King Of Fried Rice Towkay, 25, Opens Mentaiko-Themed Japanese Rice Bowl Hawker Stall
After setting up a whopping 25 King of Fried Rice outlets across various kopitiams over the past four years, Lester Li, 25, is hoping that his latest concept, a Japanese fusion hawker stall named MentaiKing, will replicate the success of his first venture which sparked the trend of Din Tai Fung-style fried rice at hawker joints. “I think I can do better than the other mentaiko rice bowl concepts in the market. I want to offer restaurant-grade dons (Japanese rice bowls) at an affordable price and I’ll try to open as many outlets as possible to make it convenient for more people to try,” says the young entrepreneur.
Nestled in a busy coffee shop near Boon Keng MRT, MentaiKing serves Japanese-inspired rice bowls with ingredients like pork cutlet, tiger prawn and salmon – all topped with house-made mentaiko (spicy cod roe) mayonnaise. Unlike his King of Fried Rice stalls, which offer a variety of carbs like mala or tom yum fried rice, MentaiKing uses garlic butter rice as its only base. “The mentaiko sauce is our focus here, so I wanted something [lighter] that would work well with it,” explains Lester.
MentaiKing shares a spacious kitchen with a new King of Fried Rice outlet next door – the brand’s latest stall – and both are opening on September 16. The two concepts will be run by their respective teams. 8days.sg gets an exclusive sneak peek.