'Secret codes' shouted in Coffeeshop

If you own a coffeeshop, you might be more familiar in the cultures than I do. I would like to share in this blog about some of the 'secret codes' that are commonly used in coffeeshop. Though you might not hear it as often as before, but you will know what it means when these codes are shouted across the coffeeshop.

Milo
If you order a cup of Milo (sweet cocoa drink), you might hear 'Tak Giu'. In chinese dialect, it means kick ball (usually referring to football). To connect 'tak giu' with milo, some of you might recall the milo advertisement on the soccer players and even have the drawings on the milo tin. Soccer is a common language across the world and so milo has been associated strongly with soccer this way. Strangely, for Ovaline (another cocoa drink brand), they simply call it 'Ah Hua Tian' (the Mandarin way of calling ovaline).

Tea
This one is very creative. They call it 'Diao Herh'. This is also chinese dialect which means 'fishing'. Perhaps they found that the tea bags attached to the string resembles fishing as they steep the tea bags in the cup of hot water with the action of hand, pulling and releasing the string. Then you'd twirl the strings around the cup handle, doesn't it resembles parking your fishing rod to wait for the fish?

Holicks
This one is quite rare but I was told that some call it 'Ho Ho Ho'. Some of you might be grinning by now because the old advertisment has the answer. For those who are lost, there was one part in the older Holicks advertisement singing 'Ho Ho Ho Holicks'. So that is the story about Holicks.

I guess that's how the hawker business survive with a little humour attached to the past. Perhaps it is also time for aspiring entrepreneurs can start or pioneer some new special codes and share it among our generations so that we can share about it to our children.

Opportunites and Dilemma at Lunar New Year

It's the third day of the Lunar New Year and I wish all bloggers and readers here a Happy Prosperous Lunar New Year. As a Chinese, Lunar New Year is a time for family get-together and for reunion dinner (on Lunar New Year Eve). It is also a time to visit our relatives and catch up with each other as we talk about the old days. For the younger ones, it is time to play some Mahjong tiles, poker cards and share chinese goodies together.

Food Business Phenomenon
With all these busy things to do during Lunar New Year, are there opportunities for food business? The answer is YES. By the way, it is a public holiday in Singapore on the first three days of Chinese New Year this year. Some food business would take at least one day off for their family, while the rest of them would work as usual. The fast food restaurants are among the first on the line, such as Mac Donald and KFC. As for the food hawkers, most of them are open on the second day of Lunar New Year. In addition, the food pricing are pasted over at their light box panel to a higher price (i.e $2.50 change to $3.00, etc).

Food Business Opportunity
In fact, most of the food business near entertainment centers are doing quite well with the constant crowd looking for food before or after the movies or carnivals for example. Pasar Malam (i.e. Mini Bazzaar) are strategically situated beside the carnival to catch the crowd.

Though visiting relatives are still traditionally practised, I think it is slowly fading off into an opportunity for a small family day. In addition, modern parents have grown to be more and more dependent on hawker and fast food that during festive seasons, it can be quite a hassle for them to cope with the home cooking while entertaining themselves at the same time. Thus, this modern trend becomes an advantage for food business owners to take profits during this festive season while they can.

The Dilemma
But sometimes, I wonder if it is really worth working so hard for their customers? Chinese New Year only comes once in a year and once it is passed, you have to wait for the next year that sometimes never comes because you know that you will continue on to work through the festive seasons anyway.

I think it is a dilemma for many food business who wants a good balance of family life besides having good business. In fact, it is one of the unspoken reasons why many aspiring food entrepreneurs decide not to take the step forward; to make this sacrifice if the business is not doing well or should the business require them to 'try their luck' during festive seasons and hopefully, take their share of profit.

It might be easy to think that it is the business owners' personal decision, but sometimes, it can also be a business decision. Whatever the reasons it may be, I am sure that the hawkers will find their way to enjoy themeslves while operating their food business during the festive seasons; with a pair of mandarin oranges to standy, and to wish their stall neighbours a Happy Prosperous New Year if they turn up for business. At the end, it is their patriotic customers who benefit if they open their food stalls during festive seasons.

No demand, No supply!

Case Study on Popular Food Stall

I recently visited a food business stall that sells wanton noodles and claim that their noodles are handmade. My mum didn't think the noodle taste good and the portion is often small, but the queue is long. I wonder why. After observing for a few months, I have decided to try their food.

Personally, I think the noodles are not as salty as a typical wanton noodle stall. My sensory taste bud indicates that there is no vinegar added to make it more exciting. As for the wanton (i.e. fried dumplings), there seems to be a strong flavour which I suspect is the lard and I didn't really like it as well. I was dumbfounded for a moment and then, curiously decided to explore the possible reasons on how they draw their customers.

1) Their marketing campaign

Their marketing strategy is simple. They set up posters and banners about their stall, targeting to customers who likes:-

1) handmade food

2) food stall that has many historical years

As compared to other food stalls, their signage is contrasting and the photo picture of the noodle is included at the top panel signage.

2) The Food Presentation

Though the bowls were comparatively smaller, the rooster print on the bowl makes it oriental. As for the noodles, the chilli or ketchup sauce gives the food a bright and exciting red colour. So much for the excitement that comes from the small bowl!! In addition, you get two types of wanton (Fried type and the Soup type) and not forgeting the char siew (Sliced red barbeque pork).

3) The Long Queue

Sometimes, playing with human psychologically can be interesting. Typically, when you see long queue, it usually means that the food is good. The existing crowd indeed has successfully bring in more crowd to the queue. It is so amazing that I decided to join in the queue despite knowing that the bowl is smaller and perhaps, the portion is smaller too as compared to their nearby competitor's with the same price tagged.

4) The Right Size

Perhaps we couldn't tell what really should be the right daily portion anymore and this stall made the strategic move toward lesser salt, more handmade (normally indicates fresher food materials) and with a smaller portion, it can prevent your custoomer from over-eating. I was surprised that I didn't feel hungry though I still feel that the portion is a little too small for my liking. Pehaps, it is the beginning of my self-discovery that hints the industry could be over-feeding the local crowds here. Still, I would sympathize with those who usually takes twice my portion as they might find it more difficult to get used to the portion size the stall provides. But, to the stall vendors, it means more income to their food business if you buy two bowls!!

Favourite Indian/Malay Food Centers

Competition amond hawker vendors are always good. It brings out the best food from the stalls and it ultimately benefits the consumers with higher quality food with more reccomendations. We are afterall a consumer ourselves too.

So, today, I shall blog about my favourite Indian Food Hawker stalls. My favourite hawker centers for Indian food are located at 'Zhu Jiao Food Center' (near Little India NEL train station) and 'Seah Im Food Center' (near Harbour Front NEL train station). I like their location because they are very accessible to the train station.

Zhu jiao Market and Food Center (Tekka Market)

Though as a Singaporean, I have only been there less than 10 times, but I love their vibrance, especially in the morning. If you walk into the wet market, you'll see a variety of vegetables, fruits and meat available for sale. I like to visit the food center in the morning maybe because I like their roti prata (or roti canai as you call it in Malaysia) that we dip in the special curry sauce or thickened chick pea sauce. It is quite cheap as well (around S$0.50 to S$0.70 for plain and S$1.00 with egg inside the prata). If you choose the seat in front of the stall, you get to see how they prepare the roti prata and at the back of your mind, you might be wondering how it is to prepare the prata while spining, and folding a seal with the egg inside the prata. However, if you are someone who is particular about cleanliness, you might not enjoy the gastronomic experience. This food center is also one where you can see many Malays and Indians patronizing the food stalls as there are many that is certified 'Halal'. 'Halal' certifications is typically prominent at the front panel of the stall with a 'Halal' logo.

If you are looking for halal certified food stalls, you can visit this website or simply look up from MUIS (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura) website. In Singapore, a multi-racial and culture society, it is quite disrespectful if you cross contaminate the Halal food with Haram food (non-Halal). For example, you shouldn't use their forks to pick up food that is Haram, unless the utensils are disposables. This can upset some Muslims consumers and bring inconvenience and additional costs for the Hawker vendors.

Besides the all-time-favourite roti prata, there is the exotic drinks you can find that differentiate from the Chinese drinks stall. They have the tea (teh tarik) and coffee (kopi tarik) 'pulled'. The 'pulled' action is simply to cool and form the bubbles by transferring from one mug to another. If you like the spiciness of ginger, you can try the ginger tea (teh alia); just be mentally prepared that it can get really hot and spicy for some. If you like a coconut rich and sweet beverage, you might like cendol. Other favourite drinks are lassi (indian yoghurt drink).

Seah Inn Food Center

To me, this is a mini Indian food center. It is very well sheltered from the NEL train station and Harbour Front shopping center. As far as I can remember, there really isn't any wet market there and the hawker center is much smaller than Zhujiao center. You can still get the tarik and the ginger drinks. In the morning, you can find the people working at nearby office patronize the finger food at the stalls (like curry puffs and other kuehs). The pricing is slightly higher than Zhu jiao food center though. Another of my favourite food is the spicy mutton soup (kambing soup) with a few pieces of baguette. There are other places that sells kambing soup, but I think it is more of a convenience for me. I guess I enjoyed the kambing soup especially with my boyfriend, on rainy days. A good kambing will keep you really warm on a cold and rainy day. Just in case, Chinese mutton soup is different to Indian Mutton soup. Chinese mutton soup is clearer and the main spice used is usually ginger based while the Indian mutton soup is richer in spices and the soup colour is usually has yellow-brown tinge in colour. If you like to see the picture of Kambing soup, you can take a look at this blog.

Other Favourite Indian Food stalls
These two food centers are definitely not the only ones with great Indian and Malay food variety. The other food stalls I like to patronize is opposite Beauty World shopping complex where there is also Halal tim sum where I can enjoy the food with my muslim friends. It is not really a hawker center but you'll see a whole stretch of coffeeshops. My post is getting longer here but I want to add just one more food place: the hawker centre opposite Golden mile complex. Kambing soup is available there as well.

I remembered it was the food center where I have my first exposure to Sup Tulang (Big bone marrow juice). You'll get a straw and suck out the marrow juice from the bones. It was my first time seeing it then and the whole thing is marinated with red colouring and spices. I didn't dare to eat it so if you tried it, do tell me what you think about it.

Other related article
1) Wikipedia -Tekka Market
2) Map of Tekka Market
3) Sup Kambing picture from blog
4) Red Sup Tulang picture from blog