Cheap and hearty Japanese rice bowls are music to any foodie-on-a-budget’s ears. Say hello to month-old The Bowl Story, a new hawker stall at ABC Brickworks that serves katsu don (breaded pork cutlets on rice), ebi (prawn) fry and Japanese curry rice bowls for $5 each.

It’s run by couple Calvin Lee, 51 and Elena Ngian, 49. Calvin used to be a car sales consultant and prior to that, a flight attendant with Singapore Airlines. Elena did office admin work. While both only have some F&B experience helping out at Elena’s dad’s now-defunct barbecue seafood hawker stall over a decade ago, they have a trump card: their 21-year-old nephew Ding Zher — a Temasek Polytechnic Culinary and Catering Management fresh graduate who interned at two Michelin-starred restaurant Zen last year. He’s the guy behind the recipes and menu at The Bowl Story.

“Both of us have always wanted to start a small business together. Now that our kids are older and less dependent on us, we thought this might be the perfect time,” says Calvin. Having lived near ABC market for a couple of years before relocating to Ang Mo Kio, the couple thought it would be good to start in an area familiar to them. “We both have a passion for Japanese food, so we wanted to provide the community here with food that’s both affordable and satisfying.”

According to Elena, they would not have gotten by without the help of family — specifically, Elena’s two nephews, Ding Zher and Wey Herng. “We’re a closely-knitted family. We stay one block away from each other, so [Calvin and I] have pretty much watched them grow up.”

As Elena and Calvin prepared for The Bowl Story’s opening at the start of the year, Ding Zher played a huge role helping his aunt and uncle conceptualise and bring The Bowl Story’s menu to life. He’d visit their home to R&D recipes, preparing a few versions of each dish before getting Calvin and Elena to taste them. After they singled out the best recipe, he then taught the couple how to cook them. “Without Ding Zher, none of this would’ve been possible,” admits Elena. “The plan now is for Calvin and I to get the stall running smoothly. Then in future, perhaps Ding Zher can come on board and take us in another direction,” she adds.

Ding Zher’s older brother Wey Herng, 24, has also started working part-time at the stall, coming down three to four days a week. He recently graduated from RMIT’s Business Management programme (under the Singapore Institute of Management), and is helping his aunt and uncle until he secures a full-time job. “I’m all for supporting my family,” he says, adding that he’s keeping an open mind about joining them full-time, if the business takes off and there are plans to expand in the near future.

For Ding Zher, his passion for the F&B industry stems from his experience in school. In fact, the recipe that inspired his Katsu Don recipe at the stall was one of the first dishes he had to prepare during his culinary boot camp programme.

“I started getting interested in the hawker scene through one of my culinary journey mentors, Jeremy,” he says. Jeremy Han, a Temasek Polytechnic alumni, is the chef-owner of mod grilled meat and rice bowl stall, The Burning Oak in Bedok Marketplace. Ding Zher describes how Jeremy taught him the different tricks for brining and marinating different cuts of meat, and cites him as an inspiration.

Last year, Ding Zher scored an internship at two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Zen. “I was always curious about fine-dining, but I didn’t know what it would really be like,” he says. He recalls the rush of excitement amongst the team when the restaurant secured their two stars during his five-month stint there as a prep cook. “I wanted to put myself in an environment where I could push myself, and it ended up being just the right place.”

As he’s currently serving his National Service till 2022, Ding Zher is only able to visit the stall during his off-day on Saturday, when he helps his aunt and uncle to cook. He hopes to join the F&B sector in the future — possibly with his family. “I have so many ideas for The Bowl Story — salmon, veggie tempura, even unagi.”

About two weeks after they opened, a customer made a post on the Hawkers United — Dabao 2020 Facebook group page after patronising their stall in the second week of September, praising their katsu curry don and affordable prices. The post resulted in a sudden influx of customers to The Bowl Story over the next few days. “The surge was quite overwhelming,” said Elena, as she recalls the unexpectedly large lunch crowd during that week. She and her husband knew nothing about the post, and had to scramble to keep up with the large volume of orders. “Our rice cooker can only hold so much Japanese rice before we have to steam another batch, which takes 30 minutes — some customers ended up being stuck in the queue for a bit.”

But things have since stabilised — the average waiting during peak meal times is currently ten minutes.

There's a concise list of seven items, split between Katsu Donburi and Curry Rice Bowl categories. Every Katsu Don comes with an onsen egg and a side of pickled cucumber and ginger, which are prepared as “hot pickles” — the vegetables are pickled in a hot concoction of vinegar, sugar and salt for about 30 minutes. You can add an onsen egg to the Curry Rice as well, for 50 cents. All mains are served with Japanese rice, and come with complimentary miso soup. Not bad, for $5.

One of The Bowl Story’s top sellers, the Chicken Katsu Don is a riff on one of the very first recipes Ding Zher learnt to make in culinary school bootcamp. The katsu uses chicken fillet, brined overnight in a solution of salt and sugar. This is what locks in the juices and keeps it tender and succulent throughout the cooking process. Next, the fillets are tenderised with a mallet, before being breaded in panko crumbs. Finally, it’s deep-fried till golden-brown.

It’s impressive on first bite. Exceptionally moist and juicy, with a thin, almost biscuit-like crust that’s light and crispy. The meat has a great flavour throughout, and pairs well with the salty-sweet sauce drizzled on top. Even though the cutlet itself isn’t oily, the pickles add a welcome sweet, refreshing crunch.

Prepped the same way as the chicken katsu cutlet, the pork loin is thinner compared to it’s chicken fillet counterpart. The crumb coat is similarly thin and cracker-like — though it has a tendency to fall off the pork. The pork is juicy but rather clean. Quite healthy-tasting, for something that’s deep-fried and smothered in sweet Japanese curry. But we prefer the chicken katsu over this.

As for the Japanese curry prepped by Elena (she uses Japanese curry cubes from a wholesaler)? It’s pleasantly mild and sweet if not show-stopping, with generous chunks of melty carrots and potato We wish there was more of it to stir into the rice, though.

Bite-sized chunks of battered chicken thigh are served with the curry. These nuggets are passably juicy and well-fried — though we still prefer the katsu version for its lighter, crunchier quality.

Hearty, satisfying Japanese rice bowls for a very reasonable $5. We also like the stall's charming family-centric backstory.

The Bowl Story is at #01-04 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jln Bukit Merah, S150006. Open Mon to Sat 11,45am till 8pm or sold out (around 7pm).

Photos: Alvin Teo