Marsiling Korean Hawker Family Reopens Stall In Ang Mo Kio With Army Stew & Banchan
They closed their Marsiling stall in May this year due to manpower woes.
Korean hawker Suh Chin Won, 52, ran a popular Korean food stall in Marsiling where he was well-loved for his homely dishes like bibimbap and kimchi fried rice. In May this year, he was forced to close his two-unit stall due to a dire lack of manpower.
Chin Won had occasional help from his family, like his daughter Chela Suh, 23. Due to a language barrier - he doesn’t speak English and Chinese fluently - he had trouble hiring stall assistants. “He was afraid it would affect the image of the business, so he would rather take on the burden of everything himself,” Chela told 8days.sg.
She adds there were “many reasons” why her dad chose to move out of his large Marsiling stall, but it was “primarily because we want to develop a system where my dad can work alone”.
The family spent about two months searching for a new location to reopen, and eventually decided on a heartland kopitiam unit in Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. The stall will open circa August 11, 2021.
“Our original plan was to find a place in Yishun near where we live, but we had no time to wait,” Chela says, explaining that “the first reason was income, and the second was that we didn’t want customers to wait too long [for us to reopen]”.
Chin Won’s stall in Marsiling had no name, but his new Ang Mo Kio space is now named Chelabela: Korean Food by Korean Chef after his daughter, who will continue helping her dad on weekends whenever she has time off her business studies at NTU.
Instead of the home-style Korean dishes served at the Marsiling stall, the menu here is also completely revamped. At Ang Mo Kio, Chin Won will offer just five dishes: Army Stew ($18), vegetarian-friendly Kimchi ($5/$10), two types of spicy and non-spicy Radish Kimchi ($5 to $12) and sweet-spicy Anchovies ($5/$10). At a later date, he will also roll out islandwide delivery, which was not available at his previous stall.
It reminds us of Korean banchan purveyor Chan Chan Chan, though Chela says “prices will be lower as we’re a hawker stall”. Of her dad’s decision to sell only army stew and banchan, she says it’s a practical move to resolve manpower woes: “For side dishes, he just needs to scoop from containers and serve. He also wanted to streamline the menu and be known for one thing.”
According to Chela, kimchi is one of her dad’s bestsellers at Marsiling, which prompted him to focus on it. “We had 22 dishes at Marsiling and most of our sales came from that, but more than half of the customers who bought the mains will buy kimchi too. Some people wanted to buy the whole tub!”
But she acknowledges that “it’s very risky to open a stall now”. She opines, “We shifted locations and have a new menu. We’re afraid that people are not open to trying new things. I have never seen an example for us; there’s nobody to follow and it’s kind of scary (laughs).”
She also observed that there’s a “lifestyle shift” due to the coronavirus, with more people cooking at home. “We predict this [Covid-19 pandemic] will not be ending very soon. So instead of selling main dishes, we want to sell side dishes that people can buy to go with their meals. It will be better in the long run.”
Check out the rest of the menu below:
Address: Blk 603 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5, S560603.
Opening hours: Open daily 11am-8pm.
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Photos: Kelvin Chia/ Chela Suh
