Guy Expelled From Polytechnic Bounces Back To Open Vegetarian Hawker Chain Selling ‘Buttermilk Fried Chicken’ & ‘Char Siew Kolo Mee’
Vegetarians tend to miss out on a lot when it comes to dining out — while dishes like buttermilk fried chicken and char siew kolo mee are popular and tasty, they contain meat.
But for those who are looking for a meatless meal, millennial hawker Darryl Tong’s stall Origanics offer uncommon dishes that are different from the usual repertoire of vegetarian bee hoon or cai png.
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He currently has two Origanics outlets islandwide - one at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the latest branch at Buangkok Hawker Centre, which opened last December. His OG outlet was set up in 2021 at Temasek Secondary School, but he has since transferred ownership to a business partner, who has rebranded the stall.
Darryl, 32, is a second-gen hawker whose dad used to run a vegetarian stall at Nanyang Girls’ High School. Most of his cooking skills were taught by his father. “I picked up my foundation from my dad for a year, after which I experimented and learnt from trial and error, ultimately coming up with my own recipes,” he tells 8days.sg.
As for why he decided to become a vegetarian food hawker, Darryl shares that he became a full-fledged vegetarian three years ago as “both [his] parents have been vegetarians for over 20 years, so there was some form of influence at home”. He adds: “I enjoy cooking, so whatever I enjoy eating, I would try to replicate it with a vegetarian version.” Darryl’s goal is to debunk the notion that “vegetarian food is boring and flavourless”.
Opened hawker stall after dropping out of school
Despite his father’s hawking career, Darryl himself didn’t have much experience going into F&B. When he started his biz in 2021, his highest qualification was an O-Levels cert. He was expelled from Republic Polytechnic, where he had been studying in the Aerospace Avionics course. Darryl recalls: “Back then I hung out with the wrong company, made some bad choices, and had different priorities”, which ultimately led to his dismissal from school due to poor attendance.
But Darryl has since returned to school and is pursuing a Diploma in Business Administration at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a decision he made because he “felt like [he] lacked the soft skills and knowledge to run a business”.
As he was inexperienced in the admin side of running a stall, Darryl explains that he “didn’t even calculate an exact number” for his profit margin when he first opened his stall, and felt the need to improve himself.
He explains that as a newbie hawker, he was only able to keep his first stall at Temasek Secondary School afloat because “overhead costs aren’t as high in a school”, though he admits that he wasn’t earning much there either.
As food prices in a secondary school are controlled, he could only sell his food at around $2.30 to $2.50 per dish. There were also restrictions like no fried food, and the need to provide healthy whole grain meals. So when a stall at NUS became available, Darryl took the chance to set up a second outlet so that he could hopefully bolster his earnings.
As it is “physically and mentally draining” to juggle school and work, Darryl tries to attend virtual classes to lessen his need to travel.
Thankfully, his parents have also been supportive in helping him lighten his workload — his mum works part-time at his Buangkok stall when he has night classes, while his dad, who had closed his own vegetarian stall at Nanyang Girls’ High School due to declining footfall, runs Origanics’ NUS outlet full-time.
So far, Darryl reckons that he has “been able to convince a lot of younger people” to try vegetarian food, by “coming up with dishes that are more enticing to the younger crowd”.
Vegetarian local dishes & ‘DIY kits’
There are also vegetarian renditions of popular local dishes like Char Siew Kolo Noodles ($4) and Braised Duck Rice ($4.50). The mock meats are made with ingredients like tofu or mushrooms, and seasoned accordingly with a mix of sweet and savoury spices. Darryl shares that he “makes 50 per cent of the mock meat from scratch” himself, and gets the other half from suppliers.
One of his most popular mock creations is his caramelised char siew, which he says he has “received compliments from customers for how similar it tastes to the real deal”. He attributes his realistic-tasting mock meat to the house-made sauces he uses, which he makes with “a lot of spices” like “lemongrass, turmeric, coriander and cumin seeds”.
From time to time, Darryl also whips up “DIY kits” and frozen dishes like seaweed chicken and char siew for customers who order in advance. The kits usually need to be consumed within a couple of days after purchase, and come with ready-made ingredients conveniently packed in sachets for customers to heat up and assemble.
Currently, Darryl is selling Caramelised Char Siew Kolo Noodles ($12.50 for 5 servings) and Sichuan Mala Kolo Noodles ($15 for 5 servings), which will be ready for collection in early February for Chinese New Year.
The menu
8days.sg paid a visit to Origanics’ Buangkok outlet. There, Darryl has an interesting repertoire of dishes that include Char Siew Sarawak Kolo Noodles ($4) and Lor Mee ($3.50) every day, while other dishes are sold on rotation. This includes Braised Duck Rice ($4.50), that’s sold only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays, Nasi Lemak ($5.50), which he offers on Fridays and Saturdays, Kway Chap ($4), served Thursdays to Saturdays, and Mee Rebus ($3.50), which he only sells on weekends.
Char Siew Sarawak Kolo Noodles, $4
Our kolo mee is served with mock char siew slices, lettuce and fried beancurd skin. The char siew is made with a soy ‘meat’ substitute, and has a chewy, juicy texture reminiscent of real meat draped in a toothsome caramelly glaze.
But we couldn’t help but notice a soy aftertaste that reminds us that it’s not, in fact, real char siew, especially for the meatier chunks.
The kolo noodles are pleasantly springy though, tossed in a fragrant dark soy sauce and sesame oil blend spiked with chilli. Still a pretty satisfying dish overall, though the char siew didn’t blow us away.
Braised Duck Rice, $4.50
The ‘braised duck’ here is made from mushrooms and served alongside tau kwa, cucumbers, pickles and carrots, over a bed of rice. Flavour-wise, we find it pretty convincing as a mock braised duck, doused in a savoury herbal braise sauce that’s pretty good.
But pity about the texture and presentation — instead of delicate slices of ‘duck’, we got large, organically-shaped brown chunks that are overly chewy and look more like mystery meat than real duck. We can’t say this is a perfect substitute, but it’s a fun idea on paper for vegetarians who miss braised duck.
The details
Origanics is located at #02-K44 Buangkok Hawker Centre, 70 Compassvale Bow, S544692 and The Deck NUS, Computing Drive, 5 Arts Link, S117570. Tel: 9746 4671 (Buangkok Hawker Centre), 9270 1947 (The Deck NUS). Open Tue - Sat 8.30am - 7.30pm, Sun 8.30am - 3pm (Closed on Mon) (Buangkok Hawker Centre), Mon - Fri 10.30am - 4pm (Closed on Sat & Sun) (The Deck NUS). More info via their Facebook and Instagram.
Photos: Origanics, Gwyn Lim
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