Serving up Hong Kong food in Singapore: How to keep customers returning

SINGAPORE: These days, local fans of authentic Hong Kong food no longer have to fly four hours north to get their culinary fix.

From dim sum to roast duck, a variety of Cantonese cuisine is increasingly being served on Singapore’s doorstep. Within the last five years, at least nine Hong Kong food brands have opened up or have announced plans to do so, with offerings that range from street eats to fine dining.

The most recent include Forbidden Duck, a Peking-style roast duck restaurant helmed by ‘Demon Chef’ Alvin Leung, which is slated to open this April, as well as popular cha chaan teng chain Tsui Wah Restaurant. The “tea restaurant” has partnered with Jumbo Group to open its first outlet at Clarke Quay later this year.

Other eateries to have made its way to Singapore include Tai Cheong Bakery and Honolulu Cafe, both of which are famous for their signature egg tarts.

DUPLICATE IT WELL OR “YOU’RE FINISHED”: SEETOH

But some have questioned whether the wave of Hong Kong eateries could be the latest food fad in a string of others which have come and gone.

“If you talk about the cha chaan tengs, it’s been around for many years. Way back in the 70s, 80s, there was quite a famous brand called Café de Coral, which has exited the market,” said food consultant K F Seetoh. 

“Hong Kong food generally does well because we have a lot of South Chinese here. We have our Teochew, Cantonese food, roast meats, dim sum, congee – they generally do well.” 

While brands may enjoy an initial uptick in business over the first four to six months as customers come to check them out, the founder of Makansutra and the World Street Food Congress said that people would ultimately measure what is on offer according to their own standards.

“Singaporeans over the decades have been overly discerning – they’re very well-travelled. So if you bring something from Hong Kong, like a porridge or roast meat, to Singapore, bear in mind Singaporeans have been there to eat at that original place,” Mr Seetoh added.

“So if you come here and do fireworks, and you don’t duplicate it well …  you’re finished.”

Manpower problems are among the challenges faced by any overseas brand vying for a share of the Singapore market, as well as maintaining food quality, often with higher costs involved.

Some brands that have faced snags include Kam’s Roast Goose, which had to undergo a name change to Kam’s Roast after it was unable to source suitable geese – it’s brand signature – from Hungary or the United States, the only two countries allowed to import the birds to Singapore.

“A lot of these brands I notice are mom-and-pop stores lovingly made by hand, but if you filter it through some machine or corporation, you lose a lot of what people originally love about the brand, and that sort of brings you down,” said Mr Seetoh.

FIGURING OUT THE WINNING RECIPE

Nonetheless, Hong Kong eateries say they are confident they can serve up offerings local foodies will like – and return for.

One-Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan has the track record to prove it. The brand, which opened its first outlet at Plaza Singapura in 2013, has since gone on to set up eight other outlets across the island, with one more in the pipeline. 

“When (Tim Ho Wan) first opened, it was the first of its kind I believe,” said its CEO Cynthia Chua. “It was the first Michelin restaurant that had successfully replicated in another country.”

“The queues then were phenomenal,” she recalled. “But now that we are established, I believe we’re part of the local food scene … It’s to be expected that the hype of one restaurant freshly launched in Singapore will die down.”

A newer kid on the block hoping to make its mark is Mui Kee Congee, a popular Hong Kong congee hawker stall. It tested the waters with an eight-month pop-up stall in Botanic Gardens last year in partnership with Les Amis Group, where it sold around 2,000 bowls of porridge a month. 

It opened a permanent restaurant at Shaw Centre in March, and expanded its menu to include new dishes catering to local tastes, including cheung fun – also known as steamed rice noodles – filled with Hokkaido scallops, and premium congee served with Alaskan crab legs and braised baby abalone, with prices ranging from S$7.80 to S$22.

Its third-generation owner said coming to Singapore was an obvious choice: “We have about 10 to 20 customers from Singapore visiting our stall in Hong Kong every day,” said Pierre Choi. “They told us that almost every year they will visit us whenever they come to Hong Kong.”

While its pop-up stall noticed a 20 per cent drop in business after the initial hype wore off, Mr Choi said he believes their congee would keep customers returning.

To ensure that the quality of the congee served is up to standards, a chef was sent to Hong Kong to train at the hawker stall in Mong Kok, with Mr Choi regularly flying in to supervise the kitchen operations.

So far, Mr Choi said there are no plans to expand to another outlet yet as its “objective is to make sure we serve the same quality food as our stall in Hong Kong”.

“There is feedback from Singaporeans in Hong Kong that our price is higher, but they still continue to come back. This is because we choose to buy higher quality and fresh ingredients so our congee is value for money,” Mr Choi said.

It’s a strategy that’s part of the winning recipe in staying for the long haul, said Mr Seetoh: “All these international eateries selling comfort food – they’re up against the Singaporean palate spoilt by hawker centres, coffee shops, food courts and little cafes – they’ve been spoilt, price-wise and quality-wise … The ones that do well generally is because the location and pricing are good and they put out reasonably good quality food.”