Popular Japanese Food Hawker Opens Standalone Eatery After 3-Year Hiatus, $8.80 Chicken Nanban & $9.80 Mentaiko Pasta On Menu

16 years of restaurant experience

Prior to opening his hawker stall, Samuel worked as sous chef at Japanese restaurant, Dashi Master Marusaya. He has 16 years of experience as a cook, having climbed the ranks from Junior Cook to Sous Chef over the years at multiple restaurants. Before working at Dashi Master, he was Junior Sous Chef at Japanese restaurant Suju Masayuki at Mandarin Gallery, and a cook at Italian spots Pasta Brava and Garibaldi. 

Despite having a steady career, the chef says he eventually quit his restaurant jobs as he always wanted to start his own business. “When you run your own business, you can choose what you want to sell, and if you work harder, you can earn more. When you’re working for others, it’s always a fixed salary,” he says.

Spent $80K to upgrade from hawker stall to standalone eatery

Samuel opened his stall Koryori Hayashi in 2017, serving a simple menu of basic Japanese dons and pasta. At the time, he ran his stall with his mum, who now only helps out at his eatery occasionally. Currently, the father of one runs the stall with two hired staff, and his wife, who has a full-time job in sales, comes down on weekends to help. 

In the three years between Koryori Hayashi’s hawker stall closure and recent upgrade as an eatery, Samuel spent most of his time taking care of his father and grandmother, while looking for a place to relocate to. He also worked a few short-term F&B jobs as a cook at other Japanese eateries (he declines to name them).

Though he was drawing decent profits at Amoy Street, Samuel chose to open a standalone eatery at Fortune Centre to expand his menu. He explains: “The hawker centre has limited space, which limits what I can do. I’ve worked in many restaurants before, so I wanted to be able to showcase more of what I can do.

He invested around $30K to open his hawker stall in 2017, and now, around $80K to upgrade to an eatery. Despite forking out $50K more to open this shop, Samuel is positive that he’ll be able to recoup the investment costs: “So far, my sales have been improving daily, so I’m quite optimistic!”, he shares. 

“20 percent larger” portions, better meat 

As expected, Koryori Hayashi’s menu is slightly pricier now - for instance, a bowl of Mentaiko Pasta costs $9.80 now instead of $7.50 previously, while his Katsu Dons cost $8.80 instead of $6.50. 

However, Samuel justifies the new prices, saying his portions are now “10 to 20 percent” bigger, and uses better cuts of meat. “Prices have gone up everywhere, but I still try to keep it low within my capabilities. Now I’m using [better] meat like Spanish pork collar instead of pork belly, and Canadian pork loin. I try to incorporate these ingredients at a reasonable price,” he explains.  Of course, there’s also air-conditioning here unlike at a hawker centre.

The majority of dishes on his menu are under $10. “There are many students in the area, from schools like NAFA, SMU and Lasalle. So I try to do what I can, because I think prices outside are getting unreasonable,” he says. 

The menu

Though he has introduced new menu items like ice cream (from $2.50) and appetisers like fresh oysters ($3.80), his mains have remained unchanged for now. So expect old faves like his best-selling Mentaiko Pasta ($9.80) and Chicken Nanban Don ($8.80). 

What’s special about these dishes? “For the Chicken Nanban (fried chicken with tartar sauce), I don’t think you can find this tartar sauce anywhere else. Though it’s a common dish, [other places] usually use normal tartar sauce, but here, I use a more Japanese-inspired tartar sauce, with ebiko, tobiko and katsuobushi (dried fish flakes) added to it,” Samuel says. Meanwhile, his Mentaiko Pasta comes chock full with anchovies and prawns - “quite a lot for $9.80”, according to Samuel. 

He adds that he’s trying to incorporate some Italian dishes into his menu as well. “I do have a background in Italian cooking, so I had some pasta specials like the truffle mushroom pasta. I offer Italian dishes seasonally, ’cos I’m still trying to capture the crowd here that’s different from my hawker clientele previously,” he says. He also plans to introduce ramen to his menu. 

Koryori Hayashi is at #02-14 Fortune Centre, 190 Middle Rd, S188979. Open Mon - Sat 11am - 3pm. Closed on Sun. Tel: 9655 8761. 

Photos: Koryori Hayashi

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