Koh Brother Pig's Organ Soup opens 2nd outlet in the east

Last month, 8days.sg reported on the closure of The Pig Organ Soup, a stall at Maxwell Food Centre. It was run by young hawker Thomas Koh, 35, the third-gen successor of the famous Koh Brother Pig’s Organ Soup at Tiong Bahru Market.

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The former graphic designer had wanted to modernise his family’s business by introducing funkier branding and Western cooking techniques like clear consommé to replace the traditional cloudier soup. Unfortunately, the concept did not take off, and he shuttered his stall after “being in the red” every month.

Lesson learnt

A humbled Thomas told 8days.sg that in hindsight, he should have capitalised on Koh Brother’s well-known name to expand.

Customers didn’t give his stall a chance as he was new and, by appearance, unrelated to the famous Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded stall at Tiong Bahru. “They weren’t sure whether my food was clean or not. So reputation is very important in selling pig’s organ soup,” he reflected.

But after some soul-searching, he is “rising from the ashes of his failed initial foray in Maxwell Food Centre” by opening another hawker pig organ’s soup outlet this June 1.

This time, it is straight up a Koh Brother stall, albeit located in the east at Tampines St 81. “There is a maximum number of customers we can serve at Tiong Bahru every day. We have people coming from [places like] Tampines. I personally wouldn’t travel for food, so I thought of bringing it to them,” said Thomas.

The menu

The outlet will offer Koh Brother’s signature Teochew-style Pig’s Organ Soup ($4.80/$6.80), which comes with pig liver, tripe, intestines, heart, pork balls and lean meat, cooked with salted vegetables in a soup that has been boiled for eight hours.

Thomas will be “working with a team” at the stall to clean the organs and cook. He will also serve a selection of braised dishes made with his mother’s recipes, like Braised Pig Trotter ($6) and Braised Big/Small Intestines ($5 to $6). You can order these dishes to go with white rice and a side of Braised Egg ($1) and Braised Beancurd ($1/$2).

Koh Brother Pig’s Organ Soup outlet opens Jun 1, #01-38, 824 Tampines Street 81, S520824. Open daily 10am-8.30pm. Facebook.

Photos: Koh Brother Pig’s Organ Soup

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