Hawker Chan on Beach Road at Royal Garden Plaza

[Evil Penevil]

 

Hawker Chan is a recently opened Chinese roast meat (siu mei) restaurant on Beach Road at the front of the Royal Garden Plaza. It's part of an international chain spun off from Singapore's Liao Fun Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, a small food stall in a Chinatown hawker center (open-air food court) that won a Michelin star in 2016.

 

 

 

Although it bills itself as "The world first hawker to be awarded one Michelin star," Liao Fan HKSSCRN was actually one of two Singapore food stalls to get the prestigious culinary award in July of last year. It propelled the stall's chef and owner, Chan Hong Meng, to overnight fame. He formed a partnership with a Singapore investment company to capitalize on his instant celebrity.

 

 

The result is the Hawker Chan chain, which now has three branches in Singapore as well as in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. Branches will soon open in Australia and the Philippines. Mr. Chan has said he wants to follow KFC's example and establish branches all over the world.  That's certainly an ambitious if unrealistic goal, but it does raise the intriguing possibility we might soon be hearing hilarious stories of humiliated Pattaya punters carrying around buckets of Hawker Chan. (If you get that quip, you're a true punter-board veteran).   

 

The rapid rise of Hawker Chan is a fascinating street-food-to-riches story, even when you scrape away the hype over the Michelin star. It's also testimony to the power and influence of the Michelin Guide.  I'll include more of the background at the end of this review.  

 

The interior is spacious, well-lit and spotlessly clean.  There's nothing particularly Chinese about Hawker Chan's decor; it could be any modern quick-service chain restaurant. including KFC.

 

 

 

 

 

You make your selection from the menu at the front counter, pay, then wait for your number to be called and pick up your order from the counter. It's the same model McDonalds pioneered and is now used in fast-food restaurants all over the world.

 

 

 

The menu itself is simple. Diners have a choice of chef Chan's signature soya sauce chicken or three types of pork: char siew (BBQ pork belly); spare ribs; or crispy roast.  The meats can be combined with rice, noodles or hor fun (a type of rice noodle and an appropriate name in Pattaya).  The menu sports three non-meat dishes; two vegetable and a tofu dish.  You can also order whole or half chickens and pork by the gram or kilo for takeaway or in-house dining by groups.  

 

It's the same menu as in Hawker Chan's restaurants elsewhere.  The menu in the pic below is from the Web site of the Terminal 21 branch in Bangkok, although prices for the single plate meals tend to be about seven to 15 baht higher in Pattaya.

 

 

The dishes are inexpensive and you can have two dishes and a beverage for under 300 baht.  Of course, similar food is available from food stalls, street carts and hole-in-the-wall restaurants all over Pattaya at half or one-third the price, but you won't be eating it in air-conditioned comfort at a prime Beach Road location.

And now to the important question:  How's the food at the Pattaya branch of Hawker Chan?  Overall, it's average, with the soya sauce chicken and roast pork above average. For those familiar with the U.S. academic grading scale, I'd give Hawker Chan Pattaya a C+. There's no   factor to any of it and nothing at all to make me think it deserves a Michelin star.  It tastes the same as roast meats in thousands of Chinese restaurants and I've had better in China, Hong Kong, Bangkok and even New York City's Chinatown.

I've never eaten at the Liao Fan HKSSCRN in Singapore, so I can't make a direct comparison to the Pattaya offering.  According to Singapore newspaper and food blog reports, the dishes at Hawker Chan branches in both Singapore and abroad are inferior in flavor to what you get at the Chinatown hawker center food stall.

 

 

I first tried Hawker Chan's most famous dish, soya sauce chicken and rice at 95 baht.  The chicken was moist and tender with a silky texture and glossy skin.  Like Col. Saunders with his 11 secret herbs and spices for his Original Recipe KFC,  chef Chan also has a secret recipe for the marinade in which the chicken is soaked overnight.  It's known to contain Chinese angelica root, cloves, coriander seed, and star anise. I didn't notice much taste enhancement from the marinade except perhaps on the skin.

 

 

The size of the chicken portion was sufficient but not large.  Keep in mind the Chinese preference is for skin on and bone in, then chopped with a cleaver into pieces convenient for eating with chopsticks.  You're left with pieces of bone to spit out, which isn't appealing to some Western diners.

 

 

A large portion of rice came with the chicken.  It was topped with a soy mixture that tasted generic to me.  At the counter, you can take small dishes of thick, sweet soy sauce, ordinary soy sauce and chili sauce, which was quite mild and a bit sweet.  It went well with the salty chicken. The rice seemed a bit wet to me, as though it had been thoroughly boiled but then allowed to sit in the cooker or pot and the steam had condensed.  

This review is long, so I'll break it into two posts.

Evil

 

[Evil Penevil]

 

I went for the three-pork combination plate on my next visit.  It cost 195 baht without rice, which was 20 baht extra and a can of Coke Zero 35 baht.  As should be the case, the 7% VAT was baked into the menu price and no service charge was added.

  

Like the chicken, the pork was succulent and tender.  It was definitely Cantonese style.  Forget Memphis or Texas.  The spare ribs had been chopped into small pieces and were dry with little meat. The char siew had a sweet and salty taste from the marinade and glaze.  The roast pork, my favorite among the three, had crispy fat, but not too much of it. 

If you're thinking of BBQ pork and spare ribs in terms of Middle America, you should go to Smokin' Joe's on Soi Lengkee.  At Hawker Chan's, it's Middle Kingdom all the way. 

Last night I had the wonton soup and the soy sauce chicken with noodles. 

The wonton soup was good but unremarkable.  It tasted the same as many bowls of wonton I've had in Chinese restaurants that don't ever dream about a star from their local newspaper, much less the Michelin Guide.

At 130 baht, I thought it was overpriced for a bowl of generic broth, five filled wontons and a few greens.

I then had the soy sauce chicken with noodles at 110 baht.  The pieces of chicken seemed to have more white meat and fewer bones than last time round. No complaints there.

The noodles, however, were dry and hard on top, as though they had not only been pre-cooked but pre-plated and left to stand under a heating lamp.  The noodles were also stuck together, another sign they'd been standing under heat.  This is hardly the type of dish that is likely to get a Michelin star.  It tasted OK once I moistened the noodles with the sauce.  I did have some hor fun later that night, but on Walking Street, not Beach Road.

Hawker Chan is open from 11.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m., with last call at 10.30 p.m.   On the first two occasions, I was there late, around 10 p.m., and I was the only customer.  Last night I went at 7.30 p.m. and there were 10 other customers.  Everywhere else where Hawker Chan has opened, there has been a big rush of customers.  Not in Pattaya.  

The staff is friendly and polite, although there isn't much service involved.  Everyone from the cleaning lady to the manager greeted and wai'ed me when I entered the restaurant and again when I left.

Bottom line.  The food at Hawker Chan is OK but nothing spectacular.  I'll be back because it is a convenient location for me. I won't be expecting anything outstanding just because the food stall in Singapore won a Michelin star. 

 

Evil

The background info on Hawker Chan will come in yet another post.

[shadowcat]

Very informative review and much appreciated.  Thankyou for the details. Maybe you should review your girls in the same style.

[Pattaya_Brian]

Refresh my memory. What was in that location before?

[Evil Penevil]

15 minutes ago, Pattaya_Brian said:

Refresh my memory. What was in that location before?

I want to say it was a fashion outlet called Nautica, but I'm not sure.     

Evil

[brooksie]

Thanks for the review, has it replaced the Thai gourmet food place in RGP?

[asmodeus]

I think it works as a healthy fast food option - chicken noodles in soy sauce and a tiger beer is a reasonable 200 baht

That said, my noodles were a bit stodgy and some soaked in sweet type of soy sauce...truth be told I prefer the noodles I can cook at home to my own taste

[striderman]

1 hour ago, Pattaya_Brian said:

Refresh my memory. What was in that location before?

it was a restaurant/buffet place may have been korean deffo SE Asian . don't think i have a photo of it

now...............

 

[Clem Fandango]

I very interesting review Evil. Away to google the stall in Singapore.

[feelus]

Appreciate the review Evil. The dishes don't look that great relative to the cost. For siu mei in Pattaya I quite like the Food Park at the bottom of Central Festival which has bbq pork, roast pork, duck, and chicken

[Evil Penevil]

11 minutes ago, striderman said:

it was a restaurant/buffet place may have been korean deffo SE Asian . don't think i have a photo of it

3

Thank you!  That's it!  It was Red Kimchi, an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ buffet.  It was part of the Sukishi group.  Photo from the Net.

 

Evil

 

[Marcus85]

Had a look at the Terminal 21 location and wasn’t intrigued enough to give it a try.

I’m guessing within a year most of these will be shuttered.

[Pattaya_Brian]

17 minutes ago, Evil Penevil said:

Thank you!  That's it!  It was Red Kimchi, an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ buffet.  It was part of the Sukishi group.  Photo from the Net.

 

Evil

 

Okay, but I'm going back further than that. Your answer about it being a Nautica store sounds about right.

Something was there a lot longer than the Red Kimchi place.

[Evil Penevil]

1 minute ago, Pattaya_Brian said:

Okay, but I'm going back further than that. Your answer about it being a Nautica store sounds about right.

Something was there a lot longer than the Red Kimchi place.

I think it was Nautica and became Red Kimchi a few years ago, but maybe someone knows for sure.

Evil

 

[Gnorman]

Fantastic review as always Evil, thanks for taking the time to post.

[Taa_Saparot]

18 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

I think it was Nautica and became Red Kimchi a few years ago, but maybe someone knows for sure.

Agreed.

 

And before Nautica, I think it was Timberland.

[just hanging]

I saw one of these a  few days ago at terminal 21 bangkok.  Strange that in the middle of loads of open resturants where you can clearly see in, most of this was wall, but they did have the sign up. I looked for a menu outside and didnt see one, just one pic of some noodles.  they need some promotion

[Scuba+]

Here's an idea, do reviews of street food places

[Saddic]

20 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Here's an idea, do reviews of street food places

Thought the PM outlawed them...  TIT

[Evil Penevil]

On 10/15/2017 at 19:08, Marcus85 said:

Had a look at the Terminal 21 location and wasn’t intrigued enough to give it a try.

I’m guessing within a year most of these will be shuttered.

 

7 hours ago, just hanging said:

I saw one of these a  few days ago at terminal 21 bangkok.  Strange that in the middle of loads of open resturants where you can clearly see in, most of this was wall, but they did have the sign up. I looked for a menu outside and didnt see one, just one pic of some noodles.  they need some promotion

There are mixed reports about how Hawker Chan is doing at Terminal 21 in Bangkok.  Some say it's busy, others say KFC has more customers.  One report (Hawker Chan) states:

"Its opening here was shrouded in Pantip drama as diners complained of hour-plus waits. Four months later, a mid-week visit still finds a bustling trade—though not quite as high stakes as Terminal 21’s food court, on the same floor. The vibe’s about the same as there, though. Slap-bang in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, hemmed in by KFC and Jeffer Steak, it could be just another fast food restaurant: place your order, find a table and then listen out for a sad, muffled voice to announce your number."

Photos from the same article:

Bangkok has 40 times the population of Pattaya and three to four times the number of tourist visitors.  BKK also has a large Chinese Thai community and thousands of working ex-pats from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. Hawker Chan has a much bigger chance of succeeding in Bangkok than Pattaya.

It's mainly a question of how long Hawker Chan can bask in the light of the Michelin star that was awarded to the Singapore food stall.

It's a great story, though:  a  food-stall hawker who had worked 17-hour days is suddenly catapulted into the world of multi-million-dollar international franchising deals. What surprises me is that he didn't raise his prices when his stall became popular in the pre-Michelin days.  Five hundred customers a day who had spent  $10 each at his stall would have brought in as much revenue as 1,000 who had spent $5 each, plus less expense in buying ingredients and far less work in preparation and serving.

It's a universal rule in business at all levels, from street hawkers through the largest transnational corporations, that prices are increased when demand outstrips supply.  I wonder why Chan Hong Meng didn't follow this rule?  In any case, it worked out well for him in the end.   

On 10/15/2017 at 19:43, Gnorman said:

Fantastic review as always Evil, thanks for taking the time to post.

 

 

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Here's an idea, do reviews of street food places

It's been done several times by me and by others, for example:  Thai Street and Hole-in-Wall Restaurants.  But it is time for an update.

Evil

 

 

[soi16]

Should I order some (sokka)prok?

[striderman]

[just hanging]

11 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

 

There are mixed reports about how Hawker Chan is doing at Terminal 21 in Bangkok.  Some say it's busy, others say KFC has more customers.  One report (Hawker Chan) states:

"Its opening here was shrouded in Pantip drama as diners complained of hour-plus waits. Four months later, a mid-week visit still finds a bustling trade—though not quite as high stakes as Terminal 21’s food court, on the same floor. The vibe’s about the same as there, though. Slap-bang in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, hemmed in by KFC and Jeffer steak, it could be just another fast food restaurant: place your order, find a table and then listen out for a sad, muffled voice to announce your number."

Photos from the same article:

Bangkok has 40 times the population of Pattaya and three to four times the number of tourist visitors.  BKK also has a large Chinese Thai community and thousands of working ex-pats from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. Hawker Chan has a much bigger chance of succeeding in Bangkok than Pattaya.

It's mainly a question of how long Hawker Chan can bask in the light of the Michelin star that was awarded to the Singapore food stall.

It's a great story, though:  a  food-stall hawker who had worked 17-hour days is suddenly catapulted into the world of multi-million-dollar international franchising deals. What surprises me is that he didn't raise his prices when his stall became popular in the pre-Michelin days.  Five hundred customers a day who had spent  $10 each at his stall would have brought in as much revenue as 1,000 who had spent $5 each, plus less expense in buying ingredients and far less work in preparation and serving.

It's a universal rule in business at all levels, from street hawkers through the largest transnational corporations, that prices are increased when demand outstrips supply.  I wonder why Chan Hong Meng didn't follow this rule?  In any case, it worked out well for him in the end.   

 

 

It's been done several times by me and by others, for example:  Thai Street and Hole-in-Wall restaurants.  But it is time for an update.

Evil

 

 

I was shocked that on a Thursday afternoon, in terminal 21,about 3 almost all of the restaurants had customers in them and not just a few

[wadman]

Just finished a meal at hawker Chan, decision to do so partly influenced by OP.  I arrived at 9:10 pm, there were 2 other tables. 20 minutes later, as I finished my meal, I was the only one left. Don't think they are doing good business. 

As for the meal, I had the char siew (BBQ red pork) and roasted pork combo platter (130 b), and plain noodles/hor fun (35 b). The quality of the food was very good at this price point. There was 1 huge problem though, all 3 items were served cold. Just cold, not even warm-ish. I wonder if you could request them to stick the food in a microwave for 1 minute, this type of Chinese food should just not be eaten cold. 

[JamesFerris]

Thank you Evil Penevil for this fantastic and detailed write up!  My second favorite part of visiting Pattaya is the food (the first being the beach, of course), and your posts have led me to a number of yummy places..  I think I found out about Oishii buffet at The Avenue because of you?

Either way, keep up the great posts and thank you so much for your contributions to the forum