Couple who lost S$20,000 6 months after opening mala stall revamps biz to sell scrambled egg rice

If you’re a fan of viral scrambled egg rice hawker stall Danlao (which has outlets at Maxwell Food Centre and Tam Chiak Kopitiam in Hougang), here’s another joint for you to check out. Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice sells a similar dish, but in nine variations instead of Danlao’s five. 

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

The humbler Danlao lookalike opened at Kovan Market & Food Centre in September, and is owned by a Chinese couple who used to sell mala xiang guo at the same unit before rebranding their biz. The duo, now Singapore PRs, lived in Shandong, China, before moving to Singapore around 20 years ago for work.

Hai Xia, 44, tells 8days.sg that she and her husband, Gao Shanqiang, 50, decided to sell scrambled egg rice because she “saw that a lot of stalls sell this dish”. Their mala biz — which they ran for six months prior —  “made a loss of at least $20K” — forcing the couple to pivot the business. Currently, the pair also own a cai png stall beside their egg rice unit.

Husband was an “award-winning” chef in China 

Shanqiang does all the cooking at Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice, and worked as a chef in China before the couple relocated to Singapore. He “used to make dim sum like xiao long bao, buns, dumplings”, and even “won an award” for his culinary skills in China. 

Which begs the question — why sell scrambled egg rice instead of dim sum? Hai Xia explains: “It’s difficult to hire people [to help us make dim sum] as it requires a lot of skill and hard work”. 

The couple thus ended up selling a bunch of different dishes over the years. Their first biz was a yong tau foo stall, but they later made the switch to selling beef noodles and herbal soup at Bedok, before moving to Kovan to sell mala xiang guo. Out of all the stalls they ran over the years, only their mala biz incurred a loss. 

Hai Xia says that while she has tried Danlao before, her stall is not inspired by it, explaining that “half a year ago, [she] already tried Japanese egg omelette rice” which gave her the idea to open her scrambled egg rice concept. 

Though they’ve revamped their biz multiple times, Hai Xia says “it wasn’t tiring” or demoralising. Why not just work for a restaurant given Shanqiang’s dim sum-making skills? Simply because he prefers being a business owner. 

The couple remain hopeful about their newest venture. “Though the business just started, we feel that sales so far are already better than at our previous mala stall,” says Hai Xia.  

Slightly cheaper than Danlao

It’s hard not to draw comparisons between Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice and Danlao, but the most striking difference is the number of menu items both shops have. Danlao’s main menu includes five types of scrambled egg rice: luncheon meat, tomato, chicken cutlet, char siew and prawn. The Kovan hawker sells all of the above items except the tomato rice, but offers another five variations - fish cutlet ($5.80), pork cutlet ($5.80), oysters ($5.80), beef ($6.80) and mala pork ($6). 

While both brands have a similarly priced menu, some of Kovan’s offerings are a tad cheaper. For instance, their chicken cutlet and char siew costs $5.80 instead of Danlao’s $6, and their prawn dish costs $6.80 instead of $7 at Danlao. 

Chicken cutlet rice, $5.80

Hai Xia says their bestsellers are the chicken cutlet ($5.80), luncheon meat ($5) and mala pork rice ($6). 8days.sg’s intern visited the stall undercover and sampled their chicken cutlet rice. She declares the cutlet quite tasty, but the scrambled eggs, while reasonably silky, less moist and creamy than Danlao’s. 

Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice is located at #01-23 Kovan Market & Food Centre, 209 Hougang St 21, S530209. Open daily 11am - 9pm. 

Photos: Sonia Loi, Xing Wei Chua/Burpple

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

8days.sg is now on #tiktok! Follow us on www.tiktok.com/@8dayseat