“It’s a bit of an obsession,” admits 31-year-old Jasper Sng. The former head chef of luxe Italian restaurant Senso is talking about his passion for food — especially sandwiches, which is what his food truck Mmmunch at hip food park Timbre+ sells.

He makes almost everything from scratch at his stationary truck, including the slow-roasted marinated pork shoulder, which takes at least two days to prep. The truck opened at the start of the year and offers gourmet sandwiches like the Cubano (a decadent roast pork, ham and cheese sarnie created by Cuban immigrants in Florida in the mid 1800s) below $10, and a small selection of pastas.

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“I love bread,” says Jasper simply. “And the feeling that comes from biting into a sandwich fresh off the grill at the end of a hectic day, is really quite indescribable.”

Before he opened Mmmunch, he visited popular sandwich joint Park Bench Deli numerous times for research. However, at $16 to $24 a pop which the expats and the CBD crowd typically don’t blink an eye at, Jasper felt that it was too pricey for most ordinary folk to enjoy on a daily basis.

“Beyond [speciality] places like PBD, most people view sandwiches as a last resort option, or a snack to tide them over to the next meal. With my sandwiches, I want to show people that artisanal sandwiches can be both hearty and affordable. A complete meal, if you will.” In the kitchen of his food truck, Jasper is focused and conscientious as he cooks, leaning over the sizzling grill as he flips slices of sourdough with a flick of the wrist.

Jasper’s journey to food started over a decade ago, when he enrolled into the law programme at Melbourne's Monash University when he was 20. After a few months, he realised he hated it. “Simply put, I cannot sit still. Studying was a chore. All I looked forward to every day was going back to my dorm to cook.” During his time at Monash, Jasper started working part-time at one of Australian chef David Thompson’s restaurants as a dishwasher, which was when he got hooked on cooking — he had “zero experience” in the kitchen prior to this, but all of a sudden, he was like a man possessed.

“I had a tiny induction cooker in my room, and I’d spend all the money I earned buying ingredients and trying to replicate the things I saw in the kitchen. Once, I almost burnt down my dorm by accident!” he exclaims with a laugh.

In 2012, Jasper decided to drop out of Monash and enroll himself into a Le Cordon Bleu culinary institute. He chose Le Cordon Bleu Bangkok, as his family was living in the city then (they had relocated from Singapore when Jasper was 13 — his father worked for Austrian Airlines at that time and was posted to Thailand).

After graduation, Jasper ventured overseas. His first gig came in Brisbane, where he worked at a casual Thai takeaway joint and an upscale Thai fine-dining restaurant, simultaneously. He held the position of commis chef, a rank at the bottom of the kitchen hierarchy — or as Jasper describes it, “basically the same as the dishwasher.” His next opportunity moved him to Perth, where he joined a Japanese restaurant as a chef de partie (a line cook in charge of a particular kitchen section). “I guess I was lost and curious,” he says regarding the sudden switch. “But above all, this place gave me a chance.” He describes working seven days a week, rotating across all the stations during his stint there. “I was very competitive. I wanted to be the best.” It paid off, and after a few months, his boss wanted him to apply for permanent residence so that he could offer him a head chef position.

Then, out of the blue, a friend offered him the chance to start up a Thai restaurant in the Netherlands in 2015, and he decided to take this chance to explore Europe. “It was doing crazy well,” recalls Jasper. “We were making something like six thousand euros a day.” He cites family commitments as the reason for his return to Singapore, adding, “As the oldest son, I had to return to my family. Plus, being so far away from them all this time was really hard.”

He adds: “My dream back then was to work in a Michelin-starred restaurant,” says Jasper, on his tireless drive to become better. “But I guess that hasn't happened. At least not yet.”

Jasper moved back to Singapore in 2016, where he took up a chef conceptualiser position with Boulevard, a chain of restaurant-bars. Seven months later, he moved to Bistro Du Vin for half a year as chef de partie, before finally becoming head chef at Italian restaurant stalwart Senso (pictured above) in 2019.

He describes how beyond his main task of creating the set lunch menus, he would spend all his free time at Senso experimenting with different dishes and ingredients. He also happened to bake the focaccia there. “At each of the Singapore restaurants I’ve been with, I’ve managed to pick up bits and pieces of knowledge for running my own place — from pricing to getting a feel of the local culinary scene.”

Unfortunately, Senso closed down in May 2019.

After Senso’s closure, Jasper went onboard an acquaintance’s Timbre+ food truck selling square scotch eggs (yes, apparently that’s a thing. “Not my idea at all,” says Jasper.) According to Jasper, it didn’t work out, and he eventually decided to take over the food truck’s lease at the end of 2019 since he was looking for a space to start his own business. After a month’s revamp, Mmmunch opened at the start of this year.

In its opening month, business was surprisingly brisk. He credits this to the strong following from graduate students at the nearby INSEAD business school. “Almost 60 percent of our sales were coming from them. Some even dropped by for both lunch and dinner.” He almost broke even in the two months after Mmmunch opened — but then the circuit breaker hit.

The sales surge was short-lived due to the global pandemic. In March, INSEAD events were cancelled, and the circuit breaker started shortly after in April — leaving Mmmunch almost bereft of customers. “It was honestly depressing,” says Jasper. “When you put so much of yourself into your food, something like this is one of the worst things that can happen.”

Moving into Phase 1 and 2, sales slowly started picking up, but only to a fraction of what he was making before as INSEAD’s campus remains closed and foot traffic from offices nearby is lower. But he still has hope — business is gradually getting better, and he’s looking out for events to restart to launch Mmmunch’s corporate catering packages.

Despite its tiny interior space, a surprising amount of work gets done inside the truck — from making the sauces to slow-roasting over 8kg of pork shoulder each day for the Cubanos. Jasper and Vee Key, his 24-year-old Malaysian “sous chef”, manoeuvre around each other gracefully in the cramped space, assembling sandwiches and dishing out pastas over the stovetop. “200 square feet is still manageable,” quips Jasper. “We’re quite organised, and it helps that I emphasise a lot on cleanliness,”

Due to Timbre+’s location, the crowds are erratic, says Jasper, adding that the lunch rush could start at 11am, or 2pm, depending on the day. “I don’t really have a set closing time. If things are quiet, I might close around 9pm. But if there are people around who want to order, I’ll stay open until maybe 10pm or 11pm.”

The main draw on Mmmunch’s menu is Jasper’s line-up of five sandwiches, which all come with a different type of sandwich bread to complement its filling. The bread-making is outsourced to a central kitchen, all made according to Jasper's recipes (he used to bake it onsite initially, but found that he couldn't keep up with the demand).

All sandwiches are priced at either $7.50 or $8.50 each, served with a complimentary side of fries. Other sides include popcorn chicken, along with beverages from Upside Down Coffee and lemonades. There’s a new section for pastas under $10 as well, which Jasper added during the circuit breaker to boost delivery sales.

It takes two days to make the roast pork filling. “We use 30 ingredients in our brine, in which we submerge a whole 6kg pork shoulder for at least 24 hours.” Then, the shoulder is transferred to a Cuban roast mojo pork marinade which Jasper says is tweaked from a recipe on Netflix cooking show The Chef Show (a spin-off from the 2014 movie Chef which starred Jon Favreau as a fine-dining chef who turned to making Cubanos in a food truck — hmm, sounds familiar), before being slow-roasted for about four hours. The pile of thinly-sliced roast pork shoulder is sandwiched between slices of Cuban bread (like a softer baguette made with lard, but here it's made with shortening) and layered with a few sheets of honey-baked ham, pickles, mustard, Swiss cheese and Jasper’s sriracha mayo, before being squished in a panini press and toasted till crisp on the outside.

It’s super delish. The roast pork is packed full of flavour and delightfully tender, pairing perfectly with the cheese, briny, crunchy pickles, and crusty, fluffy bread. The spicy sriracha mayo is Jasper’s Asian twist to the Cubano and adds a jolt of acidity that cuts through all that richness. Best eaten on the spot and not tapowed.

This vegetarian number comprises thyme-roasted mushrooms, caramelised onions, mozzarella and homemade garlic aioli, on multigrain slices. Hearty without tasting overly healthy, the crunch from the finely-chopped lettuce is delightful, pairing well with the nutty wholegrain bread, sweet caramelised onions, earthy mushrooms and gooey cheese.

A runner-up to the Cubano. Sandwiched between two grilled potato buns, the heap of smoked salmon is layered with cream cheese and capers, with some lettuce for extra crunch. Jasper’s potato buns (squished and toasted in the panini press) turn out perfect for this combination — the soft and airy bread help to counter the saltiness from the salmon and capers.

The other vegetarian option on the menu is a little more decadent: a combination of mozzarella, cheddar, Swiss and cream cheese on sourdough, accompanied by sliced tomatoes. The sourdough is our favorite of all the breads here, pairing particularly well with the combination of cheeses — its mild tang and hearty chewy texture is a great canvas for all that savoury cheesiness. But the sandwich could be toasted longer so the cheeses melt better, and the lettuce is unnecessary in a grilled cheese sarnie.

Under $10 for a crabmeat pasta seems like a steal. This rendition has glossy strands of spaghetti under a mound of crabmeat. The serving of crabmeat could have been more generous — though we can’t fault it for the price point. Overall, well-seasoned and al dente, but we say save room for the superior sandwiches instead.

Jasper's attention to detail and passion for his craft makes his sandwiches shine. If you wanna try his sarnies, know that Mmmunch’s lease at Timbre+ is up in April 2021. However, Jasper is still on the lookout for spaces to expand his business: “I need to scale up. That’s the only way to go.”

Mmmunch is at #01-37 Timbre+, Ayer Rajah Crescent, JTC LaunchPad @ one-north, 73A, S139957. Open Mon to Fri 11am to 9pm & Sat 5pm to 9pm. Visit Instagram or Facebook for more info.

Photos: Kelvin Chia

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