The fitness instructor who makes and sells roast pork belly – and he's fully aware of the irony

It sounds like an oxymoron: A spin instructor, selling sinful roast pork belly from home. Which is what Brian Yeo, 28, has been doing since last October. The former full-time army regular finished his five-year contract in 2020 and switched careers to become a “rhythm cycling instructor” at Absolute Boutique Fitness Studio.

“I started taking spin classes in 2019 and fell in love with it and I have been teaching spin for three years now,” he told 8days.sg.

Spinning is a popular exercise that involves intense cycling on a stationary indoor bike set to fast-paced music, which Yeo demonstrates below:

SPIN INSTRUCTOR WHO SELLS SIEW YOKE (ROAST PORK BELLY)

It is ironic that the ripped, fit Yeo also has an Instagram-based sideline business called BelleyPig, selling roast pork belly that he makes at home. “It’s kind of funny and contradicting that a fitness professional is in the business of selling fatty, delicious roast pork belly but I have always been into fitness and food,” he said.

It sounds like a great way to recruit more spin class students after stuffing them with roast pork, we note. But Yeo clarified with a laugh: “People go to my spin class, then they buy my roast pork.”

His physically demanding job, which involves “working out 10 times a week”, allows him to indulge in his roast pork every Saturday night with his family. He keeps it as a small home-based operation, whipping up about 16 to 20 made-to-order portions by himself every weekend.

“It has always been a dream of mine to go into F&B. Before army, I was working as an assistant chef at Cafe Etc in Thomson and I have been cooking since I was 14 out of interest,” he shared.

ROAST PORK R&D

Roast pork belly was a dish he particularly liked. “I experimented with cooking it a few times and realised I was quite good at it,” he recalled.

When a friend suggested that he could earn some extra income from selling his homemade roasts, Yeo deep-dived into researching how to refine his roast pork.

“I went to try roast pork everywhere. I sat down at kopitiams and ate their roast pork rice and tried to turn it into something,” he sid.

He also sampled porchetta (Western-style slow-roasted pork belly roll) at an Italian restaurant and applied its cooking techniques to his own recipe. “After about three years of trial and error, I’d say I finally got it right,” Yeo said.

“PORCHETTA MIXED WITH CANTONESE SIEW YOKE”

The result of Yeo's R&D is a hybrid of “porchetta mixed with Cantonese siew yoke.” He explained: “I wanted the skin of a porchetta, which is round, on a flat surface pork for aesthetics. Chinese look, Western flavour.”

For instance, he omits the five-spice powder that is typically used to season Chinese-style roast pork belly. “I wanted to make roast pork belly that is not totally Chinese-inspired,” he pointed out.

ONE-MAN SHOW

All the cooking is done by Yeo at his family home in the Thomson area. Customers can order via a Google form on Belleypig’s Instagram page and pay S$15 for delivery or self-collect at his place (subjected to specific lunch and dinner time slots).

“So far I have people ordering every month. Christmas was quite big for me – my home oven almost exploded! My mum said I have to start contributing to our household electricity bill,” he joked.

Each portion of his Classic BelleyPig (1kg) is priced at S$60 and feeds four to five people. It comes with a complimentary container of his homemade garlic mustard sauce (S$5 for every extra portion). He also offers a Creamy Mashed Potatoes Side (S$4 a scoop, minimum two scoops) to go with his roast pork.

Up till recently, Yeo served a hybrid siew yoke-char siew “BBQ-flavoured BelleyPig” too but took it off the menu. It is basically a slab of pork that's crackly siew yoke on top and glazed char siew below.

“There weren't a lot of orders for this, so it’s quite troublesome to make it. My customers preferred the conventional roast pork. They didn’t like this little gimmicky stunt,” he laughed.

CLASSIC BELLEYPIG, S$60 FOR 1KG (FEEDS FOUR TO FIVE PEOPLE)

We tried the Classic BelleyPig via delivery, which arrived pre-sliced by Yeo, who wrapped it in parchment paper and foil. It smelt fab and was still warm after reaching us (reheating instructions are included with every order).

Unlike Cantonese siew yoke, the pork was not as fatty, with a fat-to-lean meat ratio similar to the Italian porchetta. It was not as succulent as Chinese roast pork belly but was still juicy and went well with the accompanying tangy garlic mustard sauce.

Our favourite part of the roast pork belly was the yummy skin – savoury rind that crackled to the bite. To achieve the prized crispy skin, a notoriously challenging feat, the pork belly rind is usually poked all over with a sharp skewer and seasoned with rice wine vinegar and Shaoxing wine before oven-roasting.

Yeo has a “secret” method for perforating the pork rind which he declined to reveal. “I want that to be a mystery because it’s my party trick,” he laughed.

He also doesn’t offer an option to portion his pork belly into Chinese-style bite-sized cubes, as he reasoned that it will cause the meat to dry out quickly. An additional charge of S$5 applies for folks who want their roast pork divided in half.

While he reckons that fitness is still his main job, Yeo doesn’t rule out opening a “specialty stall” if there is enough demand. “I’m looking to reach out to small restaurants to add my roast pork to their menus too,” he shared. 

This story was originally published in 8Days. 

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