Ex-Hairdresser, 67, Realises Dream Of Opening Hawker Stall After ‘Retiring’
He sells mod Japanese rice bowls like cheesy katsu don.
Everyone has dreams, but not everyone has the courage or the means to pursue what they desire. Enter 67-year-old Kelvin Ong — after supposedly retiring from working for 35 years as a hairdresser, he finally did what he truly wanted, which is to cook for a living. He is the proud hawker behind modern Japanese rice bowl joint Amoy Don at Amoy Street Food Centre. Why slog in what seems like an even more gruelling job post-retirement? “It makes me happy,” he says simply.
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Passion for cooking
Kelvin headed to London to train as a hairdresser when he was a young man (pictured above) before eventually running his own hair salon in Dhoby Ghaut for about 35 years. “I remained a hairdresser [for so many years] to bring up my two children and put them through school,” he says. While his salon business helped put food on the table, Kelvin’s first love was cooking. His son, 31, who declines to be named and is in the gas and oil industry, helps his dad on weekends. He shares: “For as long as I can recall, my dad was always the one in the kitchen at home. He frequently whips up new delicacies [including Japanese food] inspired by dishes that he has eaten both locally and abroad.”
Adapting to change
Kelvin’s first go was actually selling chicken rice, but it only lasted six months (the stall was named Shao Paradise when it opened last March). According to him, the working crowd in the area “didn’t really bite because most of them want something healthy”. To him, pivoting to Japanese cuisine was an obvious choice as he had experience cooking it at home and he felt that Japanese food was a popular choice amongst Singaporeans. So in November 2020, Amoy Don was born. It counts similar Japanese rice bowl joints like Kinobe and Koryori Hayashi within the same hawker centre as competition.
Kelvin has no regrets opening a food stall in his twilight years. “There is a time and place for everything. I have no regrets because I [never] gave up on my dream. One is never too old to learn,” muses Kelvin of his new venture.
He’s a one-man show during the day — a kitchen assistant helps with preparations and clean-up in the evenings.
Still learning at his age
Despite his love for cooking, Kelvin didn’t know anything about operating a food business. “To gain experience in F&B, I took cooking classes at Shatec, working as a kitchen helper in various restaurants and even at hawker [stalls] so I could get a feel of what it would be like to run a stall,” he explains. He trained for two years after retiring, before taking the leap and opening his first stall at Amoy Street Food Centre in March 2020.
Gyu Don, $6.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)
For this Gyu Don, Amoy Don uses beef short plate, a cut located at the belly of the cow. It’s the perfect mix of melt-in-your-mouth fat and buttery, tender meat. Braised with sweet onions in a Japanese soy sauce, mirin and dashi sauce, the mixture is ladled onto plump, sticky grains of Japonica rice. Coupled with a sous-vide onsen egg, it’s a moreish combo. The standard veggie side of buttered corn and carrots with pickled purple cabbage (which could do with more acidity) for all the rice bowls are nothing much to shout about, but they help make the meal more balanced.
Truffle Tori Don, $7.50
Meant to target the health-conscious crowd, the chicken breast here is cooked sous-vide at 60.5°C - the result is moist chicken ready to be paired with a sauce of your choice. You can choose between a black pepper or truffle mushroom sauce and we went with the latter. The creamy sauce is definitely not for those trying to watch their waistline, but the generous amount of shitake mushrooms and drizzle of truffle oil on top certainly paired well with the otherwise bland protein. It’s a fail-safe combo that most will enjoy, even if the sauce could be a tad less salty.
Cheesy Katsu Don, $7.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)
Breaded chicken fillet is stuffed with mozzarella cheese - a tedious process according to Kelvin, but one that is rewarding when the crisp cutlet is cut up and the cheese within oozes out. Freshly fried to order, the chicken breast remains juicy, with a sinful crunchy panko exterior. The veggies here help prevent the bowl from getting too jelak and dipping slices of cheesy fried chicken into the accompanying runny egg yolk is a delight.
Japanese Curry Don with Tonkatsu, $7.80
The Japanese curry here is not from a packet, but made from scratch - “I finely chop ginger, onions, carrots and other aromatics and stew the curry slowly over a small heat. I do this every three days in a large batch before portioning out what I need for each day and freezing the rest,” explains Kelvin. Not only does this help streamline the process, the flavours have time to develop. The deeply orange curry is delicious — sweet from the carrots and onions while still carrying a much appreciated kick of spice from shichimi, a Japanese spice blend.
The pork loin tonkatsu, however, is a little tough and dry, perhaps due to its thickness, but the panko-coated exterior lends a nice crunch.
Fried Gyoza with Signature Mayo, from $5 for six pcs
Honestly, these chicken gyozas are just run-of-the-mill frozen dumplings. The stars of the show are the different mayonnaise dips you can choose for your gyozas. They pack a punch and give the crispy fried dumplings much-needed oomph. For spice lovers, the wasabi mayo and shichimi mayo bring the heat without being overwhelming and for a milder taste, the seaweed mayo is filled with yummy umami flavour.
Bottom line
The hearty rice bowls here are crowd-pleasing and yummier than your usual food court variety. They make for a satisfying Japanese-ish lunch under $10. For authentic flavours, go for the Gyu Don, or if you’re feeling indulgent, try the Cheesy Katsu Don.
