Singapore’s Hawker Chan opens in the Philippines

“I guess I was one of the few in a million that discovered Hawker Chan when it was so big in the announcement that a hawker stall won a Michelin star

The Michelin star, awarded by the Michelin Guide, has long been recognized as a mark of gastronomic excellence, bestowing upon the awarded restaurant much prestige. Dining in a restaurant of prestige almost always comes with a price.

It has come to be known that restaurants with Michelin stars are fine-dining and pricey establishments. When a humble hawker stall in Singapore received a Michelin star, it became a sensation.

In 2016, Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle, a street food stall owned and operated by Malaysian Chan Hon Meng, which later became Hawker Chan at the Chinatown Food Centre in Outram Planning Area, Singapore, was awarded one Michelin star, and many took notice, including Filipino restaurateur Rikki Dee.

“I guess I was one of the few in a million that discovered Hawker Chan when it was so big in the announcement that a hawker stall had won a Michelin star,” said Dee, who with his son runs Foodee Global Concepts, a multi-brand food group with over 30 years of experience. The food group started with homegrown brands for the Philippine market, and is now bringing into the Philippine market notable restaurants, particularly Michelin-star restaurants including Tim Ho Wan, FOO’D by Davide Oldani and Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodles. Other restaurants Foodee operates are Todd English Food Hall, Pound by Todd English, Hook by Todd English, Mesa Filipino Moderne, Sunnies Café, Llaollao and Bench Cafe. Dee was excited when they brought in Tim Ho Wan, then the cheapest restaurant with a Michelin star. Hawker Chan trumped that, and now he is bringing it into the country.

A few days before the opening of first Philippine store in July 26, Hawker Chan got its third consecutive Michelin star. Hawker Chan is one of the thousands of hawker stalls in Singapore, a known foodie hotspot. Chef Chan Hong Meng, son of a farmer, flew to Singapore in the 1980s and trained under a Hong Kong chef, learning how to prepare the now famous soya sauce chicken and noodle.

In 2009, he opened a small store at the Chinatown complex, the largest open-air hawker centre in Singapore, where he served and refined his soya sauce chicken rice which became popular. Soon, diners were lining up at the stall. In July 2016, Michelin’s Singapore Guide debuted and among those recognized was Hawker Chan, then known as Liao Fan Hawker Chan, making it the cheapest Michelin-star restaurant in the world.

This led into a partnership and the opening of a full-fledged restaurant at 78 Smith Street. In July 2018, the restaurant Hawker Chan was among the 50 restaurants included in the 2018 Bib Gourmand Awards, which recognizes eateries with menu items that cost no more than S$45 for their value for money.

“We’ve seen how Filipinos try to visit the top-rated restaurants whenever they travel, so we thought why not bring these restaurants to the country? Since Pinoys love to visit Hawker Chan in Singapore, we thought we’d bring it here, and offer the same combination of great food and affordable luxury to them,” said Dee.

The first store is at ground floor of the Entertainment Hall area of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

The restaurant, which can seat 86 diners, sits beside popular fast-food chains such as Jollibee, Mang Inasal and McDonald’s.

“Because of our price point, we want to be where the affordable zoning of the mall would be. Our soya chicken rice is P128 and our char siew is P158. We’re positioning at a very affordable market,” explained Dee, who calls the new restaurant “upgraded fast food.

Hawker Chan Philippines is bringing the whole offerings from Singapore, including its signature Cantonese-style roast meats—soya sauce chicken, char siew, pork and pork rib. These can come in a combo with rice or noodles. One can order the combination platter of char siew, roasted pork and pork rib and the whole chicken platter.

There are five kinds of sauces to choose from—chili sauce (best with chicken), kecap manis or dark soy sauce, pickled chili, light soy sauce and sambal, which is best with roasted pork. To prepare for the Philippine branches, Dee sent the whole team to train in Singapore. Finding local suppliers took time. They had to give them the recipes, such as for the noodles, for the suppliers to replicate. It took them more than a year a supplier for the meats. Other items such as the sambal and the soy sauce, however, they have to import.

Hawker Chan’s opening came at the heels of the opening of another Foodee venture, Kam’s Roast, which seemingly has similar menu. But the market positioning is different, said Dee.

Moreover, Kam’s Roast is more Hong Kong-style while the other is Singapore-style, with the sauces and textures different from each other. Within the year, Dee hopes to open four more restaurants in such locations as Glorietta mall in Makati City, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City and SM North Edsa in Quezon City. Next year, he hopes to open 10 more and is planning to put branches all over the country. Each store is said to have a Malaysia-Singaporean chef to ensure quality. Dee is optimistic that Hawker Chan will be popular among Filipinos as he himself is enthusiastic about the food.