His grandmother founded popular Hock Heng Fish Soup stall but he decided to strike out on his own after learning the ropes
Max Tan's new stall, Imperial Fish Soup, which he started with his childhood friend, is drawing queues and has grandma's stamp of approval.
If you think its concept sounds a lot like the popular Hock Heng Fish Soup’s, that’s because one of Imperial’s owners, Max Tan, 34, is a third-generation hawker.
His grandma founded Hock Heng at Sims Vista Food Centre in the ’90s and now Max’s uncle runs it with his son. Their second outlet at Upper Boon Keng Hawker Centre is helmed by two other uncles.
TRAINED BY HIS UNCLE BUT DECIDED TO STRIKE OUT ON HIS OWN
Though Max never had much interest in F&B in the past, things changed after he helped out at the Sims Vista stall in 2020 when he was laid off from his job as a forex dealer in a remittance firm.
He spent a year working at Hock Heng's HQ, learning the ropes from one of his uncles, and that experience was enough to inspire Max to become a hawker.
“I feel the food [at Hock Heng] is really very nice and good food has to be passed down [so future generations can enjoy it]. When I first started cooking there, I was afraid customers would not be used to my cooking, but the outcome was pretty good. I felt a sense of achievement when people told me it’s good,” shares Max.
Rather than carry on the Hock Heng legacy, Max decided to strike out on his own. Together with pal Jerry Neo, also 34, whom he has known since they were classmates in Naval Base Primary School, they invested around $30,000 (US$22,300) to open Imperial on Jun 7. Jerry, who runs his own container logistics business, is also a fan of Hock Heng’s fish soup.
Said Max: “My grandma retired around 20 years ago and now my uncle runs Hock Heng with his son who will eventually take over the business, so I felt it’s better for me to start my own brand. Furthermore, I have my own ideas and there might be conflict if I try to suggest new things or change their mindset ’cos my relatives are very traditional.”
He added: “My family has been very supportive, and my uncles are also fine with me using the family recipes, so in that sense, they encouraged me to strike out on my own.”
GRANDMA SAYS MAX'S FISH SOUP IS BETTER THAN UNCLE'S AT ORIGINAL STALL
Imperial’s menu is similar to Hock Heng’s. To prepare for his first hawker venture, Max went to Hock Heng to observe how his relatives prepared ingredients like the broth, sauces and chilli. He and Jerry spent a couple weeks on R&D, tweaking the recipe for the broth to “something we prefer”.
“I cannot say we improved on their recipe ’cos my uncle’s standard is already very high but we changed the soup slightly so it is more flavourful, but still keeping to the traditional taste,” shared Max.
The biggest compliment was when Max’s 92-year-old grandmother gave him her stamp of approval.
“My grandma came to my stall to try our food and I was very happy when she said my fish soup is better than my uncle’s. But other than that, I cannot compare to them, and I also don’t want to compare to them. I feel their food is a lot better than mine,” he added modestly.
STALL OPENS AT 7AM
The guys who humorously dub themselves “hawkers in black” (they are almost always in all-black), currently run the stall themselves. Max does most of the cooking while Jerry helps prepare ingredients and takes orders.
“[Max] is more familiar with the cooking, so he helms the kitchen during peak hours,” said Jerry.
“This is an elderly neighbourhood, and the customers have a lot of special requests like less oil or less chilli. Sometimes when you get their orders wrong, they will tell you off.”
While business was a little slow at the start, things have begun to pick up, thanks to word of mouth about their tasty fish soup and signature dry noodles. During peak hours, the stall often has a queue and they move around 300 bowls daily, not bad for a one-month-old business.
“Old people like to eat dry noodles for breakfast and we get quite a decent crowd in the early morning. We can sell around 30 bowls in an hour; this is why we open at 7am. We wish we could open even earlier but our bodies can’t handle it. As it is, we wake up at 4am,” said Jerry with a laugh.
THE MENU
There are six soupy offerings, including the Sliced Fish Soup (S$5.50), Seafood Soup (S$5.50), and Fish Head Soup (S$5.50), which are served with xiao bai cai, lettuce, tofu cubes, tomato wedges and seaweed. Rice will cost an extra 50 cents.
If you prefer noodles, there is the signature Seafood Noodles (S$5), Fishball Noodles ($3.50) and Sliced Fish Noodles (S$5). Customers can choose from seven types of noodles including mee pok, thick bee hoon and mee sua.
SLICED FISH SOUP, S$5.50
Imperial only offers one type of fish soup: Teochew-style clear broth with batang slices.
While we’ve never tried Hock Heng’s sliced fish soup, we enjoy Imperial’s take on it. Made by brewing fish bones, chicken broth, yellow beans and ikan bilis for a couple of hours, the soup is light yet flavourful, with a natural sweetness and fragrance of ginger.
Our bowl comes with seven meaty slices of seasoned batang, which are perfectly cooked and very fresh. The dish also has a generous serving of xiao bai cai, blanched to crunchy just the way we like it.
SEAFOOD NOODLES, S$5
At Jerry’s recommendation, we opt for the dry version of Seafood Noodles which is the stall’s bestseller. Tossed with ketchup, a soya sauce blend, punchy housemade hae bee-spiked chilli and amped up with crispy fried lard, our mee kia is nicely springy and has a spicy kick. Don’t expect it to taste vinegary like bak chor mee, but this is delish nonetheless.
It is adorned with two medium-sized sweet and crunchy glass prawns, sliced batang and two handmade fishballs, which are the highlight for us. The bouncy orbs are slightly misshapen with a subtle brininess. Comes with a small bowl of soup on the side.
FISHBALL NOODLES, S$3.50
No-frills dish with five fishballs, veggies and your choice of noodles in soup. While we enjoy the slurp-worthy kway teow and affordable price tag, the soup is fairly bland due to the lack of ingredients like tomatoes and tofu. We recommend going for the dry version instead.
BOTTOM LINE
While we’re not usually fans of light Teochew-style fish soup, we found ourselves enjoying Imperial’s for its slightly more robust, comforting flavours, and tasty fish slices. The yummy dry seafood noodles, with its fresh and hearty ingredients, also hit the spot. Worth a visit, especially if you are a fish soup lover.
Imperial Fish Soup is at #01-72, Ang Mo Kio 628 Market, 628 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4, Singapore 560628. Open daily except Sat, 7am to 3pm. More info on Instagram and Facebook.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
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