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Felicia Chin gets crabby, opens second eatery

SINGAPORE – The unstoppable Felicia Chin is one step closer to being an actress-slash-F&B mogul, now that she has added another eatery to her resume.

SINGAPORE – The unstoppable Felicia Chin is one step closer to being an actress-slash-F&B mogul, now that she has added another eatery to her resume.

Her new venture is Wholly Crab, a seafood stall at Satay By The Bay, which she describes as a “small, no-frills joint” that is “casual” with “no uptightness”. It comes hot on the heels of The Mama Shop, the café she set up in October last year with fellow actress Sora Ma. Wholly Crab’s official opening, held today (May 2), was attended by Chin’s celeb friends including Ma, Romeo Tan, Nat Ho and Chen Tian Wen.

“People who know me know that I love to eat. And I think seafood is something that everybody loves,” she said. “I thought I could combine what I love with what I think might be missing in the F&B industry – I feel seafood can be more affordable and can be made fun as well. Instead of traditional chilli and black pepper crab, I decided to add a local twist.” That’s why you’ll find sauces like Kung Pao, Marmite and Creamy Cheese on the menu. “My new favourite dish is marmite crab – it’s pretty addictive,” she smiled.

In the near future, shared Chin, who came up with Wholly Crab’s punny name herself, there will be monthly specials to come, such as “mee rebus crab or crab with Chinese herbs – local twists that you can’t find anywhere else.” She added that the stall uses quality ingredients including Sri Lankan crabs, Argentinean prawns and blue-black Chilean mussels.

And the location, she said, is meant to encourage customers to let their hair down. “I think eating is a joy. I feel that using your hands to eat is the best way of eating, especially with piping hot food right in front of you. You don’t have to dress well – just be yourself. And there’s nice ambience here – the water is just behind, and ‘family’ places like Marina Barrage and Gardens By The Bay are just next to each other. So, I think it’s quite a perfect location.”

In case you’re wondering, this new venture does not involve The Mama Shop’s co-owner, Sora Ma – just Chin and her F&B consultant. “To me, business is very free-flowing. Mama Shop happened because four of us good friends sat down and said, ‘Hey, it’s a good idea. Let’s do it together.’ This venture started from a conversation amongst another group of friends; one of them was my consultant. It was actually a natural progression of ideas, so this is a separate venture,” Chin explained. After her experience with setting up The Mama Shop, she said, “I really felt that (being in business) is something I can learn a lot from”.

Wholly Crab’s opening was timed to coincide with Chin’s two-month break from filming, which gives her the opportunity “to do things I’ve always wanted to do. For example, I’m going to pick up yoga and take up more Chinese lessons – maybe even English lessons as well. I’ve always wanted to be better in my languages. So, having a business is also part of it,” she said.

And she has big plans for more Wholly Crab outlets: “maybe expand within this year, if given the chance,” she said. “I have ambitions for it because I feel this concept can work in many places, and I want to create job opportunities for people who want to be bosses but don’t want to put in so much investment. I hope that I can hire bosses rather than workers, so maybe we can share the business in other areas.”

But even though she now has one more thing to busy herself with, acting is still number one on the 2015 Star Awards Best Actress nominee’s list. “The day-to-day operations I will leave entirely to my Wholly crew and my F&B consultant. When I can, I will come by. That’s the same for Mama Shop as well,” she said.

Does she have plans for other businesses outside of F&B? “Maybe I’ll do something with Lee Teng – we’ve always been talking about fashion collaborations,” she said. “I think anything goes – for me it’s just a natural-wave kind of progression. I don’t see it as, ‘I must make 10 thousand per month’ or whatever. I just feel it’s a fun thing to do and just enjoy.”

Wholly Crab is at Stall 17, Satay By The Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Drive.

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