IN 2014, Manoj Murjani had his first taste of Violet Oon’s cooking. At the time, Oon was running a restaurant on Bukit Timah Road. Murjani subsequently visited her home for a food tasting, and thus began a business relationship that spawned a chain of restaurants serving Peranakan-inspired cuisine and bearing Oon’s name.

That relationship has soured – with Oon and her two children filing suit against Murjani and his company, Group MMM.

A statement of claim filed on Oct 1 and a defence filed on Nov 8 detail disputes over the nature of their partnership, control of company affairs, the branding and promotion of the restaurant chain, and the sharing of the financial burden associated with their venture.