Don Quijote Spanish Restaurant Boss Opens Home-Style Braised Pork Mee Tai Mak Stall
When the Covid-19 pandemic took Singapore by surprise in 2019, the Dempsey restaurant was also hit hard by the no dine-in rule and drastic dip in footfall. “The operating costs were just too high. Of course the closure was sad, but it was a long time coming. Even before Covid, business was challenging. Covid just prolonged its death,” Ken shared with 8days.sg.
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Ken also pointed out: “We had our loyal customers, but there were so many new restaurants opening and so many options for them to try.”
So he gave up his Dempsey Hill spot and shifted Don Quijote’s operations to the coffeeshop he was operating. But that, too, faced challenges due to a vastly different customer base there and the ever-present manpower crunch.
“The bee hoon and zi char stalls were ours. But it became more and more difficult to run the stalls when there was no manpower. During Covid, we also lost two of our biggest tenants, the cai png and bak kut teh stalls, because they couldn’t pay rent. So when the coffeeshop’s lease was up, we decided to return it to the landlord,” Ken explained.
New mee tai mak stall
He then spent a year travelling and recharging before he returned to Singapore with an idea for a new concept: A hawker stall called Aunty Boey’s Bi Tai Mak. It specialises in braised pork bi tai mak (also known as mee tai mak or rat’s tail) topped with crispy pork lard, inspired by the same dish that Ken’s late family helper, Aunty Boey, used to cook for the household in the ’60s.
Ken chortled: “I have given up on restaurants. I just want to provide comfort food and hopefully grow this [hawker] business.”
He was also quick to point out that his dish is not bak chor mee, despite similarities like braised pork and mushrooms served dry or in soup with your choice of bi tai mak or other noodles like mee pok. “We don’t call it bak chor mee because there is no vinegar and chilli, and we use a braising sauce. There’s no chilli either. We want our diners to taste the sauce,” he said.
The menu and prices
The menu here is straightforward and simple, with just four dishes. The signature is Braised Minced Pork with Shiitake Mushrooms Bi Tai Mak ($7.50 for dry/soup).
There’s a rice option too, Braised Minced Pork with Shiitake Mushrooms & Fried Egg on Rice ($8.50), as well as Handmade Fish Dumpling Soup ($7.50 for four pieces), the herh keow supplied by Lucky Her Kiao, run by a young relative of the Song Kee Fishball Noodle family.
From Friday to Sunday, diners can order the weekend special, Aunty Boey’s Curry Mee with Sliced Pork Collar ($10.80). The various toppings that go into these dishes are offered a la carte too, like Marinated Sliced Pork Collar ($3), Crispy Sole Fish ($2.50) and Braised Mushroom Minced Pork ($3).
Braised Minced Pork with Shiitake Mushrooms Bi Tai Mak, $7.50
This bowl needs a good toss to coat the bi tai mak with the chunky braised minced pork (it also comes with two passable meatballs, and one very delicious herh keow floating in the accompanying soup).
Unlike the very sultry, almost sinful Malaysian-style braised pork with copious lashings of dark soy sauce, the braised pork here is more restrained. We find ourselves hankering for more umami flavour to make up for the bi tai mak’s plain taste.
Braised Minced Pork with Shiitake Mushrooms & Fried Egg on Rice, $8.50 (8 Days Pick!)
The same braised minced pork and mushrooms is ladled over hot, fluffy white rice and topped with pork lard, spring onions, fried shallots and a perfect, lacy-edged fried egg with an oozy yolk. Mix it all up and it tastes like a homecooked bowl that our mum could have whipped up for us. Pure comfort food.
Aunty Boey’s Curry Mee with Sliced Pork Collar, $10.80
Another unpretentious comfort food pick is the curry mee, crammed with fish cake slices, long beans, meatballs, tau pok, fried beancurd skin and a jammy hard-boiled egg.
During our visit on a weekday, the curry that was specially cooked for our shoot was heavily spiced, almost like an Indian-style curry. According to Ken, who is Peranakan, it should be more like a richer Nonya-style curry. We’d come back again to try the proper version.
Interestingly, Ken also offered freshly-cooked home delivery paella in a pan during the pandemic period, as the Spanish paella was one of the well-loved dishes that Don Quijote was known for. “My customers wanted my paella in pans. I bought 700 pans, and I still have them in a warehouse,” Ken laughed.
Why not put the pans to good use by opening a paella hawker stall, we suggested. “It’s hard to reuse them. They still have the Don Quijote name on it!” he chortled. But here’s to hoping that we will one day get a Don Quijote paella stall — the dish is deeply missed after the restaurant’s closure.
Aunty Boey’s Bi Tai Mak is at Food Republic @ L4 Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Rd, S238877. Open daily 11am-9pm. www.instagram.com/auntyboey
Photos: Kelvin Chia
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