Popular Burger Hawker Stall Hambaobao Reopens As Hip Café After Two-Year Hiatus

Their September 20 reopening coincidentally fell on the brand’s seventh birthday — the couple opened their hawker stall back in September 20, 2014 after graduating from polytechnic (Ryan has a diploma in food, nutrition & culinary science, while his wife specialised in nursing). "It just happened that things fell into place and we reopened exactly on the same day [seven years later]," Ryan tells us.

Their hipster burgers — back when artisanal hawker centre burgers were still a rarity — crafted with housemade patties and sauces at affordable prices made them a hit. 8days.sg featured them back in the good old days of print.

After five years at the hawker centre, they announced their final day of service via Facebook. Ryan tells us that the closure was part of the couple's plan. "We gave ourselves a five-year period to assess what we wanted in life," he shares. “Business never slowed down back then, but we wanted to try something new while taking care of Lilith (their daughter, now three).”

During their hiatus, Clare worked as a wedding planner while her hubby stayed at home to raise their kid, occasionally operating pop-up burger stations at events before the pandemic. Ryan also ran a couple of pop-ups at bakery-café Yeast Side and beer bar Orh Gao Taproom, both in Bukit Timah, earlier this year. Eventually, Clare left the wedding planning company due to personal reasons, and the couple decided to venture back into the F&B world. “The hour-long queue at our Yeast Side pop-up was a good reminder of how popular our stall at Beauty World Food Centre was,” Ryan tells us. “I never gave up on F&B. Serving affordable, good food has always been my passion even if it’s not in a hawker setting.”

He continues: “Take the hawker stall at Beauty World as a trial, and the cafe now as the ‘full’ thing. The focus is still on burgers and flavour.”

Their newly-opened cafe is a roomy, industrial hip 30-seater that’s fully air-conditioned. You’ll have to order and pay at the counter yourself, but the food is served to you.

"We always had plans to start again," Ryan says. "However, we couldn't open another hawker stall again due to Clare's eczema [which would flare up in the heat of a hawker centre]."

Great for the 'gram is this funky mural. The couple’s daughter, affectionately nicknamed ‘xiaobaobao’ (a pun on burger, which has a similar pronunciation as “baby” in Mandarin) poses in front of it.

On the menu are its five signature burgers with all the house-made flourishes. Prices are a tad higher – expect to pay about $2.50 more on average for a burger versus its hawker stall days. Some examples include The Classic Beef ($7.50), the mod Sin Ayam Buah Keluak ($8) and Crispy Pork Belly ($8; pictured below) The price hike is understandable, since you’ll be seated in a comfy, air-conditioned space now.

There's also a new selection of cheekily-named bakes on the menu, like the Not Cream Pie ($5), which is actually a key lime pie; along with Peranakan-style desserts like Mama G’s Sugee Cake ($4.50) and Apom Berkuah ($5), an old-school butterfly pea flower-tinged pancake. Craft beers on tap will be available soon.

Hambaobao is at #03-08, Trio, 11 Sam Leong Rd, S207903. Tel: 9667-5254. Open daily from noon – 9pm. More info via Facebook and Instagram.

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Photos: Hambaobao