'No orh luak stall is using fresh oysters': Telok Blangah hawker defends $18 price tag for fried omelette dish

That'll be $18, please.

It's not often a single menu item from a hawker stall can command such a price.

But Liang Ji's new offering, Atas Fried Oyster, is rather special.

This premium version of its humble oyster omelette, or orh luak, is cooked using freshly shucked oysters from Japan's Murotsu Bay, which is famed for the shellfish.

Last Sunday (June 9), the stall at Coffee & Tea, a coffee shop in Telok Blangah, posted an Instagram clip introducing the new dish to its customers.

Owner Dominic Neo tells AsiaOne that he noticed how "no orh luak stall in Singapore" uses fresh oysters. Typically, the dish is made using smaller frozen oysters.

The 50-year-old hawker saw this as a gap in the market and it set the ball rolling for his atas version of oyster omelette.

The premium dish comes with five oysters for the standard portion at $18, and $32 will get you the large plate with 10 oysters.

Some customers have lamented the steep price tag, but "you get what you pay for", Dominic tells 8days.

When speaking with AsiaOne, he notes that the pricing was never really a worry, adding: "If you want to get something nice and good that's worth the dollar, I think a lot of people will be okay."

He points out that his Atas Fried Oyster may not be all that pricey, given how a plate of fresh oysters at a restaurant would easily "cost a bomb". 

And for those who's not willing to fork out $18, Dominic still dishes out his regular omelette dish with smaller oysters at $8 (small) and $10 (large). 

Since the launch of the dish, feedback among those who've tried it has been largely positive, says Dominic.

Among his regulars, many gave it a thumbs up, praising how "juicy" and "fresh" the oysters are.

A quick scroll through Liang Ji's Facebook post's comments section shows that a handful of netizens appear keen to give the new dish a go.

'Humful' char kway teow, $2 budget meals

Last September, Liang Ji went viral for its 'humful' char kway teow. Topped with more than 30 cockles, customers waited in line for up to an hour to get their hands on the $8 dish, 8days reported.

At its peak, Liang Ji sold around 50 plates a day.

Dominic says he is still selling the popular dish today and customers can even choose to add fresh oysters to elevate it further.

In April last year, Liang Ji, along with other hawkers in the same coffee shop, was also in the news for rallying together to offer $2 budget meals.

It was Dominic who spearheaded the initiative. Back then, the price of his black-and-white carrot cake was lowered from $3.50 to $2.

Address: 78A Telok Blangah Street 32 #02-01 S101078
Opening hours: 11am to 8pm daily

ALSO READ: 'Our batang fish come in thick slices': Hawker defends $14 pricing for plate of 'cai fan'

amierul@asiaone.com

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