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Hilton Chef-Turned-Hawker Sells ‘Birthday Cakes’ Made With Chicken Rice & Roast Pork

You can order any topping combination with four types of meat.

You can order any topping combination with four types of meat.

You can order any topping combination with four types of meat.

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As the adage goes, in every crisis lies an opportunity. During the Covid-19 circuit breaker lockdown last year, when bakeries were not allowed to sell cakes, chicken rice hawker Louis Tan seized the chance to create a new product.

The 55-year-old came up with a Birthday Chicken Rice Cake. The ‘cake’ has a rice base topped with a combination of roast meats and steamed chicken that Louis makes in-house. “Since people cannot buy cakes during the Circuit Breaker, I thought of doing a chicken rice cake that people can celebrate occasions with,” he tells 8days.sg.

He owns the eponymous Uncle Louis Famous Chicken Rice chain, which currently has three outlets (though we have admittedly not heard of his shop before this).

1 of 6 It’s an off-menu item

Louis made the cake a permanent item after the Circuit Breaker, though it’s not on his stalls’ menu signboards. “When people want it, they can have it. They just need to make an advance order,” he says.

He sells his cake in three sizes using a very simple price model:

● $48 for four pax

● $68 for six pax

● $88 for eight pax

  • 2 of 6 Customisable meat combinations

    Customers can order any combination of meat toppings, and Louis will adjust the portions accordingly. There are currently four kinds of meat to choose from: steamed chicken, roast chicken, roast pork belly and pork belly char siew. “We’ll have roast duck soon,” says Louis. “We roast our char siew for almost two hours in the oven so the fat is not chewy and melts in your mouth.”

    Don't like pork? Get an all-chicken combo birthday cake instead.


  • 3 of 6 Ex-Hilton chef who studied at an Oxford college

    Louis has studied in Surrey, England, and has a National Diploma in western cuisine from Merton College, a constituent college under the University of Oxford. After graduating from the two-year course in the late eighties, he returned to Singapore to work as a chef at Hilton Hotel. “I was trained to do cakes as well, which is why I had the idea to sell a chicken rice birthday cake,” he shares.

    He decided to leave his Hilton job after almost two years there to become a hawker. “When I was working in a hotel, I earned only S$1,000 plus a month. I can earn more money working outside,” he says in faintly clipped British-accented English.

  • 4 of 6 Became a hawker in 1995

    He set up Uncle Louis Famous Chicken Rice in 1995, and currently has three outlets (he shut his Yishun stall on Dec 31, 2020 and recently opened a new one in Bukit Batok). The other two outlets are located at Pek Kio Market & Food Centre, and Upper Boon Keng Market and Food Centre.

  • 5 of 6 Chicken rice and roast pork

    Other than chicken rice, you can also get a selection of roast pork kway teow, noodles and chicken cutlet rice slathered with mayonnaise or Thai sauce at Uncle Louis’ hawker stalls.

  • 6 of 6 Chicken rice birthday cake order & stall location details


    Call 9847-4988 at least two days in advance to order the Birthday Chicken Rice Cake.

    Uncle Louis Famous Chicken Rice, three outlets including
    #01-05 Pek Kio Market and Food Centre, Blk 41A Cambridge Rd, S211041. Islandwide delivery at $12 per location. www.facebook.com/UncleLouisFamousChickenRice.

    PHOTOS:
    LOUIS TAN/ MICHELLE CHEONG/ UNCLE LOUIS FAMOUS CHICKEN RICE

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