Leaving a famous restaurant to start your own hawker stall is a trend we can totally get behind. And judging by the queues at some of the more popular stalls, it seems foodies agree with us. Wang Fu Roasted Delights opened last April adjacent to the more crowded Bedok South Food Centre. Interestingly, it has remained relatively under the radar — until now.

The chef here earned his stripes working for four years at Kam’s Roast, and a further four at a now-defunct franchised roasted meat hawker chain. Wang Fu is owned by his former customer-turned-boss, and it hawks reasonably priced roasted meats.

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Said chef is 46-year-old Wong Hsieh Fook (left in pic), who helms the stall owned by Victor Ng (right in pic), 44, who also owns a logistics biz (he declines to go into further detail). Victor used to patronise Hsieh Fook’s old workplace, a stall in a Hougang kopitiam, weekly with his son in tow. “My son loves his food – every Saturday or Sunday, we will head down to eat [at the stall],” he says.

When the hawker, known affectionately to Victor as Ah Fu, was deployed to a branch in Sengkang after six months, they followed him as well. That lasted for half a year more, after which he joined Kam’s Roast at Pacific Plaza as an employee in their kitchens from 2016 to 2020.

Kam’s is a local spin-off of the one-Michelin-starred Hong Kong restaurant famed for its roasted goose. The Singaporean outpost couldn’t sell the signature goose due to import issues, which explains the focus on roasted duck and other meats instead.

FYI: Kam’s in Pacific Plaza closed its doors on Feb 28. It recently reopened in Ion Orchard’s Food Opera food court as a more casual concept. Meanwhile, the Jewel Changi airport branch is temporarily closed.

With Victor’s logistics business badly hit by the pandemic last year, he decided to open a roasted meats hawker stall at this kopitiam in Bedok South to generate income. He contacted Hsieh Fook to helm the stall.

They had become “quite good friends” over the years, says Victor. The fact didn’t change after Ah Fu became his employee. “I try to treat everyone like a friend. We just work together, all happy, no need to be so serious,” he says.

Ultimately though, Victor doesn’t plan to focus on F&B full-time. He’ll leave the day-to-day running of the hawker stall in the hands of Ah Fu, while he manages his now-dormant logistic biz when traffic eventually picks up again.

Business seems brisk despite Phase 2 HA – we had to take numerous breaks from our recent mid-morning weekday shoot when a short queue formed at the stall.

“Still can manage lah,” says Victor. Because he opened the stall on April 2 last year, five days before the circuit breaker hit, he didn’t have the time to build up a crowd of regular customers, which meant his business suffered.

This time round, he has a stronger presence online thanks to social media, as well as recurring customers. We notice a few touches to draw customers in – he offers a $2 option (rice with just chicken, no fried egg) for “those who want something a little cheaper – usually the elderly, but anyone who needs it during these times”. He also pairs his food with a fried egg “for a little variety” instead of the standard braised hard boiled eggs.

Unfortunately, his business is set to take another hit – his landlord announced plans a day after our shoot to “change the pipes” and “change the exhaust [fan] to a bigger one”, major renovations that will take place from June 7 onwards until month’s end. Thankfully, they have another dabao-focused branch nearby at an industrial area in Chai Chee Avenue (address listed below) – and the team, including Hsieh Fook, will be operating there temporarily from June 8.

The simple menu bears only a slight resemblance to Kam’s Roast. Gone are the $78 pipa ducks, lup cheong and other assorted accompaniments. There’s roast duck, roast pork, chicken and char siew — all cooked in a gas-powered oven.

A whole duck costs $36 here, compared to $58 at the Kam’s Roast new express outlet at Ion Orchard. For smaller orders, it costs an average of $2.80 to $5.80 for a single protein on rice. The same options will set you back anywhere from $6.80 to $11.80 at Kam’s. That said, Kam’s uses more atas free-range ducks, as opposed to the frozen birds used at Wang Fu Roasted Delight.

The duck’s skin is scalded with boiling water before getting a secondary shower in a honey mix, then left to hang overnight to dry before being roasted the next morning.

Ducks, like other waterborne birds, tend to store fat near the skin for warmth. It’s that concentrated fat which gives you a burst of oily richness when you bite into the bird – though it also means that duck meat is comparatively leaner, and therefore drier, than chicken.

Some places manage to avoid that toughness with carefully managed roasting times – in this case, they’re not too successful. The meat is a tad dry, though the rich fat from the skin helps a little. The dryness might be attributed to the fact that the duck is frozen.

Flavour-wise, the bird – which they try to source at around 2.8 kg or so – fares well enough. The salty-savoury flavours are concentrated on the crisp skin, while the herbal rub (which includes five-spice powder) in the bird’s cavity takes away from its gameiness without overwhelming.

How does it compare to Kam’s version? Well, the more upmarket eatery’s duck is softer, more succulent and fresher-tasting, which explains the higher prices.

A surprising winner is their roasted chicken, technically a misnomer as it’s deep-fried here. The fat is rendered from the chicken skin, leaving it crispy and deliciously smoky. Unlike other places that tend to under season the chicken before making it up with a sesame-oil-scented sauce, the chook here is salty, savoury and yummy enough to stand on its own.

The breast meat, though not as yielding as the meat near the bone, is not at all dry, and tender enough that you don’t have to bash it with the side of a chopper to tenderise (like how it’s done in some places). We’d gladly tapow a whole bird for the family.

Hsieh Fook uses a mix of pork belly and a comparatively leaner pork collar – luckily, we get to try both. The former is, naturally, a little more toothsome – but we’d probably skip the char siew altogether if we had a choice, especially since it’s a little too sweet rather than savoury, with little of the charred bits we like.

The roast pork saves the plate a little thanks to its shatteringly crunchy skin, but that’s about all it has going for it. Somehow, the rest of the meat – despite being interspersed by layers of fat – seems a little dry.

Both go at $19 per 500g if you’re buying in bulk – though we’d pick the roast pork over the char siew, and only if they’re out of chickens.

They use plain rice at Wang Fu Roasted Delight, so you’re really relying on the chillies and sauces to make things interesting. There’s a pleasantly fragrant sambal - belacan, hae bee (dried shrimp) and garlic go a long way – as well as a piquant vinegar-based chilli. We prefer the former a little more – but both are tastier than their lor (dark sauce), which, again, is a little too sweet without any strong savoury notes to make up for it.

Thin egg noodles normally used in wanton mee here – but nothing to shout about, especially since it's covered in more of that sweet lor.

Wang Fu Roasted Delight also offers up some traditional steamed soups. The old cucumber soup ($3.30) is enjoyable – the pork ribs are fall apart tender, and generously portioned enough for the price. Just note that most of their steamed soups are only ready by around 10.30am.

The meats at Wang Fu Roasted Delight don’t always hit the mark — the roast duck is decent but not show-stopping while the chicken is quite impressive. It’s definitely not Kam’s quality since the ducks here are frozen vs the restaurant’s fresh ones. However, we can’t really complain much at these reasonable prices.

Wang Fu Roasted Delight is at #01-45 Blk 18 Bedok South Rd, S460018. Tel: 9712-4567. Open daily 9am – 8pm. More info on Facebook. Available for delivery via Foodpanda & Deliveroo.

The flagship shop is closed for renovations from 7 till end June, head to their second outlet at #01-305 Blk 37 Chai Chee Ave S461037. Tel: 9712-4567.

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Photos: Alvin Teo