Haute hawkers

Fine fare is no longer exclusive to restaurants. Here are hawkers who have brought 'restaurant-standard food' to our hawker centres.

Smith Street Taps & The Good Beer Company
Address: Chinatown Complex, 335, Smith Street, #02-62 & #02-58
Opening hours: 6pm to 10pm, Monday to Saturday

The craft beer purveyor to the Chinatown crowd, Mr Daniel Goh, is popular. And it is easy to see why.

Not only does he charm his customers with his spontaneity and chattiness, he can make beer-pairing recommendation for every dish sold at the hawker centre.

"Chinatown Complex is famous for steamed fish head. A Belgian witbier (white beer) like a Pater Lieven Wit or Japanese Hitachino Nest White Ale, with its light citrus and spice notes, pair perfectly with the fish," he says.

Mr Goh, 39, recently started Smith Street Taps, an extension of The Good Beer Company, which sells bottled craft beers and has eight beer taps.

It is a challenge, given the limited space and the size of the equipment, he says.

This unique concept is the brainchild of Mr Goh and his partner, who wants to be known only as Meng-Chao. The latter owns Brewers' Craft in Clementi, which sells bottled craft beers in an HDB estate.

There is never a dull moment with Mr Goh, who speaks English, Mandarin and Hokkien fluently. The former PR manager in the IT industry for 10 years decided to take a leap of faith when he was retrenched two years ago.

He had his doubts at first, but he says he had nothing to lose when he put the idea into action.

"I thought to myself, give it one year and if it doesn't work out, then I'll go back to the workforce," he says.

Why Chinatown Complex?

He cites its accessibility, with three nearby MRT stations, as a key factor in his decision.

"I specifically wanted a hawker setting so that I could attract the younger generation to revisit the food their parents and grandparents used to make," he says.

"When I say hawker centre, the younger generation thinks of places like Maxwell, Chomp Chomp or Lau Pa Sat.

"No one remembers Chinatown, but this is the place where the traditional style of cooking local favourites persists."

Mr Goh's friendliness not only draws customers to his two stalls, it also seems to rub off on the people around him.

"Recently, I saw a Chinese man and his girlfriend, sharing a table with an Indian expat and a Caucasian tourist.

"They were all chatting with one another. I think it's amazing that beer can connect people from all walks of life."

Despite his affability, he is very strict with keeping to schedule - he takes last orders at 10pm, much earlier than the typical pubs - and spreading the message of responsible drinking.

But things are not always smooth sailing.

He recalls two incidents involving troublemakers in the two years he has been in the business, which he insists is very fortunate because "pubs would see the same number of incidents in just one night".

Mr Goh calls himself a "blessed man" even though he makes a third of what he used to, but he also works half the hours and has his mornings free - which leaves him with plenty of time to pursue his other passion, gaming.

He says role-playing games mirror real life: They require him to make tough choices with opportunity costs in mind.

When asked about the toughest part of his professional transition, he says: "Definitely the air-conditioner.

"I smell like sambal kangkong every day and it's always hot here. The best part of my day is taking the air-con bus home."

Fusion food is his game

Sebastian Mix Fusion Cuisine
Address: 7, Everton Park, #01-01
Opening hours: Noon to 9.30pm daily

The dishes here are perfectly plated - Japanese rice topped with a layer of thick and savoury Japanese curry and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

It is paired with chicken katsu - Japanese-style fried chicken - on a bed of carefully arranged lettuce and cucumber.

At Sebastian Mix Fusion Cuisine, a small stall in the middle of an HDB estate, owner Sebastian Ho is particular about the meat and fish he cooks with.

He has gone through a few suppliers to ensure that he gets only the freshest produce, says the 32-year-old.

But as a hawker, Mr Ho's funds are limited, so compromises must be made.

"Of course quality must be balanced with cost," says the former sales manager. He was in the family business for six years.

"I felt that I had to give it a try, help my parents out."

But he could not ignore his passion for food. For as long as he can remember, he has always been mum's little kitchen helper.

After his O levels, Mr Ho started work as a part-time waiter. He says: "I was always drawn to the kitchen."

In 2011, he left the family business and set up his stall.

And to avoid competition with the Western Stall just two units away, Mr Ho decided to sell a mix of cuisines - Asian fusion, Italian and Japanese.

He works 12 hours a day, allowing no one else at the stove, and he serves every customer personally.

Despite the long and gruelling hours, he remains passionate and "regrets nothing".

Says Mr Ho: "Doing what I love every day, time passes very fast."

His hard work has paid off. He sells, on average, 100 plates a day.

When he first opened the stall, business was agonisingly slow as the crowd was unfamiliar with what he had to offer. There were days when he sold close to nothing.

But Mr Ho's greatest satisfaction comes not from cooking but from serving repeat customers.

He speaks fondly of an old lady who brings him bubble tea whenever she stops by for a meal.

Says Mr Ho: "When customers say they enjoy my food, I feel that everything is worth it. When they say they will be back with friends, it feels even better."

No frozen chicken for him

Coocci Japanese Contemporary
Address: 31, Commonwealth Crescent, Commonwealth Crescent Market and Food Centre
Opening hours: Noon to 3pm, and 6pm to 9pm, Tuesday to Sunday

Every day, he is tempted to quit, but compliments from his regular customers and support from his family keep him going.

Mr Glen Choi, 40, is not your typical hawker. Tapping on his 12 years of experience as a chef in Italian and Japanese restaurants, he worked on the menu for his stall. Most of the 12 dishes on the menu took up to three months to dream up.

Mr Choi has brought restaurant food to the hawker centre with dishes such chicken roulade with somen (very thin Japanese noodles) in pumpkin broth for just $5 .

"It is much cheaper here. The overhead for setting up a restaurant is way too expensive for me," he says.

"Even setting up shop in hawker centres is getting tough with the rising rent."

But no inflation could make Mr Choi compromise on the quality of his food.

He says: "I cook everything myself. I spend hours boiling the soups and I make the sauces myself. The ingredients are of the same grade as those used in restaurants, which reduces my profit margin, but I am too particular about the quality of my food to compromise."

Mr Choi does not even use frozen chicken. He practises the Japanese philosophy that customers should be able to experience the authentic taste of food.

But if there was one thing he had to compromise on, it was his wooden cutlery, which was flown in from Taiwan. He had to replace it with biodegradable disposable cutlery.

He says: "I had to replenish it every two or three months because it kept getting stolen."

When asked about the challenges, he says: "It was especially hard at the beginning because I was the only one manning the stall. I had to do everything, from shopping to preparing the food to collecting money from customers.

"I was very demoralised at first because I was working alone for more than 10 hours a day and business was slow to pick up. I was only selling about 60 dishes a day at most."

Business has improved and he sells about 150 plates per day, but the job remains tough.

Mr Choi, who is visibly tired, has trouble finding helpers, despite offering a salary that matches those offered by restaurants.

His wife of 15 years, Madam Rachel Yen, 39, helps out at the stall while his mother cares for their three children, aged seven to 14. The children try to help out during the school holidays.

"The best part of my job is seeing my wife 24 hours a day," he says, adding: "I serve my children the same food I cook for my customers."

Despite the long hours - Mr Choi starts at 9.30am and finishes past 11pm - he is keen on expanding. He will open another stall in March in a coffee shop at Block 153, Serangoon North Avenue 1.

"The food has to be beautiful to attract people in the first place. The taste is what makes people come back. Plus, it is rare finding a decent meal for reasonable prices these days."

His dream?

To expand to 10 stalls. But to realise that, he might have to settle on a compromise.

"I want to ensure the high quality of my food, but the only way to do that is to be hands on and active in every stall," he says.

New but already has fans

The Soup Bar
Address: Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market and Food Centre, Block 6, Tanjong Pagar Plaza, #02-51
Opening hours: 10.30am to 8.30pm, Monday to Saturday

The stall is not even one month old, but it already has regular customers.

Owner Gary Lum, 29, has 10 years of experience of working in a kitchen and has worked in swanky hotels such as Ritz Carlton and St Regis.

It took Mr Lum a year to plan the concept of The Soup Bar, which serves soup and pasta.

Its beef stew ($5.80) seems to be a crowd favourite. The rich stew takes three hours to boil and is filled with generous chunks of beef, carrots and potatoes.

There were hints of ginger and orange in the pumpkin soup.

Mr Lum is proud to tell us that he uses numerous spices and herbs in all his soup while keeping prices reasonable.

"The concept of my stall revolves around the office crowd - fast, tasty and most importantly, healthy," he says.

"All the soups and pasta sauces are made from scratch. I take at least two hours to make each soup each day.

"I can keep the prices affordable because of the rent and manpower cost, which are much lower than that of a restaurant."

Mr Lum has been working in the food industry since he was 16, and worked his way up from a dishwasher.

He dreamt of setting up a stall for a long time, and has been interested in cooking since he was a child.

"After working for many years, I wanted to strike out on my own," he says.

Although the hours are much longer and the work is more strenuous, he has no regrets at all.

In fact, he feels a great sense of achievement with each compliment he receives from his customers, both on the stall's official Facebook page and in person.

He says: "This stall is my baby."

Only one item on the menu

A Noodle Story
Address: 7, Maxwell Road, Amoy Street Food Centre, #01-39
Opening hours: 10am to 7.30pm, closed on weekends and public holidays

The char siew here is cooked sous-vide - the meat is put in a watertight bag and submerged in a waterbath at 65 deg C - for 36 hours.

Accompanying the tender char siew are springy wonton noodles, a potato-wrapped prawn fritter and a soft egg with runny yolk - all generously topped with a scallion, Japanese red pepper and a spoonful of sambal chilli.

And that is the only item on the menu.

Snaking queues form at this stall for the "Singapore-style ramen", priced at a range of $5.50 to $7.50.

But unlike the typical ramen that are served in broth, the one sold by Mr Gwern Khoo, 33, is dry.

"I want to serve restaurant-quality food at a reasonable price to the common people," says Mr Khoo.

His business partner, 32-year-old Ben Tham, peels up to 200 eggs a day.

In their dish, the egg, small and insignificant otherwise, has to be peeled meticulously to preserve its texture.

And even though only a spoonful of chilli is used in each bowl, it has its own special recipe, handed down to Mr Khoo by his father.

The ramen is popular, with up to 200 bowls sold daily.

Since its opening last February, the stall has enjoyed a steady 5 to 10 per cent increase in revenue each month. This is quite an accomplishment, seeing that many stalls in the area close down within a month.

"Stall rent in the CBD area is high, so many stalls do not make enough to cover the cost," Mr Khoo says.

Mr Khoo and Mr Tham have quite impressive CVs, having worked in places such as Waku Ghin and Iggy's, and they use techniques they "learnt from the best" in making good food readily available.

But they hold to their motto: To sell gourmet quality noodles at hawker prices.

When asked if he has plans to venture into the restaurant industry, Mr Khoo says he only wants to serve hawker fare in hawker centres "to keep the hawker heritage alive".

And if they open another hawker stall, the formula will be the same: To specialise in one dish per stall.

The two men say will never compromise on quality.

Says Mr Khoo: "If a stall sells six, seven dishes, it is difficult to perfect each dish. If a stall sells only one dish, that dish will be 100 per cent perfect."

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