A raucous night of competition between reinvention and tradition in SRT’s delicious new immersive dining experience of Fried Rice Paradise.

Dick Lee’s Fried Rice Paradise is a curious part of Singapore theatre history. Across four stage and screen versions from 1991 till now, it has never once stuck to the same script. Originally a cheeky little song in the 1970s, it became a musical in 1991 featuring Bee Lean, owner of the titular fried rice chain, ready to hand over the family business. The 2010 version instead rewound the clock to a younger Bee Lean, while the 2019 Channel 5 drama spun it into an extended TV saga.

And now, 2025’s Fried Rice Paradise: The Makan Party somehow manages to both go back to its roots and reinvent itself at the same time. Written by Thomas Lim and directed by Danny Yeo, it revisits the original 1991 plot, where Bee Lean decides which of her two daughters will inherit the restaurant via a MasterChef-style cook-off. The twist? It’s not your standard sit-in-your-seat theatre. Instead, it’s a culinary showdown in the Paradox Hotel Singapore ballroom, where you help decide the winner.

The setup is simple but smart: dinner banquet tables of ten, a fiery central stage for the main action, and in two corners, fully kitted-out, personality-filled kitchens (designed by Teddy Setiawan Kho) for each daughter. Over the night, Fancy (Ching Shu Yi) and Nancy (Natalie Yeap) cook their takes on four classic Singapore dishes. We taste both versions, then vote via QR code on Mentimeter. By the end, one sister is crowned the new owner of Fried Rice Paradise.

It helps that our hosts, the girls’ childhood friend Mustapha (Shrey Bhargava) and beer-lady-turned-head-of-hospitality Helen (Audrey Luo), get the crowd warmed up fast. We’re given a practice round, voting for our favourite Singapore dish, before Bee Lean herself (Serene Chen) sweeps in with colleague Azhar (Rafaat Haji Hamzah) to declare the battle open.

The sisters’ personas are established right away. Fancy is the European-trained, Michelin-style chef with the accent, the gadgets, the slide decks, the high-concept plates, and a dream of turning Fried Rice Paradise into a global chain. Nancy is the traditionalist, armed with her tried-and-tested recipes, minor tweaks to ingredients, little fuss over presentation, and a quiet determination to preserve the brand’s soul. In other words, Fancy is all about shiny newness, Nancy is about keeping it old-school.

It’s a not-so-subtle metaphor for Singapore’s food future: do we go all-in on innovation, or hold tight to our heritage? Sure, you can pledge allegiance to one chef from the start, but if you vote based on taste alone, you might find yourself a swing voter instead. Each set of dishes (in reality, the work of Executive Chef Jeffrey Phua) nails the sisters’ styles. In the satay round, Nancy serves juicy skewers drenched in rich peanut sauce, with diced pineapple, cucumber, onion, and lontong. Fancy instead turns satay into an otah-like square with smooth peanut sauce and pineapple confit. For us, Nancy wins hands down, where Fancy’s texture makes it tricky to enjoy in one bite.

In the battle of laksa, Nancy offers the signature, fragrant, coconut-milk broth with springy noodles and taupok cubes. Fancy serves laksa espuma with rice-cracker “noodles” for dipping, awkward, lukewarm, and sadly lacking in flavour absorption. Another easy Nancy win. But the fried rice battle is where things shake up. Nancy plays the nostalgia card hard, serving hers in an old-school cardboard zichar box alongside a killer chilli. Fancy uses a dried-grain mix that, when stirred with her sambal-like sauce, becomes a spicy, crunchy, Rice Krispies-like riff on the scorched rice at the bottom of a claypot. This round is a close one, and on our night, Fancy snatched the victory.

The final battle sees the two daughters battling it out in ondeh-ondeh, and of course, Nancy goes for the typical green balls filled with gula melaka. The skin is somewhat thick however, and Fancy instead has a surprising advantage here, with her creme brulee style ondeh-ondeh, served with cendol ice cream. The flavours complement each other incredibly well, the most successful marriage of texture and flavour from Fancy, and this also ends up as the standout dish of the night.

And here’s where The Makan Party really pulls ahead of your standard food battle. It is to the creative team’s credit that there is never a dull moment – Danny Yeo ensures that there is always something for our eyes to turn to and focus on, and between courses, it’s not just kitchen cams and plating montages. It’s reality TV energy, complete with roving cameras, cast members weaving through tables, and plenty of juicy backstage drama. The love triangle subplot is milked for all it’s worth, and the transitions into Dick Lee’s musical numbers feel fun and organic, from a saucy version of “Mustapha” with shirtless dancers, to a heartfelt “Bunga Sayang” confession.

The cast dives in headfirst. Ching Shu Yi and Natalie Yeap spark with sisterly rivalry, Rafaat Haji Hamzah and Serene Chen bring gravitas; Serene in particular exudes the aura of a seasoned chef, business owner, and domineering mother from the moment she steps onstage. Shrey Bhargava’s Mustapha is a lovable mix of hapless and charming. But the scene-stealer is Audrey Luo’s Helen. Every line she delivers lands, sometimes hilariously faux-atas, sometimes heartbreakingly sincere. Her burlesque-style “Wo Wo Ni Ni” (choreographed by Tan Rui Shan) is a riot: feather fans, cheeky eye contact, and slick moves that have the whole ballroom grinning.

By the end of the night, Fried Rice Paradise dares to do what other shows might not – it ensures that the audiences do indeed have power, and whichever daughter wins becomes the canonical inheritor of Bee Lean’s restaurant, changing the ending depending on the outcome of our votes, which are tallied up at the end of the night. Rather than go for a cop-out resolution and try to have both daughters share ownership, this directorial decision makes it feel like our choices do matter, even if we only contribute to a small fraction of the votes.

Landing right in the middle of Singapore’s SG60 celebrations, Fried Rice Paradise: The Makan Party serves up exactly what it promises: food, fun, and a playful yet pointed conversation about heritage versus change. SRT has once again reimagined Dick Lee’s world for a new audience, proving his songs can stay fresh in any era. This isn’t just a show. It’s a full-course experience, and a thought experiment on how Singapore might feed its future. A triumph for SRT.

Photo Credit: Singapore Repertory Theatre

Fried Rice Paradise – The Makan Party runs from 12th August 2025 at Paradox Singapore Hotel. Tickets available here

Production Credits

Writer Thomas Lim Director Danny Yeo Cast Rafaat Haji Hamzah, Serene Chen, Ching Shu Yi, Audrey Luo, Shrey Bhargava, Natalie Yeap, Afiq Abdul, Angel Mermairine, Aqil (Fitri), Faye Foong, PJ Gregory, Ying Er, Gaby Rae (Understudy) Arranger Bang Wenfu Music Director Jane Foo Choreographer Tan Rui Shan Set Designer Teddy Setiawan Kho Costume Designer Yvette Ng Lighting & Multimedia Designer Genevieve Peck Sound Designer Ng Jing Props Designer Rainie C