‘This Guy Doesn’t Look Chinese, I Don’t Dare Buy It,’ Said Customer Of 3rd-Gen Indian-Chinese Hawker At Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake

"I'm brown, so people don't expect me to be selling traditional Chinese food"

Yet, almost every week, customers assume he's anyone but the stall owner's son.

"Some people ask if I'm Malaysian, while others think I'm a foreign worker helping out at the stall," Deitrich tells 8days.sg.

"They'll also say, 'The old owner is this Chinese lady. I don't see her around, did you buy over the business?'"

Deitrich, who is of Indian and Chinese heritage, explains, “I'm brown, so people don't expect me to be selling traditional Chinese food”.

Some customers even question whether they should buy food from him at all.

"Just last month, three ladies were standing outside the stall gossiping loudly in Mandarin. They said: 'This guy doesn't look Chinese. I don't dare buy it.'"

Deitrich believes the women assumed he couldn't understand Mandarin. Hearing them hesitate to buy the oyster cakes simply because he didn't look Chinese caught him off guard. 

Deitrich eventually told them he was the stall owner's son, prompting surprised laughter from the ladies before they went ahead and ordered the oyster cakes.

He says that's usually how such encounters end. Those who hesitate initially typically ask if they've come to the right stall or assume he's a part-timer before learning who he is.

Why he doesn't take the comments personally

Despite the regular comments, Deitrich doesn't harbour any resentment.

"I think they're being slightly ignorant, but most of the remarks come from older customers who grew up in a very different Singapore, “ he explains.

"Back then, mixed-race families weren't common. Everybody more or less stuck within their own communities."

"When they see someone like me behind a traditional Chinese hawker stall, they're genuinely surprised."

That said, attitudes are changing.

After several videos about the stall went viral online, younger customers have begun dropping by specifically because they related to his story.

"We've had mixed-race couples come down and joke, 'Hey, our kids might look like you one day, so we wanted to support you,'" he says with a chuckle. "I'm very thankful because it's brought a whole new group of customers to the stall."

Retrenched from gaming industry after 11 years

Before joining the hawker trade, Deitrich spent 11 years in the gaming industry.

He started out as a freelance gaming host before joining Chinese gaming giant HoYoverse, where he worked as their social media manager.

"When people came up to tell me, 'That was the best tournament you've ever run,' that feeling was amazing," he recalls.

But by late 2024, he was retrenched as the company downsized.

Around the same time, another conversation was happening at home. His mum, who had spent decades standing over a bubbling wok of oil, had been considering retirement when the stall was listed as a Michelin Selected eatery in the Michelin Guide Singapore 2024.

"To my mum, that recognition was affirmation," says Deitrich. "After all these years, someone finally recognised the effort she'd put into making oyster cakes."

Following his retrenchment, Deitrich took it as a sign that it was time to help the family business.

His Indian dad, who is separated from his mum and lives in Sydney, has no involvement in the family business.

Grateful to spend more time with hawker mum

More than keeping the stall going, Deitrich says the opportunity to spend time with his mum is what makes the career switch worthwhile. His parents split when he was eight, and he credits her with raising him while single-handedly keeping the family business afloat.

"I get to spend time with my mum," he says. "I know time is running out for her. The more time I put in now, when she eventually passes away, I'll know I spent that time with her."

Though he occasionally helped out at the stall during his secondary school and polytechnic days, Deitrich admits he wasn't particularly serious about it then. Still, years of watching his mum and grandmother work made going full-time feel familiar.

Today, he mainly fries the oyster cakes while gradually learning how to prep the fillings. The closely guarded batter preparation is the final lesson his mum plans to teach him, when she's confident he's ready to take over the business.

"The batter is really the heart of everything and our secret recipe," says Deitrich.

As the only child, Deitrich hopes to eventually inherit the family business. He says his mum is happy to have him back at the stall and is guiding him every step of the way.

Deitrich declines to comment on his marital status or whether he has children.

A family recipe dating back to 1962

Maxwell’s oyster cake recipe has barely changed since Deitrich's maternal grandmother first began selling the old-school snack in 1962. Priced at $2.50 each, the oyster cakes are made with rice flour batter, stuffed with oysters, minced pork and cilantro before being deep-fried into a crisp, golden dome.

After immigrating to Singapore from Fuzhou, China, she resorted to selling oyster cakes to support the family after Deitrich's grandfather, a barber, was no longer able to work regularly due to recurring bouts of pneumonia.

The family first hawked the snacks along Wallich Street and Tras Street before relocating to Maxwell Food Centre in the ’60s (it was a wet market back then).

Struggling to keep tradition alive

That doesn't mean he's content leaving things exactly as they are.

Sales, he says, have fallen significantly compared to a decade ago.

"The biggest worry isn't just rising food costs," he says.

"It's whether people still care. If people stop remembering heritage food, it'll eventually become extinct."

To attract younger customers, Deitrich has started documenting the stall's story on social media under the name Moe's Oyster Cakes. He says he chose a separate brand so he can experiment with modern takes on the oyster cake without changing the identity of Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake.

Experimenting with mod versions at pop-ups

He developed a deconstructed oyster cake inspired by tacos after reading Google reviews saying the traditional version was too oily. It features minced pork, oysters, boiled prawns and a spicy homemade garlic aioli sauce served in ‘taco shells’ made using the stall's signature oyster cake batter.

According to Deitrich, his mum was quick to shoot down the idea.

"'This is your grandmother's legacy,' she told me. 'You can't change it however way you like.'"

So instead of replacing the original, he now serves the modern version only at pop-ups under a separate brand.

"My hope is people will try the modern version, become curious, then come back and appreciate the original."

Changing perceptions, one oyster cake at a time

For Deitrich, preserving a 64-year-old hawker business isn't just about frying oyster cakes.

It's about changing perceptions too.

"If people want to stay ignorant, I can't change that," he says.

"What I can do is try to educate people."

Whether that's helping customers understand mixed-race families are part of modern Singapore, or introducing a younger generation to an oft-overlooked heritage snack, he believes change happens gradually.

"Hopefully, we can educate people one oyster cake at a time,” he laughs.

Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake is located at #01-05 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur St, S069184. Open Mon-Sat 9am-8pm. Closed on Sun. More info via Instagram.

Photos: Deitrich Mohan