Heritage Zi Char Eatery Ka-Soh Closing Final Outlet, 3rd-Gen Owner To Sell Fish Soup From HDB Flat

Humble beginnings from a pushcart in 1939

Known for its Cantonese-style fish soup and smoky san lao hor fun, the iconic brand started back in 1939, when founder Tang Kwong Swee sold fish head noodles from a humble pushcart at Great World Amusement Park. As business grew, he opened Swee Kee Eating House along Chin Chew Street (famously dubbed Tofu Street back then), eventually pioneering one of the first Cantonese-style zi char restaurants in Singapore that was open till late at night. 

When the business relocated to Amoy Street in 1997, it was officially renamed Swee Kee (Ka-Soh) Fish Head Noodle House – a nod to the name its patrons had long been using. Later, Cedric’s father adopted "Ka-Soh" as the main brand, since it had become the more memorable identity of the restaurant.

Once counted stars like Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok as customers

By the ’80s and ’90s, Swee Kee was drawing large crowds – including local and international celebs like Hong Kong’s Four Heavenly Kings: Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, and Leon Lai, who’d drop by after their concerts in Singapore. The queues reportedly stretched for two hours back then. 

Who is Ka-Soh?

The original brand name, Swee Kee, was retained for decades, but regulars began informally referring to the restaurant as “Ka Soh’s place” in the ’80s and ’90s, after a feisty front-of-house waitress nicknamed “Ka Soh” (Cantonese for daughter-in-law), who famously scolded diners for taking too long to order. Though not part of the family, she was referred to as “Ka Soh” because the restaurant had hired her mother-in-law, and regulars affectionately began calling her that.

Eventually, Ka-Soh had its own spin-off brand, even earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand nod in 2016 for its Outram outlet. Its USP: house-made gravies, no-MSG broths, and fish soup simmered for hours using snakehead bones for its signature milky richness.

“Being a heritage brand doesn’t pay the bills”

“We’re not closing because business is bad,” Cedric clarifies. “We just don’t want to keep playing the game.” 

That “game” refers to a tough F&B climate where rising costs, tight manpower, and customer expectations often work against old-school operators.

“Coffee shop fish soup is $5, ours is $8 or $9. But when coffee shop prices rose over the years, we didn’t follow suit – and we also didn’t shrink our portions,” Cedric says. That commitment to quality came at a cost: “People still think zi char food should be cheap.”

He adds that any attempt to adjust pricing often leads to backlash. “If we raise our prices even slightly, people will complain. But if we reduce the portion size or change the recipe, they’ll also complain. It’s very hard to win.”

Rent raised from $9K to $12K

When Ka-Soh first opened at Greenwood in 2020, monthly rent was $9,000. It increased to $12,000 after three years – and would have jumped to $15,000 had they chosen to stay on with a new lease. But he and his brother had already decided to bow out. “Even at $12,000, it’s hard to operate,” he admits.

And despite Ka-Soh’s long-standing reputation, Cedric says being well-known isn’t enough. “Being a heritage brand doesn’t pay the bills,” he says candidly.

Profitable but not enough

“We built it up from zero,” he says. “It took a while to win over a new customer base in the residential area, but even loyal customers weren’t enough to outweigh challenges like staff shortages and rising costs,” says Cedric about their five-year-old Greenwood outlet. The brothers worked almost daily, covering gaps when staff were on MC or leave. Cedric even picked up kitchen duties to help. “Being hands-on saved us on manpower, but it’s not sustainable long-term.”

Although Greenwood was profitable enough to cover costs and even supported their now-defunct Outram outlet during Covid, the margins weren’t great. “A lot of our earnings went into paying off bank loans,” Cedric shares. “We weren’t losing money, but we weren’t really earning either.”

F&B landscape changed for the worse & Ka-Soh doesn’t want to struggle to keep up

The landscape has shifted since Ka-Soh’s heyday. Cedric believes that the sheer number of eateries popping up in Singapore is one of the key reasons small restaurants like his are struggling.

He points to Amoy Street as a clear example of over-competition: “When we moved there, there were five restaurants. Now there are 80 to 100.”

Manpower is an issue as well. “If there are 10 restaurants but only a few locals willing to work in F&B, it becomes impossible to hire enough staff to meet your quota,” he says.

“You might break even in 2 years, just as your landlord raises your rent by 30%”

The cost of opening a new restaurant today? “At least $150K to $200K, and that’s for basic fittings,” says Cedric. “You might break even in two years, just as your lease ends and the landlord raises your rent by 30 percent.”

They’ve considered franchising the brand and taking on investors, but there’s a catch. “Our concept isn’t easily replicable,” Cedric says. “We do everything in-house – from soup stocks to gravies to chilli. That’s what gives our hor fun its flavour. But investors want fast ROI (return on investment) and scalable concepts.”

Brothers left stable corporate jobs to join family biz

Still, Cedric and Gareth persevered. The duo, who both joined the family business full-time seven years ago, left stable and high-paying corporate jobs in PR and IT respectively to keep the family legacy alive when their late father, second-generation owner Tang Tat Cheong, fell ill. “The biggest sacrifice was leaving that stability for something filled with uncertainties,” Cedric shares. “But we don’t have any regrets. We’ve done and given our best.”

Mental health a big issue in F&B, especially among chefs

He spent three years recovering on his own, a path he doesn’t recommend. “Ironically, as mentally draining as the F&B industry can be, where mental health is a big issue, especially among chefs – it was going back into the family business full-time after I learned to cope that probably helped me.”

Cedric finally sought professional help and was cleared of clinical depression by a psychiatrist in early 2023. “Mental health is now a big priority for me. I think it’s important to do something you actually enjoy.”

Interestingly enough, that still means working in F&B for him.

He says he has no plans to return to his former corporate job. “PR has changed a lot, with AI, influencer engagement, content creation, it's a completely different game now.

These days, his role at Ka-Soh ranges from kitchen hand to marketing lead. “I do everything except finance,” he says with a laugh. “I'm usually in the kitchen helping to push out orders, but I also help in the front if it’s too busy. I even do the dishwashing sometimes – my TikToks show that side of the business too.”

He also manages Ka-Soh’s social media accounts and has been transparent about the behind-the-scenes grind of running a small F&B outlet. “It’s not glamorous.”

Pivoting to home-based biz

Still, not all is lost for the heritage brand. Cedric is currently working on a home-based business that will keep the Ka-Soh name alive in a small way. “I’ll be selling our Cantonese-style fish soup online, so people can cook it at home,” he shares. It will be based in my Punggol flat. And after the restaurant closes, Cedric also plans to explore starting a hawker stall. 

“During the pandemic, our no-MSG, no-salt, no-sugar soups were popular, especially among families with kids or elderly folks. So I plan to sell our signature soups frozen, from my own home,” he says. “It won’t be huge – I’m using a residential stove, so production will be limited.”

He has spent the past year learning to cook by himself – experimenting with various recipes, including Ka-Soh’s signature fish soup. “I never used to cook. I used to say, ‘I don’t know how to cook.’ But I’ve been watching my chefs every day for years. I started trying things out at home like black bean bitter gourd, spring onion beef, even cereal chicken.”

Might open hawker stall in future

He’s also toying with the idea of starting a hawker stall after the restaurant closes. While nothing is set in stone, Cedric says he’s staying in F&B – at least for the short term – to see if there’s still a way to keep the brand going. “The current climate is unpredictable, so everything’s still in the early stages of planning and learning,” he explains.

Trading a team of chefs in a restaurant for the solo grind of hawker life might seem like a big change, but Cedric’s unfazed. “If I go out and work for someone else, I’ll probably be putting in the same number of hours. So I’m willing to try doing it under my own brand,” he says. 

He’s also rediscovered something along the way: his love for cooking. “When I was young, I’d always made pancakes and cooked [any old how],” he laughs. “This year, I started experimenting more at home and I’ve been making dinner regularly.”

Recently, he even mustered the courage to step behind the restaurant’s wok station. “I literally begged my chefs to teach me the basics of cooking in a restaurant kitchen,” he says. “I’ve posted a couple of TikToks,” he adds. “But yeah, I guess you could say I’ve rediscovered my love for cooking.”

He laughs, “Now I can say I know how to cook, but I still won’t call myself a chef. I’m just a home cook.”

Only one sibling will remain in F&B will the rest return to corporate jobs

One of his proudest achievements? Perfecting Ka-Soh’s concentrated fish soup.

“I’ve been testing the recipe every week. It takes hours and a lot of patience. I tried different fish bones, boiling methods, and even learned how to make pork lard properly after burning my first batch.”

The result is a fish soup that’s creamy, rich, and unmistakably Cantonese. “Our soup is boiled for at least three hours with a lot of bones. Some say it’s too fishy, but that’s because it’s so concentrated. It’s not diluted.”

While Cedric is pivoting to small-batch soup production, his siblings are also moving on to new chapters. His sister, who was previously involved in the business, now works as a veterinary technician. His brother plans to return to programming and is seeking a more stable role in IT after previously running his own e-commerce infrastructure company.

Try these dishes before they’re gone…

Ka-Soh’s last day of operations is 28 September. Till then, you can still head down to Greenwood Avenue to tuck into some of the eatery’s signature dishes:

Prawn Paste Chicken, $16 (8 Days Pick!)

Sliced Fish Hor Fun in Black Bean Sauce, $9 (8 Days Pick!)

San Lao Hor Fun, $10

Sliced Fish Noodle Soup, $9

Spare Pork Ribs, $20

Photos: Cedric Tang

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