Ex-Restaurant Chef Opens Stall Selling $6 Truffle Pasta Beside Fiancée’s $3.20 A Bowl Prawn Mee Shop

All three hawkers met at ITE

Darryl, Shi Long and Xiao Xuan are longtime pals from ITE, where they all studied Western Culinary Arts. Since they were classmates in 2018, Shi Long tells 8days.sg that he and Darryl had always dreamed of opening a business together, but held off their plans till this year, as Shi Long had wanted to gain experience working in restaurants first.

Perks of working next to his fiancée 

Fast forward to September this year, and the lads finally set up their hawker biz together. As for securing a unit beside Darryl’s fiancée’s biz, he says. “We didn't plan to have the stall side by side, it happened by chance”.

The biggest perk of working next to his fiancée? “Having another pair of hands,” Darryl laughs. As the three pals are located next to each other, Darryl says he and Xiao Xuan occasionally shuttle between both businesses to help out where necessary (Liu Kou Shui is in the unit next to Liu Da Xia, but they have hired staff to help out there). These days, the young hawker - who also co-owns Liu Kou Shui’s Buangkok outlet together with Xiao Xuan - devotes mornings to helping his fiancée prep her ingredients for her prawn mee biz, before heading next door to Style Palate at 11am, when the shop opens. 

The couple tell us they don’t intend to hold their wedding any time soon, and will only begin wedding planning at the end of next year, or in 2026. But when they do get married, Xiao Xuan tells us they’ll probably close all their stalls for a couple of days.

Which stall has longer lines?

Whose stall has longer queues? “Definitely for [Style Palate’s] western food lah, there are so many noodle stalls in the area so people have more choices [for those],” Darryl says. 

But he adds that there’s no rivalry between the businesses: “They can’t really be compared. Our selling point and hers is very different, sales-wise it’s also different – on average, our dishes are more expensive than what she sells,” he explains.

‘Atas’ dishes at hawker prices 

While Style Palate’s dishes may be slightly pricier than typical hawker fare, they’re reasonably priced for modern European cuisine – which is the exact reason Shi Long wanted to set up this hawker concept. 

“I feel that hawker centres usually sell old-school Western food, like fried chicken wings, chilli cheese fries, etc. Every hawker centre you go to, it’s always the same items. I wanted to make modern European food accessible and affordable for people, so I brought it to a hawker centre,” he explains.

Younger customers willing to pay more for Style Palate’s cafe-style food

On their menu are cafe-esque signatures like Duck Confit served atop mashed potatoes ($12), Braised Beef (made with beef brisket, $10), and Umami Angel Hair ($6), a cold pasta dish dressed with sherry vinegar, kombu (salted kelp) and truffle oil. 

Meanwhile, more common dishes include Vongole ($8) and a Big Breakfast ($8). A colleague who tried their food recommends the braised beef and vongole: “The braised beef is just nice, tender but with a nice bite to it. The wine sauce also makes it different [compared to other hawker stalls]. and the vongole is good. The fresh clams in the pasta are very sweet!”, she says. 

The duo invested around $40K to open their biz, and Shi Long says: “A lot of customers still don’t know some of the ingredients we use. For instance, they don’t know what kombu is, but they are willing to try it. This neighbourhood is a new BTO area, so there are a lot of families and youngsters who are willing to try our food, and the reception is good,” he says.

He adds: “So far, the crowd is within our expectations and we expect to break even in the next six months to one year”. 

Style Palate is at #01-30 Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre, 202C Woodleigh Link, S363202. Open daily 11.30am - 8.30pm. More info via their Instagram.

Photos: Glyn Seah

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