Lucy Liu, co-founder of payment platform Airwallex, reads the menu completely. We are sitting in National Kitchen by Violet Oon, a Peranakan restaurant inside Singapore’s National Gallery, surrounded by a swarm of loud, chattering diners.

“It’s going to take me a minute to read this as the dish names are not that straightforward,” Liu says. There is a long silence as she runs a freshly manicured finger down every page, absorbing each item.