As far as chai tow kway hawker stall names go, newly opened fusion carrot cake joint Rad Dish is as punny as it gets. “Well, carrot cake is made of radish,” reasons Kasper Neo (pictured left), 27. “And it’s a rad (slang for good) dish.” The young hawker opened Rad Dish in a kopitiam off Ayer Rajah Food Centre on July 12 with James Tan (right in pic), 28, a Malaysian-born permanent resident whom he met at a mahjong game just last year.

Their stall’s sleek signage and fancy acrylic menu look a little more suited to a mall or cafe, and here, spice levels are offered by percentage, akin to the sweetness levels typical of bubble tea stall menus.

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After all, Kasper’s first plan in F&B, born out of four years working across multiple bubble tea shops like Xin Fu Tang, was to start his own bubble tea brand. “I already prepped the logo and everything,” he says. “But because of Covid-19, I decided not to do it. It’s hard to launch a new [bubble tea] brand as you need more capital [to compete with other big players].”

Meeting his eventual business partner, James, was a stroke of pure luck as he was “a friend of a friend”, explains Kasper. “We hit it off. We played mahjong, casually discussed business. I found out that I could trust him [enough to run a business together].”

While it was a risk to open shop mid-pandemic, both hawkers are resigned to the uncertainty that comes with business. “In everything, you have to take a risk. This isn’t anything different,” says James, who quit his former job as an inventory control specialist to open Rad Dish. Says Kasper, “We decided on a hawker business as it’s more [stable] than bubble tea. And I love carrot cake.”

Besides dabbling in bubble tea, Kasper represented Singapore in Mister Global 2017, an annual international male-only competition. Though he didn’t clinch any prizes, he found the experience “eye-opening” nonetheless. [The experience] was on another level. In Thailand, when we walked on the street [during the parade] with our sash, everyone wanted to take photos of us. I felt like a superstar, he says.

“I joined after one of my seniors [at ITE] introduced me to the organiser. I’ll only participate [in a pageant again] if I feel I’m up to standard with at least a bit of [muscles],” he says genially.

“A pageant’s just a [one-off] competition, but cooking chai tow kway’s my source of income. When customers say the food is good, [it’s more satisfying than participating in a pageant].”

The hawkers have almost no practical F&B experience. After his N-levels, Kasper enrolled in a course in Western Culinary Arts at the Institute of Technical Education (which he ended up not completing). James, who has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, is more or less a newbie to the kitchen.

“[After deciding on carrot cake] I started off by trying a lot of carrot cake from stalls around Singapore, then learning to cook it by trial and error at home,” Kasper assures us. “I looked at a lot of recipes and videos online, and did my own R&D for a few months.”

The fruits of his R&D are apparent if you take a peek inside the young hawkers’ stall. For one, they’ve laid out neat rows of cut carrot cake and chai poh (preserved radish) in metal bowls, each measured to the gram. “It’s a bit ma fan (Mandarin for troublesome) of course, but it helps to ensure consistency so that every plate is identical,” Kasper explains.

They also fry their plates of carrot cake individually – in woks, rather than in large batches like at many other stalls. “I noticed that most carrot cake stalls were missing wok hei [because of the large batch cooking]. We do it in smaller batches in a wok in order to give it that smokiness.”

Finally, they finish off each plate with deep-fried flour bits (the recipe’s a secret) for extra crunch. It’s an idea inspired by fast-food chain Long John Silver and their iconic crumblies – excess bits of golden batter, sprinkled generously on their sinful seafood platters.

Their opening date of July 12 coincided nicely with Singapore’s return to five-pax dining for a week. Though Rad Dish enjoyed “a good response” during those first few days, that business dried up when dine-in restrictions were reinstated less than a week later on July 18.

“We just started [delivery via] Grabfood and it doesn’t seem to have a good response. The commission is too high,” Kasper says. “Even though we can mark up [prices to cover the commission], it’ll be too expensive for customers.”

The kitchen is pretty much a reflection of Rad Dish’s store front – gleaming and obsessively tidy. James acts as the sous chef, prepping and measuring ingredients into stainless steel bowls while packing orders. That makes the job easier for Kasper, who focuses solely on manning the woks.

The hawker stall offers both types of traditional carrot cake - plain, or white as it’s known locally, as well as the darker, sweet-sauce-laden black version. They’re also offering mod fusion flavours – including tom yum chai tow kway – “while stocks last”. “For our generation, people want food that’s not just traditional. We must have new things every once in a while,” Kasper says. The next new thing? “Mala,” he tells us.

Once dining-in returns, they plan to introduce another item that keen-eyed readers might already have spotted on their signboard – homemade chendol to beat the heat, with a mod twist that combines the usual plain shaved ice and coconut milk into bingsu-style flavoured ice shavings.

Steamed radish cake (supplier-bought), cut into smallish cubes, are fried with chai poh, garlic, fish sauce and egg. Kasper adds belacan chilli, also supplier-bought, into the mix depending on what spice level you’ve requested.

For the most part, Rad Dish’s take is rather tasty, especially considering the chef’s scant formal culinary training. The omelette holds together well, with a well-browned, slightly crunchy exterior with a hint of smoke. The chilli (we got it at 50 percent spiciness) delivers a piquant kick without overpowering the subtle savoury notes from the preserved radish.

Our main grouse is that the wok hei promised here is only mildly apparent.

Carrot cake aficionados might notice that Rad Dish goes significantly lighter on the sweet dark soy sauce than most. “We [wanted to get] a balance. Everyone’s taste is different – some say it’s too sweet, and some say it’s not sweet enough,” explains Kasper. We’re in the latter camp — we miss the delightful lusciousness of the sweet, sticky sauce on our chai tow kway.

The deep-fried crisp garnish adds some texture to the velvety egg and radish cake mix.

An herbaceous tom yum chilli paste, along with a spritz of lime, go a long way in making the plate of stodgy carrot cake exciting. Crunchy, sour and very moreish. Admittedly though, it’s on the pricier side at $5 with nothing else, for example prawns, to pimp up the plate.

A more than decent version of the dish — we prefer the white over the black carrot cake. And the punchy fusion tom yum one is worth ordering. We think the chai tow kway here should get even better once the first-time hawkers level up their wok skills.

Rad Dish is at #01-208 505 West Coast Dr, S120505. Tel: 9622-3705. Open daily except Tue, 7am – 8pm. More info via

Photos: Alvin Teo

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