How Jinggho Shokudo’s Alexander Kong passion for Japanese food led him to start an affordable hawker stall

Alexander’s F&B journey 

Hailing from Kampar in Malaysia, Alexander started his F&B journey after completing Form 5 (the equivalent of Secondary 4 in Singapore). Seeking better work opportunities, he moved to Singapore in 2008 and joined Bachmann Japanese Food Holdings as a kitchen helper. The F&B group runs restaurants such as Ajisen Ramen, Akitmisu, Osaka Ohsho, and Konjiki Hototogisu.

While Alexander had no cooking experience before then, he tells us that he has always enjoyed trying different foods and learning about them. “Japanese food is my favourite, because it is simple, but full of flavour. Every dish focuses on balance, taste, texture, and presentation,” he says. 

Alexander learnt the basics and built his foundation in the kitchen by working at various restaurants over 10 years. He eventually worked his way up to become a kitchen leader, where he managed staff and oversaw food quality and SOP. 

He also honed his skills in cooking Japanese food, learning under chefs that the restaurant group flew in from Japan. “They taught me how to make dishes such as ramen, donburi, tempura and teppanyaki, and to respect ingredients and make sure every dish is prepared with care,” he adds. 

Describing his teachers as “strict, but very skilled”, Alexander was taught to follow stringent standards when preparing Japanese dishes — something he initially had trouble mastering. One example was cooking tempura, where the cooking temperature of 180°C had to be carefully adhered to. “If the temperature is too low, the tempura becomes too soft, and if too high, it becomes burnt,” he explains. 

Starting Jinggho Shokudo

Learning the ropes was challenging, but the experience gave Alexander invaluable cooking skills, which has since enabled him to start Jinggho Shokudo. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Alexander faced a salary cut and chose to leave his previous job. He then pivoted to becoming a delivery driver for 3 years. A chance encounter with Alson Chong, CEO of F&B Group Oceaniverse, reignited his passion for Japanese cuisine.

 “He was actually one of my delivery customers. We randomly got to talking and he encouraged me to put my skills to good use and start my own business,” said Alexander. 

The two decided to collaborate and with Oceaniverse Group’s support, Jinggho Shokudo set up its first outlet at Yishun Park Hawker Centre.

Alexander was inspired by the idea of offering authentic, restaurant–quality Japanese cuisine at hawker prices. Thanks to his extensive experience making a wide variety of Japanese dishes, coming up with the menu and recipes took less than a week. 

While the R&D part was a smooth process, the first month of operations proved to be a challenge.

“I was working long hours, and it was hard to get customers to try our food,” Alexander recalls.  “But I stayed consistent, focusing on quality and friendly service.”

He adds: “Slowly, we built customer trust and people started to come back for more, enabling us to open two more outlets at Beauty World and Clementi. In fact, a student enjoyed the cheese ramen so much that he wrote a thank-you message to me on a piece of tissue paper, which really encouraged me!” 

The menu and dishes

One of Jinggho Shokudo’s signatures is the unagi ju tendon  ($16.80), made with grilled baby unagi. Alexander explains that he chose to include such a large, generous portion of unagi to attract customers and make this a stand-out dish. 

“At many other restaurants and hawker stalls, unagi dons rarely include such a huge portion of unagi,” he says. “Even if they do, the price would be S$25 to S$30.” 

Alexander admits that the low prices do translate into less earnings for him. However, he continues keeping portions generous in line with his goal of offering quality dishes at an everyday price point.

After trying the unagi ju tendon for myself, I did find it to be delicious and value-for-money. The use of baby unagi means that the dish has very few bones, and I appreciated how thick, fleshy and tender the eel was. 

The dish’s dark sauce is housemade as well, and compliments the unagi excellently.

The tamago (Japanese omelette) was sweet-tasty and fluffy too, and was lightly torched to accentuate its flavour. 

Next up was another popular dish — the toji tonkatsu ($6.50) . This dish featured a generous amount of flavourful pork cutlet that was tender and cooked well on the inside. I particularly liked the crispy, golden brown skin, which had a sweet flavour, thanks to the toji sauce. 

Alexander tells us that the toji sauce is housemade too — a blend of dark shoyu, light shoyu, mirin sauce and sake. The sauce also paired well with the fragrant Japanese rice and egg. 

The third dish we tried was the dry cheese ramen with tonkatsu ($8.90). Alexander says this dish came about because dry ramen is a popular dish in Malaysia and sold at Family Mart outlets. He chose to use Korean noodles, instead of Japanese ones, as he prefers its bouncy texture (Japanese noodles are softer, by comparison).

The nacho cheese sauce was well absorbed by the noodles, resulting in a rich, indulgent flavour that wasn’t too overwhelming.The noodles also had a slightly spicy seasoning that provided a nice kick to the dish, and the amount of tonkatsu was very generous. 

Finally, we tried the beef suki don ($7.80) — a new addition to the menu following Yishun Park Hawker Centre’s renovation. The beef was tender and juicy, with a nice balance of sweet and salty.

The sauce — a blend of the homemade toji sauce and teriyaki sauce — complemented the dish perfectly, too. I also liked how both the beef suki don and toji tonkatsu both came with an onsen egg on top — something you don’t always get this at Japanese stalls.

Overall thoughts

I’ve tasted my fair share of Japanese dishes at food courts and hawker centres, and feel that Jinggho Shokudo genuinely does stand out. 

My main gripe with many non-restaurant Japanese places is that the meat-to-rice-ratio isn’t satisfying. I often find myself wishing more ingredients like beef, pork or fish were added in comparison to the rice. At Jinggho Shokudo, the use of premium ingredients such as baby unagi, coupled with generous portions, fair prices and good cooking, makes this stall a must-go in my book. 

So I was happy to hear that Alexander has plans to expand his brand further. Another hawker stall is already in the works in the Punggol area, though the opening date and exact venue have yet to be announced.

“We plan to open more outlets and eventually franchise Jinggho Shokudo so more people in Singapore can enjoy good Japanese food,” says Alexander. “By bringing my Japanese dishes to hawker centers, I want to show that Japanese food can be high-quality and affordable.”

If you love all things Japanese, read our story on what goes on in the kitchen of Sushiro, and all about Sushi Zushi, a new sushi bar at Funan. 

Jinggho Shokudo is on the GrabFood delivery service and offers free delivery (up to S$3 off) with GrabUnlimited. 

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to any of Jinggho Shokudo’s stalls to try Alexander’s food!