Vivian Lai “Lookalike” Nasi Lemak Hawker Opens Restaurant, Spent $170K On New Outlet
8days.sg readers may remember hawker stall 97 Nasi Lemak for its owner Ellis Phua, whom netizens claimed looked like Mediacorp actress Vivian Lai. The brand now boasts three outlets at Old Airport Road, North Bridge Road and Senja Close, and had just opened its first air-conditioned self-service eatery at Raffles Quay on 1 October. The fancier CBD standalone joint is in the midst of obtaining its halal certification.
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97 Nasi Lemak first opened a stall at Old Airport Road Food Centre in 2021, and is known for its wallet-friendly Chinese-style nasi lemak.
Ellis’s story went viral on 8days.sg, and some curious netizens went down to check out her nasi lemak joint. Interestingly, the Vivian Lai “lookalike” shares that unlike initially, she doesn’t often get recognised as the Mediacorp actress’s twin these days. “Some customers who’ve just met me might feel, for a moment, [that I bear a passing] resemblance to Vivian Lai — that's all," she says simply. While Ellis doesn’t know if the actress ever paid one of her 97 Nasi Lemak stalls a visit, she says “we would be absolutely thrilled to have her as a guest one day”. Vivian — if you’re reading this, you know who to hit up.
In an earlier interview with 8days.sg, the hawker shared that she worked as a sales and operations executive at an F&B company and ran her own fashion biz before quitting in 2018 when her late mother contracted cancer. After her mother passed on, she decided to become a hawker to “share memories of [her] mother’s cooking”, especially her nasi lemak.
Pumped $170K into new outlet
Ellis and her husband co-own 97 Nasi Lemak. They manage operations, taking turns to visit different outlets daily. The couple invested around $170K into their new CBD eatery.
While she says “business at the other three hawker stalls is okay”, Ellis admits they’ve “yet to recuperate [their] total investments [on the hawker joints]", a low six-figure sum in addition to what they've spent on the latest outlet. Despite that, she decided to expand the biz as she wanted to “offer an elevated dining experience”, plus the new office-friendly location “allows greater flexibility in terms of menu offerings”.
More atas eatery in the CBD
The modern but simple 27-seater joint is located in the basement of Hong Leong Building.
Outlet-exclusive menu and higher prices
The Hong Leong outlet sells nasi lemak sets starting from $5.80 with sotong or fish fillet as a main dish and goes up to $7.90 for ayam masak merah and chicken curry. Given its more premium location, prices are understandably steeper than the chain’s hawker stalls, which sell nasi lemak sets ranging from $3 to $4. (FYI: Her cheapest nasi lemak set used to cost $2.60, but that’s a thing of the past thanks to inflation).
Here, patrons can try four new outlet-exclusive items: Ayam Goreng Berempah ($7.30 a set; $3.30 a la carte), Sambal Goreng ($1.50), Sambal Prawn ($3) and Chilli Potatoes ($1.50).
Ellis recommends the Ayam Goreng Berempah, marinated with a spice blend of turmeric, lemongrass, coriander seeds, cumin and fennel.
Of course, 97 Nasi Lemak’s existing signature dishes are also available here. Namely, the Ayam Masak Merah ($7.90 a set), Sotong Fillet ($5.80/set) and Chicken Wing ($6.30 a set). Each set comes with the usual suspects of coconut rice, fried egg, sambal, Japanese cucumber, ikan bilis and peanuts.
Ellis and hubby plan to continue expanding these standalone casual eatery versions of 97 Nasi Lemak while running their existing hawker stalls.
97 Nasi Lemak’s new outlet is located at #B1-31/32 Hong Leong Building, 16 Raffles Quay, S048581. Open Mon - Fri 7am - 3pm (Closed Sat & Sun). More info via Facebook.
Photos: 97 Nasi Lemak, Alvin Teo
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