Chew Chor Meng & Dennis Chew’s Mookata Chain Closed, Daniel Ong Back To Delivering Steaks

Even with restaurants scrambling to alter their business models, it’s inevitable that the F&B industry will see a drop in demand without the option to dine in. This is especially true for restaurants in malls, including singer-cum-music producer Hong Junyang’s four Thai boat noodle joints. “For day-to-day meals, people might go to the nearby hawker centre – but they’d rarely walk to the mall to tapow their lunch,” says the 40-year-old Project Superstar alum, who set up his four franchise stores of The Original Boat Noodle at Bugis Junction and Changi City Point, among other locations. That said, his eateries do offer delivery via Foodpanda as well as takeaway.

This switch to delivery mode affects his latest venture as well - Bananabro, a franchised Indian banana leaf rice restaurant from Kuala Lumpur, which opened in Changi City Point less than a month ago. It’s so new that they’re “still queueing to get onto delivery platforms”, he says. In the meantime, they’ve prepped takeaway sets and are launching their own delivery service via WhatsApp.

As for his other ventures like Taiwanese bubble tea franchise joint Machi Machi on Arab Street, he says: “We’ll lose the office crowd, who usually go out to lunch and get bubble tea on the way back,” he says. Despite bubble tea’s extreme popularity – capable of spurring snaking queues even during a pandemic, consumers have “too many lifestyle decisions” to make for him to accurately read the tea leaves on how that business will fare.

Not so for Caf, the star’s first brand of his own. Caf, which is short for Clickafood SG, serves up grub across four different cuisines, a selection of Instagrammable drinks and cutesy décor to boot. As a cloud kitchen, “it’s made for delivery” (available on both Foodpanda and Deliveroo), meaning it’d do “okay” despite losing out on the Sunday brunch crowd.

Order via delivery here: The Original Boat Noodle; Machi Machi; Caf

When the new restrictions kicked in on Sunday, customers of Cassandra See’s Hungry Korean hawker stall in Geylang Bahru “came by a little slower than usual. Though we also got more big orders.” While delivery options are already available via Foodpanda, the 52-year-old says she’s already “begun thinking” about how to reinvent the business during the period of heightened measures.

She’s hoping to plan out package deals that encourage families to order her rice bowls, stews and ramyeon in bulk with the incentive of free delivery. She also wants to introduce more “comfort food for people working from home”. That could be something as simple as a cookie or two along with every purchase with handwritten messages on them, she says, though that’s still in the pipeline. “Food is always the first thing people look for when they’re looking for comfort,” she says. “That’s what we’re hoping to bring to our customers during this time.”

Order via delivery here: Hungry Korean

Another business that was born amid the pandemic in April is Daniel Ong’s Korean-influenced steakhouse, Dan’s Steaks. Daniel suffered heavy losses during last year’s Circuit Breaker period which led to the closure of his casual Western dining restaurant chain Rookery, though that F&B experience came in handy when he started Dan’s Steaks as a home-based business last May.

Now, the barely month-old cosy 34-seater at Serangoon Gardens, which serves both individually-sized and large-format cuts and a slew of classic steakhouse sides, along with not so classic Korean banchan, has to close its doors to diners. But it is offering both takeaway plus delivery via its website. While the 45-year-old chef-owner declined to comment on this story in light of his upcoming court case later this month (Daniel and ex-wife Jaime Teo, the founders of Twelve Cupcakes, were charged with underpaying foreign workers over three years), we wouldn’t be too worried about him getting his home-delivered steaks done right, since Dan’s steaks did begin as a home-based biz.

Order via delivery here: Dan’s Steaks

Some eateries, like 888 Mookata, simply cannot offer delivery or takeaway. The Thai-style barbecue-and-steamboat chain located in kopitiams was started by Love 972 DJ and actor Dennis Chew, 47, and fellow actor Chew Chor Meng, 52. It closed the doors to all four of its outlets during last year’s Circuit Breaker period. The hiatus led to the closure of their Bukit Batok outlet, though they eventually reopened another outlet near Tampines IKEA in September.

Now, the Chews are faced with a repeat of 2020 – their stalls across the island are closed from May 16 to June 13 – though they’ve taken it in their stride. “Stay safe everyone and together, we can overcome,” read a post uploaded yesterday on 888 Mookata’s Facebook page. Meanwhile, Chor Meng had this to say on his Instagram account yesterday: “Stay home and stay safe and we will update on our [restaurants’] reopening again.”

As for Chor Meng’s other F&B venture, Famous Pao Fan at Sultan Plaza’s food court? It remains open for takeaways and group buys.

Similar calls for social distancing were made on Korean barbecue and army stew eatery Gogiyo’s Facebook page. The stall, located in a hip bistro-esque kopitiam in Toa Payoh, was opened last year December by actor Shane Pow. He quickly followed up with another outlet in Clementi, followed by a third in Bedok South two months ago. Our calls to the 30-year-old went unanswered — he recently received a second charge for drink-driving and was also charged for breaching safe distancing measures. A May 15 post titled “Stay Home 2.0” on Gogiyo’s Facebook page revealed that their food is available for delivery as well as takeaway during this month-long no dine-in period. So their mod rice bowls, japchae and Korean chicken wings (among other dishes) are now available on Grabfood and Foodpanda – though their barbecue and army stew offerings, understandably, aren’t.

Order via delivery here: Gogiyo