Singer-Songwriter Roy Li Focuses On F&B Biz After Covid-19 Forced Him To Shut Music School

Mention the name Roy Li Fei Hui, and Mandarin ballads like ‘Deng Ni Deng Dao Wo Xin Tong’ (Wait For You Till My Heart Aches) sung by HK superstar Jacky Cheung will probably come to mind. The home-grown singer-songwriter has also penned tracks for the likes of other huge names like Andy Lau and Jeff Chang in the ’90s, and has released many albums of his own, both locally and in Taiwan. He’s also dabbled in acting, appearing in long-running Mediacorp drama 118 in 2014.

However, what is lesser known about the 58-year-old music veteran is that he co-owns casual eatery Siam Village, which offers authentic Thai cuisine.

The Thai restaurant started out as a food court stall at Midpoint Orchard in 2017. However due to “too many limitations” and poor business, Roy and his business partner Kenn Chen, 46, shut the stall and moved to their current premises at Jalan Wangi, off MacPherson Road, after less than a year.

“We felt a restaurant would be more suited to our concept. There were space constraints and we could only offer 10 dishes there, so we were not able to not showcase our potential. Also, the tables were very small and could not accommodate families or bigger groups,” Kenn, 46, tells 8days.sg.

Other than Siam Village, Kenn, who used to be a tech manager at Samsung, also runs two western food stalls called Chef Recipe in Bedok and Bukit Batok, and vegetarian stall Vegan Craft, in Punggol.

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Being a food lover, Roy had always wanted to go into F&B. He got to know Kenn in 2010 when he was a regular at the latter’s now-defunct tong shui dessert café Sweet Dynasty at Keong Saik Road. They became fast friends and decided to start a Thai food stall together.

“I don’t know much about Thai cuisine, but I love to eat it, so I decided to join Kenn in the business as a shareholder,” shares Roy.

He leaves the operations to Kenn and helps occasionally with the marketing. “When I was filming 118, I would tapow food for my co-stars and crew. Chew Chor Meng and Chen Hanwei have tried the food here and they like it. I would bring my celebrity friends here for meals, but it’s been difficult in the past year and a half ’cos of the pandemic. We just arranged to meet up but it was cancelled last minute ’cos of the dine-in ban,” he says.

The pandemic has also affected Roy’s music biz. His music school Imagine Music was forced to close after the Covid-19 outbreak, and after much deliberation, Roy decided to shut its doors last June after eight years.

“I had to renew my lease last June but at that time, the government didn’t allow us to teach yet. They only started to ease measures in August and then in March, restrictions kicked in again, so it’s a good thing that I didn’t renew my lease,” says the “semi-retired” musician, adding that he has been keeping himself busy with his hobby of shooting and editing videos and is currently working on a series of educational videos for kids.

“This is a difficult time, and a lot of sectors are suffering, not just F&B. We don’t know how long this pandemic will last, but we just have to try our darndest to get through it. We have to take a gamble.”

The 50-seater (90 pre-Covid), simply furnished with wooden tables and chairs and Thai art dotting the walls, offers an extensive menu of more than 100 items, including some Chinese Thai fusion dishes, whipped up by their Thai chef.

Business was brisk thanks to Kenn’s foresight and early adoption of digital solutions to streamline operations. After Siam Village introduced their QR code menu and online ordering in 2019, business went up by 30 per cent.

“There was minimal waiting time as customers ordered their food in advance and were served as soon as they arrived. I could do three sittings during the two-hour lunch service,” says Kenn.

However, like many others, business took a plunge when the pandemic hit. The once bustling eatery is now as quiet as the sleepy estate it is located in.

“It’s all industrial offices here so our weekday lunch business is heavily dependent on the office crowd. With work from home as the default arrangement during P2HA, business dropped 50 to 60 per cent,” says Kenn.

And the recent Jurong Fishery Port cluster only made things worse. “We saw a drop in families patronising our restaurant. Now, a lot of people don’t dare to eat fish, or even seafood. We used to sell 30 to 40 fishes in a week, but now we only get 10 orders. Just because there is a cluster at the fishery port, people think the seafood is affected too. Compared to the last P2HA in May, business has dropped a further 20 per cent,” he sighs.

To expand its reach, Siam Village has just launched six bento sets. Each hearty set includes a signature dish like Pineapple Seafood Fried Rice, side dish, vegetable, dessert of Mango Sticky Rice, and a choice of Thai Iced Tea or Iced Lemongrass. For $12.90, the sets are pretty value-for-money and a tasty option for a simple meal if you’re dining solo.

“It’s just like when you come to our restaurant with your family and you order four or five items to share. The bento comes with a variety of dishes including our signature items, just in smaller portions. They are also more takeaway-friendly,” shares Kenn. Response has been encouraging. According to Kenn, they sold 10 sets during lunch when they launched on Thursday (Jul 29). And this was without any marketing.

Currently only available for takeout or delivery via Siam Village’s online ordering platform, Kenn hopes to get the bentos on food delivery apps in the upcoming weeks.

While some F&B businesses are reluctant to get on food delivery platforms due to the steep commission fees, Roy says they have “no choice”: “If we don’t get on board, we will be worse off. But of course, we would recommend that our regulars order via our own ordering platform. They can save on delivery fees and we deliver island-wide too.”

The past few weeks, the team has been busy R&D’ing different ways and cooking methods to “minimise the drop in food quality during delivery”.

“For example, we have managed to cook our Pad Thai such that it tastes as good as when you have it at our restaurant. One trick is after boiling the rice noodles, we rinse it under cold water so it doesn’t overcook. This also ensures the noodles are chewy and not clumpy when it reaches the customer,” says Kenn.

Why didn’t they launch their bentos earlier?

“We didn’t think so far,” admits Kenn. “After the circuit breaker and even the P2HA in May, we thought things would pick up after dine-in restrictions were lifted. But this latest dine-in ban has taught us that when a big Covid cluster emerges, the government can lock down anytime, and it will be very fast. It came as a surprise to me. The ban was just lifted late June, so I thought they would still allow dine-in in groups of two. A complete ban is very jialat for F&B businesses.”

He adds: “The only way to survive is to expand our business online to reach out to people in other areas and also our lunch regulars who have been working from home. Who knows when we gain enough reach, we might move to a cloud kitchen concept and won’t need a restaurant? I am open to that.”

This non-spicy bento comes with your choice of stir-fried minced chicken or pork with basil, along with a side of seasonal vegetables, two pieces of salted egg chicken drumlets, and yummy mango sticky rice. We went with the pork at the recommendation of Roy, and it did not disappoint. Fried with lots of garlic, basil and diced long beans, the minced pork was aromatic and delicious. Our only gripe is there wasn’t enough gravy to go with the rice.

The star of this bento is no doubt the salted egg chicken drumlets. Each drumlet is bathed in a fish sauce marinade before being deep-fried and tossed with salted egg yolk, butter and curry leaves. It’s crispy, tender and very addictive. We wish we tapowed an additional serving.

This is the only bento that comes with noodles instead of rice, so it’s unfortunate that the seafood Pad Thai was a letdown. While the rice noodles were still chewy and not clumpy, it was a little on the bland side. We much preferred the appetising mango salad and crispy spring rolls.

This tom yum soup is great for those who can’t take much heat. To cater to the local palate, Kenn’s Thai chef dialed down the level of spiciness, and chilli paste was added to give it a red hue and touch of sweetness. Loaded with shrimp, fish slices and mushroom, the fragrant soup is comforting and a great accompaniment to the bento.

Also worth highlighting is the Thai Style Petai Prawns. Spicy and intense, this dish packs a punch. We also like that it was generously topped with fried ikan bilis, which gives it an additional layer of umami.

Despite only digging into the seabass after we got home some two hours later, the fish, butterflied to remove most of the bones, was still crisp on the outside and tender within. The sauce was a nice balance of sweet, sour and spicy, and the heap of fried curry leaves was the cherry on top.

Siam Village is at 77 Jalan Wangi, Sennett Estate, S349388. Open daily 10.30am-9.30pm. Tel: 6284 0630.

WhatsApp 9012 2280 to order or visit Order.siamvillage.com.sg. More info via their website, Facebook, and Instagram.

Photos: Alvin Teo

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