LOS ANGELES: \u201cStop asking your relatives to smuggle laksa in their luggage.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is the cheeky advertising tagline for Singapore Hawker Haven, a company freezing packets of laksa, mee pok and fishballs \u2013 all made by hawkers in Singapore \u2013 and selling them in Australia.<\/p>\n
Founder Jameson Wong, a Singaporean who moved to Melbourne in 2022, launched the business two years later after a midnight craving for mee pok, one of Singapore\u2019s signature noodle dishes.<\/p>\n
His products are now stocked at more than 80 supermarkets and grocery stores in Australia, and can also be ordered online for A$11.99 (USS$8.45) to A$13.99 each.<\/p>\n
From June, they will be available in the United States as well.<\/p>\n
And while most of his US customers will likely be Singaporean, South-East Asian or Chinese, as they are in Australia, Wong\u2019s ambitions stretch beyond this market, with the goal of making Singapore hawker food as globally recognisable as ramen or pad thai.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old shares his plans while on a long delivery run between Melbourne and Canberra.<\/p>\n
He is making a 16-hour round trip by car so he can personally deliver orders to eight Singaporeans in Canberra, where demand is not yet high enough to support a retail stockist.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we still try to serve the Singapore diaspora, so we consolidate orders and do a big drive every five to six months,\u201d he says over the phone.<\/p>\n
Wong, who previously worked as a senior travel executive in Singapore and had no prior experience in the food industry, lives in Melbourne with his 38-year-old Singaporean wife, who works in advertising, and their three children aged one to seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt like Melbourne might be a better place to raise young kids,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
But as much as they love their new home, in the winter of July 2023, he found himself cold and hungry in bed late one night.<\/p>\n
He had a fierce craving for mee pok, but his only choices at that hour were instant noodles or a pricey food delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, as my wife slept next to me, I fired up my laptop in the dark and was, like, \u2018What would it cost me, per meal, to bring in mee pok and laksa from Singapore?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As he ran the numbers, he realised it could be a viable business. After speaking to Asian grocery stores in Melbourne, he found 30 willing to stock the products he had in mind.<\/p>\n
The following year, Singapore Hawker Haven was born.<\/p>\n
Its frozen laksa, mee pok and fishballs are made by four hawker families in Singapore \u2013 people who either have their own stalls or supply others. The dishes are made and frozen as complete dishes in Singapore before being delivered to stockists and customers.<\/p>\n
The company is also testing new products to add to its line and takes into account what customers are asking for. He plans to eventually expand the range to include dishes like frozen nasi lemak and carrot cake.<\/p>\n
Singapore-style laksa is still relatively hard to come by in Australia, where laksa tends to be more \u201cthe Malaysian-style curry noodles\u201d, Wong says.<\/p>\n
So, his Peranakan version, ready to eat after five minutes in the microwave, hits the spot for many homesick for Singapore food.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy rule of thumb is it needs to be authentic. I really can\u2019t stand \u2018Singapore-inspired\u2019 or \u2018Asian-style\u2019 dishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the most common feedback we get on our products from Singaporeans overseas is: \u2018It reminds me of home.\u2019 It\u2019s emotional and nostalgic for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In 2025, with financial support from the Singapore Global Network (SGN) \u2013 a government initiative supporting Singaporeans abroad \u2013 the company donated more than 1,700 of its products to Singaporeans in Australia who were celebrating the Republic\u2019s 60th National Day.<\/p>\n
After receiving requests from Singaporeans in the US, Wong decided to expand there. He sees the estimated 221,000 or so Singaporeans living overseas as just the starting point.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs rewarding as this is, it\u2019s not an infinitely scalable business \u2013 there are only a certain number of Singaporeans overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, my endgame is to build a global reference brand for Singapore hawker culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know how Japan has ramen and Thai food has pad thai? We don\u2019t really have anything in that category for Singapore hawker food that\u2019s world famous,\u201d says Wong.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I don\u2019t want it to be just about the products \u2013 I want to proudly talk about our hawker culture and put it on the global map.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Singapore food is little known outside of cities such as New York and San Francisco, he believes the US could be the ideal launch pad. He plans to market his products there by \u201chelping people understand what these dishes are and the hawker culture behind them \u2013 and letting the taste do the rest\u201d.<\/p>\n
Frozen ethnic food brands in the US are growing twice as fast as frozen food in general, says Wong, whose products will debut at selected Asian supermarkets in Los Angeles in June.<\/p>\n
Customers can also order online now for delivery across the US, with a packet of about 15 fishballs priced at US$8.99 and a bowl of laksa or mee pok at US$10.99 each, excluding shipping.<\/p>\n
Wong points to brands such as Fly By Jing, a Chinese-American company whose Sichuan chilli crisp is now sold at major US supermarket chains, as an example of what can be achieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these big cultural brands that are making an impact on the global stage \u2013 that is the stage we want to play on and put our Singaporean hawker culture on,\u201d he claims. – The Straits Times\/ANN<\/p>\n
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