Hot on the heels of news that Mongkok congee stall Mui Kee will a restaurant here on March 26, popular cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style food) chain Tsui Wah is set to open its debut outlet in Singapore.
The outlet will be at 01-03, 3A River Valley Road - the ground floor premises that Attica club vacated in July last year.
Bringing Tsui Wah to Singapore is The Jumbo Group, a home-grown a restaurant company that runs 15 restaurants in Singapore including Jumbo Seafood, JPot and Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh.
The Jumbo Group is teaming up with Kang Wang Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tsui Wah Holdings, to launch Tsui Wah’s foray in Southeast-Asia.
Mr. Ang Kiam Meng, group CEO and executive director of The Jumbo Group, says: “This is part of our group’s strategy to grow our network of restaurants, and to further strengthen our foothold in Singapore. We intend to capitalise on the popularity and growth potential of the Hong Kong-style “cha chaan teng” market in Singapore to broaden our local customer base.”
Tsui Wah, which has 70 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau and China, started out as a neighbourhood cafe, Ice Cafe in Mong Kok. In 1989, owner, Mr Choi Cheung Po developed the brand into a cha chaan teng restaurant chain, Tsui Wah, which is a combination of the Cantonese words for “evergreen” and “Chinese” - driven by his aspiration to promote Chinese food around the world.
Tsui Wah is known for serving up hearty Cantonese-style Chinese and Western food. Signature dishes include toasted buns with condensed milk; shredded pork and mushrooms with fried noodles; Kagoshima-style pork cartilage with instant noodles and the jumbo frankfurter hotdog. The food is best washed down with a cup of milk tea that is brewed with Ceylon tea leaves and has Holland’s Black & White evaporated milk stirred into it for a frothy finish.
Tsui Wah’s entry into the Singapore market marks a trend of Hong Kong eateries expanding to Singapore. Over the past few years, eateries such as Honolulu Cafe, which is known for its flaky egg tarts, Tai Cheong Bakery, Mak’s Noodles, Jenny Bakery, The Coffee Academics have set up shop here.