Salmon Sashimi, Oysters & Wagyu From $6.80 At Japanese BBQ Hawker Stall

“We were greedy and opened another hawker branch of Coocci at Serangoon Gardens without sorting out the foundation [of expansion]. We weren’t ready and had to wind down the business,” Glen says in mandarin.

He recalls a similar experience in 2009 with his first F&B venture, Grapevine Cafe & Restaurant, serving Western fare at Upper Serangoon. “We made money from it, got greedy and quickly opened another cafe in Katong. We ended up in debt and had to sell the biz to pay it off.” Glen and Rachel ran their cafe from 2003 to 2009 before selling it to the current owners, who are still operating the Upper Serangoon joint.

“It was a steep learning curve for us, hopefully this time we can do better,” says the soft-spoken hawker.

Before joining the food industry, Glen was with the Singapore Armed Forces for 12 years. “I signed on after my ‘A’ levels. I actually met my wife [Rachel is Taiwanese] when I was attached to Taiwan for training for two and a half years.”

The couple, who has three kids aged 14 to 22, opened Grapevine Cafe & Restaurant when Glen left the service. “At the time, it felt like the easiest industry to join. It was difficult for me to find a job in Singapore. My university degree in landscape engineering from Taiwan wasn’t recognised here, plus we had kids soon after getting married so there was economic pressure to start earning money quickly,” says Rachel.

Neither had professional culinary training. “My mum helped a lot. She’s a good cook so she assisted us in adapting and refining the recipes,” says Glen.

After selling the cafe, Glen recognised the need for “proper basic training” in cooking. “I was also sick of chefs who were threatening to quit because they knew we couldn’t do without them.” So he worked as a cook at yakitori restaurant Tsukune Ichigo for two years, as well as the now-defunct Italian restaurant Parco Caffe for a year.

Glen quit his cooking job just before Covid-19 rolled around. “When the pandemic started, we had no choice but to start doing food and grocery deliveries on our bicycles. The money was ok, but I felt like there was no objective in my life. All along we liked doing F&B, so we thought of starting another business again. We have limited finances and a hawker stall is the most entry-level way [to start a food biz]. A big portion [of money used to set up the stall] is from loans from good friends,” he says, adding that they spent about $15k to open Nen Nen Contemporary BBQ.

Glen works in the stall's kitchen, prepping the raw food and marinating meats while the cheerier Rachel handles “front of house” duties like setting up stoves and taking customer orders. “She’s better at chatting with customers. Of course we’d still quarrel now and then, but it’s less frequent now,” he says. “I’m more impatient so sometimes I’d rush her, which ends in a fight.”

“Because we handle different things, sometimes I don’t know why he’s being impatient and he doesn’t know what I’m facing out here either. But it’s okay because we’d communicate and sort it out after. After all, we’ve been working together for over a decade!” she says.

Since opening in January, the biz has been badly hit by a series of dining restrictions. “We’re mostly affected by the two-pax rule [for dining in a hawker centre] as a majority of our customers used to come in groups of four or five.”

“During the dine-in bans, we were also badly affected as we could not do takeaways. We tried offering a delivery service, where we send the food and portable stoves to their homes but the response was lukewarm – we received only about two orders a week.”

Glen adds that biz was encouraging when they first started. The stall provides 20 portable stoves for customers to cook the meats, and all were occupied during weekends. “Now, the number has dropped by half or more. It’s continued to drop as cases are rising and people are less likely to head out.”

Glen preps all the items and Rachel will bring them to your table while sharing tips on grilling time and sauce pairings. You’ll cook the items yourself using the portable gas-fuelled stove with a trough of water beneath to dissipate the smoke.

“We chose this location because we’re the only stall open during dinner time, so diners have more space and it’s also more relaxed,” she says. “There’s also no pressure from diners who are waiting for a table. You can also bring your own alcohol and enjoy the meal at your own pace.”

As of 17 September, Nen Nen Contemporary BBQ has temporarily moved to a kopitiam at Sixth Avenue for three months as Kallang Estate Food Centre is undergoing renovation. “We were not informed of it before we signed the three-year lease,” he says, clearly disappointed. “We’re just going to make the best of the situation – thankfully we found the new location in time and we can continue to run the biz.”

Apart from a zi char stall, Glen says his joint is the only one operating during dinner hours so customers can enjoy a similarly relaxed atmosphere when dining at the new kopitiam location. He shared a grim update when we checked in on his first week of opening: “[Biz has been] slow because not many people know us. Kallang's biz was very good, weekend sure sold out but here, [the sales] are less than half.” He expects to reopen for business at Kallang Estate Food Centre on 12 December 2021.

All three sauces are made in-house. According to Rachel, the most popular dip is the mildly spicy sesame sauce, made with fried shallot, toasted sesame seeds, red chilli and garlic, which pairs well with red meat. We also like the spicy seafood sauce – green chilli padi, coriander, lime and calamansi are blitzed into an appetising, tangy dip. The classic ponzu dip is jazzed up with citrus notes of orange, yuzu and lime, with an umami boost from shoyu, kombu and bonito flakes.

“My wife prefers seafood, so we try to provide more variety compared to the usual mookata and yakiniku places, which focus more on meat,” says Glen. The Set Menu ($23.80 for two) features ten items, including staples like pork belly and collar, chicken wing and thigh, prawn, flounder, as well as veggies, sides and two cups of wakame daikon soup. All plates are mini-sized, like those served in a classic izakaya.

We recommend topping up for the beef items, which range from $6.80 for Australian wagyu karubi (short rib) or topside to $8.80 for USA short rib. A la carte seafood items start from $3.80 for lala and mussel to $12.80 for three pieces of abalone.

Besides barbecue items, the stall also offers fresh, thicker-than-usual slabs of Salmon Sashimi ($7.80 for 8 pcs) and palm-sized, mildly briny Miyagi Oysters ($9.80 for three) to complete your restaurant-in-a-hawker-centre experience.

Ribboned with fat, this wagyu short rib grills beautifully into tender and juicy meat. The marbling gives it incredible flavour and enhances the richness of the Australian wagyu beef, while the thin but large slices ensure every bite is a satisfying one.

The short rib is not marinated or brushed with any sauce so you can taste the original flavour. Unctuous and intensely beefy with a good chew that is slightly marred by the tough, sinewy connective tissue on parts of the rib. Order this instead of the wagyu if you prefer stronger tasting beef.

Delicate and full of flavour, the tangy kimchi marinade does a good job of tempering the greasiness of the pork jowl. We enjoyed this with the spicy sesame dip for added heat.

Essentially a tsukune (Japanese chicken meatball) in patty form, Glen minces chicken leg and leek before marinating the burger steak in tare (a Japanese glaze), which helps it to caramelise beautifully on the grill. The texture is light and juicy, and the patty is tasty enough on its own without any need for dips.

Our surprise favourite combines clams, luffa (sponge gourd), minced garlic and shoyu-based sauce in a foil container that you can pop directly onto the grill for a quick steam. The soft, spongy gourd soaks up the savoury sauce and pairs nicely with the sweet, succulent clams. Comforting and delicious.

Even though Glen uses fresh abalone from China, we find that this grilled shellfish lacks the robust, rich flavour of the more tender braised version. Order this only if you enjoy the natural taste and firm, chewy texture of grilled abalone.

A good place to enjoy reasonably-priced restaurant-standard yakiniku in a no-frills setting. The modest menu boasts atas touches – order the fresh, massive slices of salmon sashimi or large oysters to graze on while grilling. Even though the premium meats were simply, and rightfully, served un-marinated, we were equally impressed with items that showcase Glen’s culinary training, like the chicken burger steak and lala with luffa. Expect to pay about $25 to $30 per pax for a satisfying spread of quality meat, seafood and sashimi that would’ve cost at least 20 percent more at a proper yakiniku restaurant.

Nen Nen Contemporary BBQ is at 10E Sixth Ave, S276474. Open Wed to Sun 6pm-10.30pm. The stall will reopen at #01-07 Kallang Estate Market, 17 Old Airport Rd, S397972 in Dec 2021. For more info, check Facebook.

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Photos: Kelvin Chia