Sunday Times feature: Ang moh hawkers

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Oct 28, 2007
Ang Moh hawkers
A Caucasian selling Western food in the heartlands? It's becoming the norm, and Singaporeans love it

By Huang Lijie

IT MIGHT sound crazy - Singaporeans willing to wait more than an hour for burgers or fish and chips, but this has been happening at Crazy Ang Mo in Bishan for the last week.

The month-old coffee shop stall is run by Australian Paul Crinis, the honeypot that has been drawing in the bees.

Many like finance director Teo Lee Huang, 50, come because they are fascinated by the idea of a Caucasian selling Western food in an HDB coffee shop.

Another customer, Madam Catherine Chua, who is self-employed and in her 50s, adds: 'It's not every day you see an ang moh (Hokkien for Caucasian) selling food in a coffee shop, much less one willing to call himself crazy.'

The stall received a good rating in LifeStyle's Cheap And Good column last week, and had already built a strong following, judging from the electronic queue system Mr Crinis put in.

That said, Caucasian food vendors setting up shop in heartland locations isn't new.

Austrian-born Erich Sollbock has been selling German sausages in Chinatown since 2004 and Belgian Sebastien Lhode started selling Belgian waffles in the Golden Mile Food Centre earlier this year.

But if the constant expansion of Botak Jones, an American food joint opened by Detroit native Bernie Utchenik in 2003, is any indication, burgers, steaks and fish and chips sold by Westerners seem to be the way to capture the imagination and stomachs of Singaporeans.

'I like Western food and these Caucasian-owned outlets are more likely to offer authentic flavours than local Western food stalls,' says student Tham Tuck Wah, 19, who has patronised both Crazy Ang Mo and Botak Jones and prefers the latter.

It doesn't hurt, of course, that their owners have larger-than-life personalities.

They refused to be drawn into discussing each other, but told LifeStyle how they have grown such a following.

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Oct 28, 2007
What a Crazy loudmouth

HE IS loud, boisterous and fits right in with the other local hawkers who beckon passers-by with calls to patronise their stalls.

Australian Paul Crinis, 34, is the owner of Crazy Ang Mo in Bishan. But when he first came to Singapore in 2000 as a tennis coach, he felt out of place.

'I'm from Wollongong where people are more expressive,' he says of the city in New South Wales. 'Here, however, people are generally reserved, so I often came across as being loudmouthed.'

After leaving school at the age of 16, he helped at his father's produce store selling everything from fruit and vegetables to bread and eggs.

Eager to make his own mark at 21, he sold potatoes door-to-door in his hometown, which became a fresh produce wholesale business.

But after five years, he grew bored of the business and, through a friend's recommendation, found a job in Singapore as a tennis coach. He started a tennis coaching school in 2001 and now runs a tennis and swimming school.

He met his Singaporean wife, Ms Ong Bee Ling, 33, at a pub in Mohamed Sultan Road in 2001. She is now Crazy Ang Mo's operations manager and they have a five-year-old daughter, La-Mia.

The businessman in him saw a demand for Australian food, so in August, he decided to open a store selling burgers in the Orchard Hotel Shopping Arcade. But talks fell through.

The day he learnt of the news, however, he ended up securing a unit at the Hawkerway coffee shop in Bishan. 'I was waiting for some materials to be photocopied nearby and popped into the coffee shop for a drink. I struck up a conversation with the coffee shop manager and learnt that they have a vacant outlet so I grabbed the opportunity.'

From the get-go, his store - which he invested some $30,000 into - has been doing well. He sold more than 120 orders of fish and chips and more than 80 Crazy Burgers With The Lot on the opening day. Last week, the numbers doubled.

The self-taught chef who grew up with backyard barbecues has now taken over the adjacent stall at the coffee shop to increase food production and reduce the waiting time for customers.

The ambitious man hopes to expand the current 10-item menu to include Australian dinners such as lamb roast on Sundays and oxtail stew in the future.

As for branching out, he says: 'I'm on good terms with the owner of Hawkerway and should he open more outlets in ideal locations, I'll definitely consider setting up shop within.'

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'You must learn to crawl before you can walk. Right now, I want to focus on doing one thing at a time'
Mr Crinis on shelving his plan to also open a pizza and pasta store at the same coffee shop

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Oct 28, 2007
Botak that grew and grew

BOTAK Jones owner Bernie Utchenik was placing advertisements for his stall in The Finder, a magazine for expatriates here, a year before he opened his burger stall. It ran in 2002 with just the name 'Botak Jones' and the logo of a botak, or bald, man.

'I wanted people to start wondering what this Botak Jones was about,' says the 55-year-old American of Ukrainian descent, who came to Singapore in 1993 as an engineer with an oil service company.

No one's scratching his head over what the name means now.

Four years after the first Botak Jones opened in an industrial park canteen in Tuas, the business has grown to include five other outlets in heartland coffee shops and foodcourts located in Ang Mo Kio, Clementi, Toa Payoh, Depot Road and Woodlands.

The self-taught chef, who makes almost 90 per cent of what he sells from scratch, including the dressings and sauces, is adamant about selling authentic American food, both in flavour and portion.

'I don't want my customers who eventually visit the US and try the food there to say, 'Aiyah, Botak Jones' food is not like it is here'.'

He also opened Brewski Jones, a standalone pub stall in the same foodcourt as his Toa Payoh outlet earlier this year.

And he has more up his sleeves: Look out for Spaghetti Jones opening next to his Depot Road outlet this week. It will be serving American-style pastas such as Cajun chicken spaghetti.

A seventh Botak Jones outlet will open in Bedok in December and, yes, there's even going to be a Sawadee Jones selling Thai food, Mr Utchenik's favourite cuisine, some time in the future.

He also started a catering arm two months ago. It has been catering two events a week on average.

The Singapore permanent resident is no newcomer to the F&B scene. He was a partner of the popular Bernie's Restaurant in Changi Garden but left in 1999 to open gastropub Bernie Goes To Town in Boat Quay. Though it drew in the crowds, high overheads forced him to close it in 2000.

He was depressed for a brief spell but after attending a seminar by motivational guru Anthony Robbins in 2001, where he walked on hot coals, the plucky man was back on his feet.

He is married without kids and met wife Faudziah Utchenik, 45, some 10 years ago when she was working near Bernie's. She is the director of Great Big Food, the parent company of Botak Jones.

With the expansion of the Botak chain, maintaining the consistency of his food is crucial, so staff at each outlet do a daily taste test of the food they receive from a 5,000 sq ft central kitchen in Defu Lane.

And the next thing he wants people to be puzzling over is 'David Roe'. 'All I'll say is that it refers to a person and it has to do with my food business.'

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'It refers to a person and it has to do with my food business'
Mr Utchenik on his David Roe project

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Oct 28, 2007
Crazy Ang Mo vs Botak Jones

LIFESTYLE gets its restaurant critic Wong Ah Yoke(WAY), 46, and burger-loving teenager Ryan Lee(RL), 15, to try out the food at Crazy Ang Mo and Botak Jones. They did the tastings anonymously and separately over two days last week.

Crazy Ang Mo
Block 279, Bishan Street 24, 01-62/64. Open: 11am to 10pm (Mon - Thu), 11am to 11pm (Fri), 8am to midnight (Sat) and 8am to 9pm (Sun)

Crazy Burger With The Lot ($7.90)

WAY: The thin slice of beef patty didn't impress me and was too soft for my liking. But it was not dry.

What I liked were the other ingredients. Aside from the usual suspects like lettuce and melted cheese, there was also a fried egg, a pineapple ring and beetroot slices. When you chomp into it, you got a mix of savoury and sweet flavours that was good enough to make you forgive the poor patty.

Rating: ***

RL: The pineapple, beetroot, fried egg and bacon each has a flavour that's so distinct, I ended up feeling confused about what's in my mouth. The patty was rather flat, lacked seasoning and on the dry side. The bun wasn't toasted either, so it became soggy quickly from the beetroot juice.

Rating: ***

Fish & Chips ($6.50)

WAY: The batter was decent - not too hard but not exceptionally light either. It was pretty tasty though. But the fish was too soft and crumbled when you cut through the batter.

Rating: **

RL: I wasn't impressed by the oil on the batter, although I liked its crispiness. The fish was a little mushy, and because the meat crumbled rather than flaked, its overall texture was not as smooth.

Rating: *** 1/2

Steak ($11.90)

WAY: I ordered the steak medium rare but it came well-done. The thin piece of meat was hard and dried out. But the fat, hand-cut chips were fluffy inside and crisp outside, and tasted pretty wonderful. They were the best part of the dish.

Rating:** for steak, **** for steak chips

RL: I ordered the steak medium rare. Save for the first bite, which was uncooked and impossible to chew, the rest of the steak was cooked right. It wasn't dry but it could've been juicier.

I liked how the steak chips were crispy and packed a potato punch.

Rating: *** for steak, *** for steak chips

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Botak Jones
970A Toa Payoh North. Open: 11am to 10pm daily

U Crazy What?! Burger ($14)

WAY: This is for those who like their beef. It came with three plump patties on a bed of sliced lettuce, onion and tomato.

The patties were a bit juicier than those I bought from the same stall about two months ago. But the burger was boring if you had wanted to taste more than beef. There just weren't enough other flavours to tickle the palate.

Rating: ** 1/2

RL: How do you eat a burger with three patties stacked so high? I had to put two patties aside.

I liked that the bun was toasted, which brings out the fragrance of the butter. The patty here was good. It was soft, juicy and meaty.

Rating: **** 1/2

Fish & Chips ($6.50)

WAY: This was plain bad. The batter was hard, and while you could see flakes of fish inside, they tasted strange, as though they had been frozen for too long.

Rating: * 1/2

RL: I liked the batter which was crunchy. The fish was moist and soft yet firm. It flaked in my mouth and had a naturally sweet taste.

Rating: **** 1/2

200g Ribeye Steak ($14.50)

WAY: The meat came medium rare like I ordered, but it was very tough. The accompanying spicy fries were sprinkled with a garlicky spice powder and tasted like an addictive supermarket snack.

Rating: ** for steak, *** 1/2 for fries

RL: My medium-rare steak was cooked right. When I cut into it, it oozed with juice. I also loved the spicy fries. They were crispy and tasted like flavoured potato chips, which I have a weakness for.

Rating: **** for steak, *** for fries

The bottom line

WAY: I'm not a big fan of either stall but I say Crazy Ang Mo serves better food and at better prices. But would I wait an hour again for its burger and fries? The Ang Mo may be crazy but I'm not.

RL: Botak Jones edges out with its great service, value-for-money and quality of food.

Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn No. 198402868E

BrUtUs SG

angmo hawker better… cheena one is crap…

Aaron8209 SG

I love their type of beef…is fking awesome…sad singapore mac so small e burger…

^tamago^ SG

wham! burger’s patties are also nice…