family’s Peranakan heritage. Keeping an online presence and delivery options active helped Shiok stay on customers’ radar while the owners searched for a way back into Menlo Park.
What it means for downtown Menlo Park
Shiok’s return lands in the middle of a broader trend of longtime Peninsula restaurants being displaced when their buildings change hands, a wave of closures of regional outlets chronicled last year. SFGATE reported that many owners were given very little time to vacate, then left scrambling for new spaces in an already tight market. For Menlo Park, bringing Shiok back means one of those stories ends differently, with a neighborhood fixture and a much-missed menu returning to downtown instead of disappearing.
Owner's note
“After over 20 years of serving the Menlo Park community, we’re heartbroken,” Lim told InMenlo last January, when the Chestnut Street closure was first announced. Now, the Lim family says the new Oak Grove buildout will let them rehire staff and keep longtime recipes on the menu once permits are in hand and final touches are wrapped. Diners eager for laksa and other favorites will have to sit tight a little longer and keep an eye on the restaurant’s official channels for the formal reopening date.
