How New Ubin Seafood became famous for its beef and 'heart attack' fried rice
It'south not terribly often that the apprehensive supporting thespian outshines the superstar atomic number 82, but that has certainly been the case for New Ubin Seafood's most well-loved dish: The Center Attack Fried Rice.
It's a heart-warming story, actually: Head honcho Pang Seng Meng, ameliorate known as SM Pang, would always cook up steaks for his family unit and friends, and, not wanting the tasty drippings to go to waste, he decided to fry some rice in the oil, along with some dark sauce. Charred beefiness trimmings added texture and flavor to the carbohydrates.
At the eatery, guests spied the family dining on the steak dish and asked well-nigh it, then they were given some to share.
Later the dish hit the carte du jour, "A lot of people asked for just the rice. We decided we couldn't serve it considering nosotros'd run out of beefiness fat and our sales would driblet," SM shared.
And that's the story of how a zi char establishment with "seafood" in its name came to exist known for its beefiness dish: The USDA Black Angus 'Selection' Rib-Center (from S$80 for 500g) served on a wooden board with Idaho potato wedges and Heart Assault Fried Rice.
"I have this penchant for giving dishes in-your-face names," SM chuckled. Some other signature dish is the Boss Bee Hoon. "When people ask me how the name came most, I say, 'It's done the way my wife likes it. Considering she's the boss.'" He added, "It'due south simply a marketing thing – it doesn't matter who's the boss!"
ADVENTUROUS PALATES RUN IN THE Family
These days, at 63, SM is the eating place'south chief operating officeholder, while his son Alexander, 34, is the master executive officer.
The male parent-and-son team oversee the running of the business every bit well equally the evolution of the bill of fare. And there'south plenty to keep them busy: They recently opened the third New Ubin Seafood eatery, at four-star hotel Ramada Past Wyndham Singapore At Zhongshan Park, in December final year.
A deep appreciation for food has e'er run in the family unit.
SM recalls having helped his grandmother in the kitchen of her firm since the historic period of three, existence put to work stirring kaya as information technology cooked. "I could never exercise it properly because I would fall comatose. Yous burn the kaya, and then you get punished by your grandmother; when you lot get domicile, you lot go punished by your mother, because she had been waiting for the kaya," he quipped.
But information technology was in that aforementioned kitchen that he learnt the art of cooking over charcoal, pounding chillies by hand and perfecting heritage recipes for dishes such as ayam buah keluak.
"My begetter is Teochew and my mother is Peranakan, so I grew upwardly in a household that liked steamed food also equally all the sambal. Information technology was a good mismatch because yous capeesh the variety of cooking and everything in between," he said.
"My father was adventurous. He had a love for oysters. I recollect trying my first oysters at iii. And I remember one big quarrel when he brought back oysters from Fitzpatrick's, which was an former supermarket, and my female parent had to shuck them all, and she was very, very upset with him."
Alexander appreciates the value of being born into "in a nutrient-centric family unit". "I was lucky to grow up with a very exposed palate, and I cooked from a very young age," he said, calculation that his grandmother and great aunt were well known Nyonya chefs in their fourth dimension.
Although he has received no formal training, "by the fourth dimension I was seven or 8, I would be doing our Christmas dinners. And my dad used to host a lot of makan sessions at dwelling house. I took a foliage out of his volume, so I was hosting my friends for dinner from the age of 14 or 15 – full sit-downward dinners, maybe well-nigh 7 or eight courses, starting with a soup, and then perchance foie gras with raspberry reduction."
Interrupting, his father divulged: "Also, he was trying to impress his girlfriends."
"Without much success, lah," chuckled Alexander, who is at present married with ii young children (his wife is involved with marketing the business organization, likewise). "But when it came to pursuing a career, I went into law, and I practiced from 2022 until 2017." At junior partner level, he left the practice to join the family business concern. "I wanted to help my dad build this brand he had developed, which has been his life's work for the past fifteen years," he said.
Do they ever fight? "Oh, constantly," said SM offhandedly. "We are both very Type A, and then we have to acquire to accommodate each other. I call back nosotros've washed it quite well."
Alexander said, "I come from a professional groundwork… Sometimes I'thou afraid to interruption sure barriers or norms. My dad is the 1 who tells me, 'Why practise you bother and then much with this glass ceiling in your head?'"
One dessert on the menu, a lava cake named Chocolate Alexander, encapsulates the playful side of their relationship.
"That's my father trying to make fun of me," Alexander said, with a wry laugh. "A very long time ago, when nosotros didn't actually do desserts, I wanted to practice a elementary chocolate fondant. My male parent went and named information technology Chocolate Alexander – alamak. When I was at my law firm, every time I went to the restroom, people would say, 'Oh, Chocolate Alexander coming up.'
FROM PULAU UBIN TO THE WORLD
Although the Pangs have built the brand as we know it today, the Ubin Seafood proper noun really goes dorsum to the 1980s, when the zi char eating place was established on Pulau Ubin to cater to hungry h2o skiers from Punggol.
When the residents of the island were relocated to the mainland in the 90s, the eating house moved to Tanglin Halt, and subsequently to a few other locations including Sixth Artery and Marina Country Order.
Information technology wasn't until 2004 that SM, who has a groundwork in pharmaceuticals, became involved with the concern. "I was retired and had null to practice. Then my wife decided that she would invest with them," he said.
"The original cook is still working for us, but he'southward no longer cooking… He built the original jetty on the north shore of Ubin Island by mitt."
In 2007, the Pangs opened New Ubin Seafood at Sin Ming Industrial Manor, which was when the establishment started to gain renown.
And in fact, before the signature beef dish was introduced, "Ubin Seafood was not known for anything special," SM recalled. "When you lot talk about chilli crab, there's a position in mind of who is the best. And then, if yous're trying to persuade someone that your chilli crab is better than this other person'south, which they've eaten all their life, information technology's very difficult. But y'all desire to be famous for something. For the states – beefiness, lah. Everybody said, 'Hey, that seafood eatery that serves beefiness.' And so, they come here, they take the beef, and then they realise other things are very good, too."
Although they are positioned as a zi char eating place, Alexander explained, they besides offer cuisines such as Indian, Peranakan and Italian – in short, all the foods they personally love.
"We realised we had so much to share with the public," SM said. "As the cuisine was evolving, we realised that there was such a vacuum in the F&B civilization when it came to Singapore food. We are more than modern zi char because we incorporate most of the things that Singaporeans love to eat."
He added: "The thing about zi char is that information technology's quick stir fry – that'south still at that place – just we are more than that, because we have to be. To be truly Singaporean, y'all have to exist more that. And so, we serve South Indian food similar vadai, nasi briyani and craven masala. We exercise Peranakan food, considering my mother'due south side of the family is Peranakan. And then I think we are the but eatery – and most of our guests volition tell you this – in which people can sit down and have a Singaporean meal."
The eatery also offers wine pairings, which came about "because nosotros love wines and whiskies and annihilation spiritual," SM quipped. "Now, we do a monthly vino dinner and also use that equally a test bed for new dishes."
REDEFINING SINGAPORE CUISINE
It'south all part of the Pangs' desire to give their guests a truly enjoyable Singaporean feel – and, as a happy byproduct of circumstance, that has translated into opportunities for New Ubin Seafood to exist invited to cook guest dinners in global culinary cities such as Paris and San Sebastian; to be featured in the Michelin Guide; and to work with the Singapore Tourism Board.
"I would say that there is no real definition of what Singapore food is – and that's the exciting role. What we have are styles of cooking that are very unique to Southeast Asia, and have slowly taken root in Singapore and formed their ain tree," Alexander said.
"Post independence, we had a very strong wave of American influence: One of the almost Singaporean cultural experiences is the McDonald's breakfast. The penetration charge per unit of McDonald'southward in Singapore is one of the highest in the world per capita. Then, the question of 'What is Singapore food?' is really an open question that we are seeking to reply. Yep, we position ourselves equally serving zi char – we desire to preserve that heritage – but we too desire to explore what it means to be Singaporean, and a lot of the time, that ways what people like to eat."
And existence able to showcase New Ubin's food on an increasingly large stage serves a larger purpose, he said.
"The Singapore identity is nevertheless very young. Role of the identity is culinary. It's almost similar a duty I feel is incumbent on us – to help develop that, and give the Singapore identity some meaning internationally, as well as locally. We are proud to be Singaporean and we want the international spotlight to be on the talent that is available here, and the uniqueness nosotros can bring to ourselves and to the customs at large."
It'due south likewise important to use the platform to champion the local F&B industry, he continued, and to "use the phase that nosotros have to drag Singaporeans". For example, "A gentleman who came in to work with us equally front-of-house waitstaff is now our caput of Hour and finance… We want to be able to give them that path."
With three restaurants now open up – too as offshoot Garang Grill – New Ubin Seafood isn't stopping here. As offers for overseas franchises go on coming in, it's but a matter of time earlier they find the right partners to work with. The Pangs also hope to open a central kitchen past the tertiary quarter of the year so that they tin can go into catering, as well equally offer products such as their own water ice creams, smoked meats and, yes, even the kaya that acquired three-yr-old SM such pain.
That would surely have put a smile on his grandmother's face.
New Ubin Seafood is at 63 Hillview Avenue; Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street; and Ramada by Wyndham Singapore at Zhongshan Park, 16 Ah Hood Route.
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