“My entrance into the F&B industry was an unexpected one,” says 40-year-old Abel Tan. His career was in chartered accountancy — he has been in the industry for 16 years and opened his own accounting firm in 2015, which he still runs, serving mainly SMEs.

Early last year, Abel took over the reins from the previous owner of 36-year-old zi char restaurant Miki Snacks in Katong Shopping Centre after they decided to close down — rebranding it to Happy Wok — he says this is “in order to save the staff from losing their jobs”. He could not retain the Miki name as the previous owner had trademarked it.

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The boss of Miki Snacks zi char restaurant in Katong Shopping Centre was actually a client of Abel’s accountancy biz. The eatery had grown from a small alfresco stall selling snacks to a full-fledged zi char restaurant with both indoor and outdoor dining. However, in January 2020, the boss decided to retire and close down the decades-old business.

Because Abel formed a bond with the staff of Miki Snacks over six years as a regular customer, he says he couldn’t bear to see them put out of their jobs. “At that time, I thought that it would really be quite sad if everyone had to go. Some of them come from overseas, and they would probably have to go home for good if they don’t secure another job.” He retained all five employees, including the Malaysian head cook.

“I enjoy food and have a great passion for cooking — though my experience is only home cook level for now,” adds Abel with a laugh. “But in any case, I decided to negotiate taking over Miki Snacks so I could retain the old team.”

Abel used his savings from his accounting biz and took out a personal loan. After the restaurant was turned over to him in February 2020, Abel spent the next month coming up with a revamped menu and getting the hang of running the shop. The restaurant’s no-frills, old-school look has been mostly retained with laminated photos of signature dishes splashed across its walls.

The circuit breaker in April 2020 took a huge toll on the F&B industry — even more so on a fledgling restaurant. “That period was really a disaster — April was the most hellish time for us,” shares Abel.

Even though they had some existing regulars from the previous Miki Snacks restaurant, Happy Wok barely had any time to establish their new brand and a stable new customer base before the pandemic restrictions hit. During the first few weeks, Happy Wok relied solely on takeaway orders as they had been unable to link up with delivery partners like Grab and Food Panda yet.

Abel describes the stress he faced trying to keep the restaurant afloat so soon after taking over. “We were making something like $200 a day during the first week of circuit breaker. Everyday I was thinking: ‘How can I survive this?’” Rental and operating costs for running Happy Wok currently run up to about $50,000 a month.

Even when Happy Wok managed to get onboard Grab and Food Panda, there were little to no orders each day, as no one had heard of their brand before. As such, Abel took to passing his contact number to drop-in customers who stayed in the area — offering to deliver food to their doorstep on their next order.

“I got in touch with an ex-student of mine who lives in the area and rides a motorbike, asking if he would do me this huge favor. I then supplied him with a thermal bag for his bike” Besides having his own “personal” delivery rider, Abel himself delivered to the nearby addresses via bus.

As delivery and takeaway orders picked up, Abel started typing out personal letters to returning customers to thank them for their support. He’d borrow the office of one of the building’s tenants to print the letters before slipping them in with his customers’ orders.

One such customer is Eric Sim (right), who somehow turned up for lunch on the day we visited Happy Wok. The career coach describes how he was swayed by Abel’s passion and resilience after his first two orders during the circuit breaker. “I saw the effort and pride he took in his food, as well as his passion for service through the letter I received.”

Business has gotten better ever since dining-in was reinstated in July last year. “Now, whenever I see the people who used to order from me during the circuit breaker dropping by to eat, I feel so much gratitude for how they’ve helped Happy Wok stay alive,” shares Abel. Even though Happy Wok has yet to break even, he’s confident that his dedication to serving his customers will help him capture a steady base of regulars. Abel says he still pens letters for new customers occasionally. He is at Happy Wok every day — serving, handling supplies, as well as doing admin and accounting work.

Happy Wok’s zi char-style menu is varied — serving the usual family-style meat and vegetable dishes, as well as fancier dishes like lobster and curry fish head. Since Abel had managed to retain all of the kitchen staff, he was able to keep most of the old menu. “I started off changing about 10-15 percent of the menu, so that old-time regulars can still find their go-tos,” says Abel.

“I wanted to include dishes that would appeal more to the population of expats and young families living in the Katong area, so I worked with the kitchen staff to develop some new dishes,” he adds. One of his new additions is the slipper lobster dish, which can be ordered in different styles.

Abel pegs the Curry Fish Head as their signature dish. “We created our own blend of spices and fry it in-house to make the paste that forms the curry’s base,” says Abel.

Served bubbling in a claypot, the curry is packed with thick pieces of angkoli (red snapper), sliced eggplant, ladies fingers, tau pok and tau kee. The fresh-tasting chunks of flaky fish and crisp tau kee did a good job in absorbing the fragrant, mildly spicy curry. The curry itself is well-balanced and homely — rice is mandatory.

Happy Wok’s Salted Egg Calamari are served as hefty golden rings — first, the calamari is tossed in a thick salted egg yolk sauce, then dipped in a batter that appears to be mixed with more salted egg, and fried till it’s crispy on the outside, QQ on the inside. Savory, sweet, creamy and shiok.

The slipper lobster is a new addition to the menu, and comes in salted egg, butter, black pepper or salt & pepper flavors. We tried the butter version, flash-fried till lightly crisp on the outside, then drizzled with a creamy sauce alongside a generous shower of curry leaves. Though the medium-sized lobsters look plain, the sauce is surprisingly aromatic and flavourful, pairing well with the springy crustacean that slips easily out of its shell.

Contrary to the classic Sichuan-style mapo tofu, which has both ma and la (numbing and spicy characteristics), Happy Wok’s mapo tofu recipe is more similar to a tofu dish Abel ate while growing up. This rendition is a lot milder without the numbing spice of its Sichuan-style counterpart — quite similar to the Japanese style Mapo Dofu, which uses non-spicy doubanjiang (fermented bean paste). If you don’t have much of a spice tolerance, this would be a pretty comforting dish. But we prefer the punchy flavors of Sichuan-style mapo tofu.

Happy Wok has two versions of Garlic Wings: original and spicy. There are three levels of spice for the spicy version — we went with Level 1. After being fried, the wings are tossed in a wok with a sticky sauce made from garlic, chilli padi, and other spices before being served. The chilli padi brings a pleasant kick to the moreish garlicky glaze coating the wings — and to us, the 24-piece plate is pretty worth it for the price.

Comforting, reasonably-priced zi char dishes that would probably satisfy the family. Fans in the east should be pleased the 36-year-old biz has been kept alive.

Happy Wok is at #B1-127/128 Katong Shopping Centre, 865 Mountbatten Rd, S437844. Open daily 10.30am to 10.30pm for dine-in, delivery and takeaway. More details here.

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