Ang Leong Huat: The company behind Plum Blossom hua tiao chiew turns 100

If you cook regularly, chances are that you’d probably have a bottle of Plum Blossom hua tiao chiew in your pantry. 

But did you know that the company behind this bottle of Chinese rice wine is not only a Singaporean one, but is also turning a century old this year?

Ang Leong Huat (ALH) is a Singapore-born, family-run Chinese wine importer and distributor behind many other household Chinese wine items you would probably find familiar — the Boxer rice wine and the Double Dog mei kwei lu chiew (or rose wine), for example. 

We sit down with the family’s third- and fourth-generation members to find out more about the business’ iconic products and how Ang Leong Huat has grown through the years.

More than just Plum Blossom hua tiao chiew 

For those who don’t cook, or aren’t familiar with Chinese wines in Chinese cooking, the Plum Blossom hua tiao chiew (from S$5.30) is made from fermented glutinous rice, and is typically used to impart aroma into dishes. 

Hua tiao chiew is a type of shao xing chiew (Chinese yellow wine), hailing from Shaoxing, China. It derived its name from being aged in earthenware crocks known as “hua tiao”, and is currently the most consumed type of shao xing wine, thanks to its balanced dry, yet sweet flavour profile. 

Plum Blossom’s version, which has been aged for five years, has no salt and artificial flavours, which means that aside from using it for cooking, you can even drink it on its own.

Even as someone who cooks, I’d never thought twice about this bottle that always sat at the back of my pantry, till I chanced upon a content creator who swore by a dash of hua tiao chiew to finish off her instant noodles with. 

Imagine my shock, too, when I found out that it’s not meant for cooking, but also a wine that  you can drink.

While the blue-and-yellow Plum Blossom version is perfectly fine to down, you can also try ALH’s other products, such as the calabash hua tiao chiew (from S$17), which has been aged for eight years and stored in a unique, porcelain gourd-shaped holder.

With its smooth, yet deep notes, this version is best enjoyed at room temperature or warmed, and served neat.

There’s also a lighter, more mellow version that ALH has, the li chun hua tiao chiew (from S$13) that’s also been aged for eight years. The main difference: Wolfberries and longan are added into the wine after it has fermented, giving it a light sweetness, and is best enjoyed chilled. 

How Ang Leong Huat came about

Ang Leong Huat was founded by Ang Chuan Hang, who had arrived in then-Malaya from Xiamen, China in 1923. In 1925, he set up a shopfront in Jalan Besar in Singapore, and began making and selling rice wine to labourers looking to unwind after work. 

Following the success of the elder Ang’s efforts, his son Ang Kok Seng later expanded ALH’s line of products in the 1950s with the Boxer brand of rice wine.

Around the same time, Kok Seng also realised then that hua tiao chiew (a type of Chinese yellow wine) was commonly used in cooking in China and wanted to bring a high-quality version into Singapore. 

He secured a supplier for hua tiao chiew in China, and imported it to Singapore under the Plum Blossom brand, which is the yellow-hued label we see in supermarkets and kitchens today. 

The business is run by the third and fourth generations of the Ang family, led by chairman Ang Kah Joo, 75. 

Other members of the family in the business include sales and marketing manager Ang Bee Leng, 59, from the third generation, and her nephew, Ang Chien Sern, ALH’s chief operating officer, 42, among others. 

Keeping it in the family 

An IT graduate, Chien Sern joined ALH in 2009 after he saw his father — chairman Ang Kah Joo — coming back home late, after a long day’s work during the peak Chinese New Year period. 

While his father had always given him the freedom to work outside of ALH (and he did so, for a short while), it was that moment when he realised it was time for him to be a part of this family business. 

Chien Sern first started in a sales role to better understand ALH’s pain points, before he moved into warehouse operations. 

But he tells us: “As a family business, you need to learn a bit of things from here and there. There’s no specific role, really.”

He later played a pivotal role in launching ALH’s website in 2012, and expanding the brand’s presence on online shopping platforms.

His aunt, Bee Leng, joined the business in 1997, after working several human resource roles in banking and retail. Despite having been in mainly HR roles before she joined the family business, the lack of sales experience didn’t faze her.

“If this door doesn’t open, I go to another one and try another method — it’s all through trial and error,” she says. 

ALH’s products had already been relative household names by the time Bee Leng joined the family business, but she adds: “We felt we couldn’t just sit and put the stuff on the supermarket shelves, and let it disappear (off the shelves).” 

The company still works actively to engage consumers and restaurants, not only about its iconic house products, but also its newer liquors, spirits, and wines.

One such example is the limited-time collaboration with the heritage Zi Yean Restaurant at Bukit Merah, running from now till March 16.

Hua tiao chiew collaborations around town

You can head down to Zi Yean Restaurant and try any of its seven dishes that have been specially crafted by chef-owner Fok Wong Tin, in celebration of ALH’s 100th year.

There’s an incredibly nourishing hot stone fish maw in superior broth (S$25), which comes with generous chunks of fish maw and shreds of scallop in a piping-hot stone bowl, topped with a dash of hua tiao chiew. 

But the one that really surprised us was the crispy fried rice with diced abalone (S$15).

At first glance, the rice looks mushy and almost porridge-like, but dig in and you’ll find that it’s been fried to a crisp, just like pao fan. 

This crispy rice is then simmered in hua tiao chiew, so there’s an added fragrance and sweetness that is further complemented by the tender cubes of abalone. 

If you thought that hua tiao chiew could only be used in savoury dishes, chef Fok proves you wrong with his take on the well-loved Chinese dessert — the traditional-style glutinous rice ball (S$8). 

The dumplings, which contain a cube of pian tang (or brown sugar strip), are served in a warm ginger soup. This is one of the dishes where guests have the choice to add a dash or two of hua tiao chiew tableside to cut through the sharpness of the ginger.

The ginger soup might be the focus here, but we couldn’t get enough of the rice balls, which reminded us of the Peranakan ondeh ondeh in concept, with an ooey gooey sugary core. 

Meanwhile, you can also enjoy ALH’s liquor in dessert form, elsewhere. 

At alcoholic ice cream bar High Bar Society, there’s Lady in Red, a hazelnut-based ice cream with nu er hong wine, and Coco’s Flush, a coconut and gula melaka ice cream infused with its calabash hua tiao chiew. 

Both flavours are available as a scoop for S$10, or as a pint at S$45, upon request. 

With so many ways to try this heritage liquor as Ang Leong Huat celebrates this momentous milestone, it’s been eye-opening to think of hua tiao chiew beyond a wine just for home-cooked dishes. 

Give it a go, and see if these variations change your mind about Chinese liquors, or at least about hua tiao chiew.

This was an invited tasting. 

Zi Yean Restaurant and High Bar Society are on the GrabFood delivery service and offer free delivery (up to S$3 off) with GrabUnlimited.  

You can make a reservation at High Bar Society via Chope.

You can also book a ride to Zi Yean Restaurant or High Bar Society for their takes on Ang Leong Huat’s Plum Blossom hua tiao chiew.