Addictive $1.50 Chicken Wings At New Stall By Hawker Behind Popular Tony Cafe

Like many other eateries in the CBD, Tony Cafe was badly hit by the pandemic. They opted to close shop temporarily rather than hop on delivery platforms during the circuit breaker period back in 2020 due to the platforms’ high commissions.

“When we reopened in July, business dropped tremendously. We were doing only about 30 percent of our usual business,” he tells us. They saw a gradual increase in business as some office workers returned to the office – the crowd was around half as strong as it was before the pandemic – though they were hit again when the Phase 2 Heightened Alert (P2HA) in May last year saw a return to slower business.

It was then that Larry decided to expand the brand outside of the CBD. “We had a lot of customers who come from Woodlands, Jurong lah. I figured, instead of making our customers come all the way down – some of them even come down specially on a Saturday for our chicken wings – why not open closer to them instead?” he reasons.

Leaving Tony Cafe in the hands of his sister, he began searching for a stall and secured Wings’ current premises in Alexandra after a two-month search. While he’d hoped to open a joint “within the heartlands”, he figures that the current location is a good launchpad for Wings nonetheless. “The rent is reasonable, but it’s in between an office and neighbourhood location. We can still reach [customers in the heartlands] with delivery,” he says. Though it was Larry who sank around “30K” into Wings alone for now, he plans to expand further into the heartlands together with his sister once the biz at Alexandra stabilises.

According to Larry, the recipe for the deep-fried chicken wings is a closely guarded family secret (which is why he handled the wings back at Tony Cafe, rather than get staff to do it). He does reveal that the wings are marinated overnight and what goes into them “isn’t actually very complicated”. He adds: “There’s only one type of flour and other usual things like salt and pepper. I can tell you the exact proportions, but if both of us cook it, the end result will be totally different. It’s like fried rice, everyone has roughly the same recipe, but ’cos of the skill [level] of each chef, some will be much nicer than others.”

“You need to have love and passion for chicken wings, to bother to learn how to control the fire and cook it well, so that the outside is crispy without [leaving the inside] raw or overcooked,” he adds. “That’s why I can tahan doing it for over ten years,” he laughs.

Apart from peddling Tony Cafe's chicken wings with flavoured rice and achar, he’s also selling Nyonya-style mee siam (which comes with a tangy gravy perfumed with galangal) and lontong, both recipes he was familiar with from his days at his parents’ eatery. These items, he says, are to cater for both “the morning crowd” and “customers who don’t like rice”. The wings can also be bought on the side a la carte at $1.50 apiece.

Despite a greater number of workers returning to the office since Wings’ opened last August, business is “not that fantastic yet”. Larry shares: “It’s a mad rush for breakfast and lunch, but after 2pm, everyone disappears”. Getting on delivery platforms has helped, though he also hopes to start selling ready-to-cook chicken wings to bolster sales.

So how are the wings at Wings? Pretty good, and somewhat reminiscent of the offerings from other old-school deep-fried chicken wing joints like Carona’s Fried Chicken Wing Rice from the ‘80s (whose founder now runs Victor’s Famous Fried Chicken Wing) – minus the queues. A thinnish layer of pepper-scented batter, deep-fried to a golden hue, enrobes juicy, perfectly cooked chook. Exceedingly moreish stuff with an awesome crunch that lingers even after our forty-minute photo shoot. It’d be even better if it were a touch saltier, but still delish nonetheless.

These wings are another mainstay at Tony Cafe. They’re also fried, but sans the crispy batter. They’re marinated overnight with honey, soy sauce and other ingredients with some “massaging” to ensure the marinade is well infused.

While they lack the crunch of their battered brethren, the good-sized honey chicken wings offer up punchier savoury flavours cloaked in subtle caramelly notes. Quite yummy – though not as addictive as the crunchy battered version.

The wings can be paired with rice and housemade achar – the cheapest set costs $3.50 for a single wing, while a double goes for $4.80. Either way, we find Wings’ flavoured chicken rice a worthy accompaniment. Thai fragrant rice is cooked with chicken broth, ginger and garlic by Larry, yielding fluffy, oily grains that are tasty enough to have on its own.

We hardly need the zingy house pickled achar (comprising cucumber, carrot and sesame) or the gingery, garlicky chilli on the side, to finish the plate – though they do their part cutting through the richness of the rice and chook. Even the bowl of cabbage and carrot soup on the side is plenty full-bodied compared to the diluted broth found at some other chicken rice joints.

Larry serves a soupy Nyonya-style version of mee siam with bee hoon in a thick coconut milk-spiked gravy gussied up with tamarind, blue ginger (galangal) and tau cheo (preserved soy bean paste). Rich, sweet and tart, although it’s also on the milder side spice-wise. Topped with a boiled egg, shredded tau pok and beansprouts. It’s quite good, though we think the decadent kuah leans a little too sweet.

We find the lontong – which refers to the compressed rice cakes swimming with tender chunks of cabbage and carrot in the dish – a little uninspiring, especially ‘cos the mild turmeric gravy lacks oomph both in flavour and aroma, despite the galangal and lemongrass within. Too little hae bee, perhaps? Get the fragrant rice instead.

Zero in on the nosh that Wings does best – the delightfully crispy deep-fried chicken wings, yummy rice and feisty chilli. The honey wings are a bit more flavourful though not as crunchy and are worth trying too. Note that both are only available after 10.30am.

Wings is at #01-05 Fragrance Empire Building, 456 Alexandra Rd, S119962. Tel: 9339-9111. Open Mon – Fri, 8am – 3pm. More info via Facebook. Delivery via Grabfood.

​​​​​​​Photos: Kelvin Chia

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