Ex-Korean Restaurant & Bak Kwa Factory Owners Now Sell Ngoh Hiang From Home

The brothers spent over a decade as relationship managers in various banks before leaving the industry in 2009. “After the Lehman Brothers collapse, I was dealing with over 50 customers every day asking about their [declining] investments. It was tough. All along, my brother and I wanted to set up our own business and we felt that it was time,” shares Desmond.

A good friend who owned a printing factory in Malaysia inspired them to start a business printing brochures and catalogues for companies. They shared that the company was doing well before the pandemic hit.

“Red packets have been our forte for many years. We’re known for our quirky designs, like neon or gold packets before others started doing the same. We were even featured in various publications!” Desmond tells us.

After Covid-19, the company took a hit as clients temporarily ceased operations, omitting the need for brochures. “Even though sales are trickling in again, it’s only about 20% of what we used to do. We’re expecting the business to go downhill from here, as companies move on to digital catalogues. This is also why we’re shifting our focus to F&B.”

Using some of the profit from their printing business as capital, the brothers opened K-Tower in 2016, a Korean seafood tower restaurant at Amoy Street that served ingredients like lobster and scallop in tiered steamers above a simmering pot of broth.

While starting an F&B business has always been their childhood dream, running a restaurant turned out to be a bigger challenge than expected for the brothers who had previously spent their careers as relationship managers in various banks.

“We were so ignorant. On the day we signed the tenancy agreement, we had no chef, no workers and no idea how we wanted to renovate the place. I lost a lot of weight during those first few weeks!” Desmond tells us with a laugh.

The hectic schedule also took its toll. “We’re both family men, so it was really shocking that I don’t even have time to see my kids,” shares Desmond, who has daughters aged nine and five.

“Usually on weekends, we’d go for makan sessions or shopping with the entire family. But as a restaurant owner, weekends are the busiest. Sometimes we’d even rope in our dad to help us,” adds Melvin, who has a 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.

About a year after its opening, they were approached by a Chinese investor who wanted to buy the restaurant. “Even though F&B is our passion, it also comes with sacrifice. At that point in time, we weren’t ready for it. I asked myself if that was the life I wanted, and I chose my family in the end,” explains Desmond, who sold K-Tower at an undisclosed amount in October 2017.

​​​​​​​Photo: K-Tower/ Facebook

In 2018, a mutual friend introduced them to the owner of Malaysian bak kwa (sliced barbecued pork) chain, Hock Wong, who was planning to expand its business to Singapore. Even though Desmond was still hesitant about rejoining the F&B industry, they decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss.

“It was a rare chance to learn the ropes. Bak kwa production is a well-kept secret - usually the recipes are closely guarded and it’s not easy to learn the production process either. We thought that even if we failed, we’d still learn something,” says Desmond. Together, the brothers invested a six-figure sum to join the business as shareholders and directors.

Just like K-Tower, it was a steep learning curve from the get-go. “We signed the agreement in August 2018 and aimed to start production for Chinese New Year in 2019. Even seasoned business owners told us it was impossible to set up a factory in such a short time,” shares Desmond.

Despite the obstacles, the close-knitted brothers managed to pull it off. “It was really incredible,” Melvin tells us. “We started a factory from scratch, got the licensing and produced enough stock for the whole CNY period in under five months without any relevant experience at all. This is something we’re really proud of.”

In September 2019, the brothers pulled out of the business. They declined to discuss the reason but told us that they were able to walk away with their original investment.

Business has grown rapidly for Ah Ma’s Ngoh Hiang since their launch last June – the brothers have bought four chest freezers to store the ever-increasing orders, including a 550L model just for Chinese New Year. They also saw a spike in orders after being featured in our ngoh hiang round-up last month. “We’re working very hard to increase production. We wanted to close our orders two weeks ago but we didn’t want to disappoint anyone.”

They’re working towards a move to a central kitchen within the next six months. “We’re aiming to go commercial, such as supplying our ngoh hiang to zi char stalls,” Desmond tells us.

For now, Ah Ma’s Ngoh Hiang is quite literally a family business – all six adults in the 10-member household, who live in a spacious ground-floor condo unit in Punggol, are involved in what Desmond dubs “the factory line”, which includes roles like weighing and mixing the ingredients, wrapping and frying the rolls.

During our visit, Desmond’s wife, Hong Shiau Wen, 37, was in charge of wrapping the rolls while Melvin weighed individual fillings.

“We are very precise – everything has an SOP. My dad helps with weighing the fillings, thousands of them, and I think he even dreams about it,” jokes Desmond.

When asked if his family members get fed up with his strict standards, Desmond replies good-naturedly: “I think so! They know my expectations are very high, so they just follow quietly.”

Currently, the family churns out a maximum of 80 boxes a day, working from 7am to 5pm every day to cope with festive orders. Shiau Wen and Melvin’s wife, Rachel Seow, 42, chip in during the weekend as they have full-time jobs.

The brothers have an obvious strong bond – they spoke fondly of sharing a room while growing up and are “very happy” that their families are still living together today.

“We know each other inside out,” says Desmond. “He knows my temper. He knows my style and I know his. We can make compromises more easily.”

“We have a feeling Melvin gives in more,” we joked. This makes Melvin, the more reserved of the pair, chuckle before admitting: “To be honest, no matter what partnership you’re talking about, you can’t have two leaders. Desmond has always been a natural leader since young, and I’m better at back-end.”

“Melvin’s biggest strength is patience. Seriously, he has no temper and he doesn’t flare up. He’s the best at handling customers – he’d message every single one of them to ask what they think of our food, even if they’re a repeat customer,” adds Desmond.

Here are a few things that impressed us: the minced pork and prawns are fresh and juicy, the filling is not too salty and has an amazing garlicky aroma, and most importantly, the ngoh hiang delivers superb crunch despite the absence of water chestnuts (which we usually love).

Desmond achieves this by using generous chunks of turnip, carrot and onion in the mixture. “Our other secret lies in the marinade and preparation techniques, which help to preserve the juiciness of the meat mixture without the unwanted ‘porky’ taste,” he tells us proudly.

“I created this out of the blue and thought it’d be fun to sell but it’s really a lot of work!” says Desmond, referring to the tedious process of blending the prawn into a paste, chopping the prawns and mixing the two by “blending until my hand blur”.

We love how shiok it feels to bite into the crispy pancake and be rewarded with a pure prawn filling (minus some spring onion and carrot) – compared to inferior, more ‘gluey’ versions that typically add fish or even flour paste into the mix. The layered textures of smooth prawn paste and ample prawn chunks make for a more satisfying bite as well.

The price is also steal, compared to Din Tai Fung’s version, which costs $8.50 for a single pancake that is slightly larger than Ah Ma’s.

Made from similar ingredients found in the ngoh hiang filling – sans prawn – these pork meatballs are tender and moist, with an enjoyable crunch and sweetness thanks to the chopped vegetables.

The meatballs are steamed until they’re about 80% cooked before delivery, so they won’t be dry or overcooked when you reheat them by steaming, boiling or frying.

We recommend giving them a quick deep-fry until they’re beautifully brown and crispy. They’re great on their own, in soupy noodles or according to a regular customer, served with spaghetti in tomato sauce.

Order at https://www.facebook.com/ahmangohhiang. Note: limited stocks are available from 18 Feb. Full menu will be available again in March.

Photos: Alvin Teo

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