DURIAN BABY (RANKED #1)
We were tipped off by foodie friends who raved about its Mao Shan Wang fruits and decided to give it a try at the last minute. We’re glad we did. There’s very little information online about this obscure online-based durian biz, but that’s ’cos it was started only in June this year by husband-and-wife Esmond Kan, 34, and Cynthia Tan, 38. The couple have a full-time job running their own recruitment and maid agency, and branded the durian biz after their nine-month-old son (pictured).
But Esmond, an avid foodie, has a sideline for the past few years supplying durians “from a famous stall”, his personal favourite, to family and friends (Cynthia declines to reveal the stall’s name). “We have a good relationship with the stall owner, and he never gives us bad durians. Our friends might not get the same VIP treatment if they go to the stall themselves,” she explains of their decision to become a ‘middleman’ durian supplier. Initially, they supplied their durians at the same price as the stall, and only took a cut from the seller to cover petrol and other costs for deliveries to their inner circle. But due to the Covid-19 outbreak, they were forced to open up their sales to the public. “We had zero income and three kids. We really, really needed some income,” says Cynthia, who now plans to continue Durian Baby as “we have gained traction and followers”.
Service: We called the number as an anonymous customer on its Facebook page, and spoke to Cynthia herself. She asked us where we had heard of her shop, and we carelessly replied we had heard of them through a friend. “Oh! Did your friend give you a promo code?” she chirped. No, we muttered. We were then directed to submit our order via an online form. We decided to boldly ask Cynthia for a promo code. “Leave it blank, I’ll work out something for you in a while,” she replied coyly. She later offered to absorb half of the $10 delivery fee while trying to get us to buy more durians for better discounts (she eventually accepted our modest 500g order graciously). Our plastic bag came with a box of durians wrapped in double plastic layers and two free bottles of Yeo’s coconut water. Not bad at all.
Points for service: 9/10
Photo: Durian Baby