Cute Twin Hawkers Draw Crowds At New Western Food Stall In Ang Mo Kio

Striking black signs with enough flames to rival a heavy metal poster frame the stall, giving it a decidedly macho vibe. When naming the stall, the brothers took inspiration from Stephen Chow’s hit movie, Kung Fu Hustle.

“‘The Axe’ is a reference to our signature item, the pork tomahawk,” Wai Lok explains in mandarin. “We also thought it’d be funny to name it after the ‘Axe Gang’ from Kung Fu Hustle.” The stall’s logo also features a member of the axe-wielding gang from the action-comedy flick – just in case you didn’t catch the reference.

The Axe Western caught our attention when LOVE972 DJ Dennis Chew posted a glowing review – as well as a photo of the twins – on his Instagram account last week. The latter, in particular, did not go unnoticed by his followers, with several commenting on their good looks.

“There was a 50% increase in orders for chicken chop and pork chop [items mentioned in the DJ’s post] after the Instagram post. We’re thankful for the publicity!” shares Wai Lok. We spotted a constant stream of customers – from youngsters to elderly residents – ordering from the stall during our visit on a Saturday afternoon.

The fresh-faced brothers juggle their day jobs with helping out at the stall. Interestingly, both of them have been working at the same frozen food company for almost a decade – Wai Onn works in the processing department, while Wai Lok is in sales.

Their oldest brother, Wai Kiat (middle in pic), 31, helms the kitchen with family friend, Ng Kok Ming, 27. “Our brother has been cooking Western food for the past ten years. He used to work for a popular kopitiam Western food chain,” shares Wai Lok.

“At a Chinese New Year gathering, we started talking about setting up a business together. We felt that it was time to create something of our own after being here [in Singapore] for about eight years,” he says. Together, the three brothers have invested about $50k into the stall.

“We were initially concerned about the timing [of setting up a biz during a pandemic], but ultimately we knew that being young, we could afford to start over if it doesn’t work out,” adds the more reserved Wai Onn. “We’re also pretty confident of our big bro’s culinary skills.”

Wanna catch the twins in action? Your best bet is to visit the stall on weekday evenings, or during the weekend. “Wai Onn works longer hours, but I’m usually here around 7pm on weekdays. We are also here to help out over the weekends, when it gets busier,” shares Wai Lok (left in pic). They declined to reveal if they were both attached.

During our visit, we observed that Wai Lok is usually at the counter taking orders while Wai Onn helps with plating. The brothers have no intention of leaving their full-time jobs – in fact, they get their meats, like pork, chicken and air-flown Australian steak from the company.

We asked the soft-spoken brothers if they intend to bank on their boyish looks for publicity. Wai Lok’s response was refreshingly down-to-earth: “Actually, we’re just very ordinary people doing ordinary things. I’m sure there are other twin hawkers out there too. Our focus is on selling food, not ourselves.”

While the brothers are reluctant to reveal details of their earnings, they shared that business has been “pretty good” so far. “We’re lucky to be in a good location [with busy foot traffic]. Even during the dine-in ban [Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) was announced three days after the stall was opened], we had a good dabao crowd from nearby residents.” The stall is also on delivery platforms like GrabFood and FoodPanda – a move prompted by the P2HA announcement.

A hulking 400g pork chop, imported fresh from Indonesia, comes with mashed potato, waffle fries and a salad (or more accurately, plain lettuce with a splash of ranch) in this signature combo.

With the bone still on the meat, we expected the tomahawk to be juicy and tender and were rather disappointed to find an overcooked slab instead. As this is the most expensive item on the menu, the team tells us that they have not received many orders yet – which could explain why they’ve not perfected the cooking time of this tricky cut.

The aromatic crust boasts flavours of chilli flakes, pepper and garlic – a promising peek at the potential of the tomahawk, if it were cooked to perfection. We enjoyed the homely sides of crispy waffle fries and mashed potato (made from an instant mix).

This special item is limited to only 10 sets per day, and you’ll have to wait 15 to 20 minutes for your order, as the large pork chop requires a longer cooking time.

Reasonably succulent with a good sear – we tried this Australian sirloin with the house-made mushroom and black pepper sauces, and prefer the latter thanks to its bright, fiery heat. A decent, hearty hawker-style steak platter.

Well-seasoned pork chop that’s beautifully browned on the sizzling grill. The hawkers are tight-lipped about the marinade but we detected the usual garlic and pepper notes – which are nicely enhanced by the heady black pepper sauce. Paired with ham-specked fried rice, this makes for a tasty and satisfying meal.

The team butterflies the chicken thighs before putting them on the grill – a technique that helps to ensure that the meat is cooked evenly. However, it spent too long on the grill and the resulting meat is slightly rubbery, and lacks the usual succulence of chicken thigh. A shame, as we really liked the tasty, garlicky aglio olio on the side.

The portions here are generous, prices affordable and the sides and sauces pretty good – but some of the meats are a little dry, which we think the cooks should soon sort out once they get used to their new kitchen stove. In the meantime, the value-for-money fried rice with pork chop is worth a try.

#01-733, 407 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, S560407. Open daily 11.15am to 10pm. Find them on Facebook and Instagram.

All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg

Photos: Alvin Teo