Kawan Bowl: A new Muslim-friendly scrambled egg rice concept by DanLao’s founders

If you’re a fan of silky, creamy scrambled eggs, you might have heard of Danlao — the hawker stall at Maxwell Food Centre serving up yummy scrambled egg rice bowls paired with toppings such as luncheon meat and chicken cutlet. 

In less than two years, the popular brand now boasts 18 outlets in hawker stalls all around Singapore and it looks like they are still going full speed ahead!

The founding team, composed of Ong Zhen Ning, Jerrick Koh, Jermaine Choo, all aged 27, and Howard Ng, 30, have set their sights on further expansion with the launch of Kawan Bowl.

First opened in March at Choa Chu Kang’s Sunshine Place, Kawan Bowl is DanLao’s Muslim-friendly sister concept. The main attraction is still scrambled egg rice bowls, but with Malay and Indonesian-inspired flavours. Expect unique options such as ayam berempah, banana leaf otah and satay goreng chicken.

Getting the team together 

The two brands, DanLao and Kawan Bowl, are Zhen Ning’s brainchildren. The chef graduated from At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy in 2021 and has worked for restaurants such as PS. Cafe and Eggslut.

The idea for DanLao first came about in 2021. 

“I saw a gap in the market for this concept,” says Zhen Ning. “I love creamy and silky eggs and felt that not many places execute this well. So I wanted to do a simple hawker concept focusing on egg and rice.” 

Working at Eggslut also influenced his recipe for the brand’s signature scrambled eggs, which he describes as “using western cooking techniques on a Chinese wok”.

“Western chefs will constantly stir the scrambled eggs when cooking,” he adds. “By contrast, places such as Hong Kong cook scrambled eggs layer by layer.”

At Eggslut, Zhen Ning gained plenty of experience controlling the desired consistency, texture and creaminess of the eggs.He had also trained new staff members in cooking the eggs. 

Initially, he had planned to start DanLao as a solo venture, but eventually realised that having more partners would give the brand more runway to grow. Learning to run a business with like-minded individuals was also the best way forward. 

He then roped in Jermaine, a former colleague from Eggslut, whom he worked with back in late 2021. The latter’s F&B experience includes a diploma in culinary and catering management at Temasek Polytechnic, as well as working at the now-defunct fine-dining restaurant Vis-a-Vis, which was owned by his family.

“I was keen to start the business with Zhen Ning, because I felt I didn’t fit into the rank and file system a lot of restaurants had,” says Jermaine. “I wanted to create a business where I had more agency over things and could create a good working system for staff.” 

Jerrick, Zhen Ning’s former classmate from At-Sunrice, joined the fray, too. He had worked for restaurants such as Putien, Ola and as head chef of September Coffee. 

Howard, Zhen Ning’s childhood friend who had worked at a lei cha stall at Fusionopolis in One-north, also agreed to come on board.

Each of the founding members take on different responsibilities. Zhen Ning is in charge of company operations, business development, its financials and HR. Jermaine helms operations, making sure the brand runs smoothly and comes up with SOPs and new menu items.

As for Jerrick, he takes charge of training newcomers & managers. Howard helms projects and design, setting up new store openings and liaising with contractors. 

In December 2022, DanLao’s first outlet was set up at Maxwell Food Centre, with diners taking well to its delicious scrambled egg rice bowls.

And as they say, the rest is history. In the last two years, DanLao has opened 18 stores islandwide, with its latest located at Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Creating Kawan Bowl 

With the success of DanLao, the founders began toying with the idea of opening Kawan Bowl. 

“Many of our Muslim friends were asking for a halal option, so we thought of reaching out to the rest of this community and exploring this new market,” says Zhen Ning. 

Besides using halal preparation techniques, Kawan Bowl puts Malay and Indonesian-inspired twists on the chain’s signature scrambled-egg rice bowls.

“It is well known that Malay and Indonesian food are melting pots of spice. The flavour profile is fairly complex and we wanted to conceptualise such dishes in a simple, yet elevated way in neighbourhoods stalls,” says Zhen Ning. 

You’ll see these dynamic flavours reflected in Kawan Bowl’s offerings, which took about a month of R&D to create. 

In contrast to DanLao’s menu of five items, Kawan Bowl has nine selections: Chicken luncheon egg rice (S$5.90), banana leaf otah egg rice (S$6.90), ayam berempah egg rice (S$7.90), satay goreng chicken egg rice (S$7.90), ayam panggang egg rice (S$7.90), taliwang chicken cutlet egg rice (S$7.90), curry fried chicken egg rice ($7.90), sambal prawn egg rice (S$7.90) and beef rendang egg rice (S$8.90). 

“When we were creating the menu at Kawan Bowl, we understood the importance of having more variety in our menu,” says Zhen Ning. “We are serving the neighbourhood crowds in Bidadari and Anchorvale, where people might want to sit and eat a bit longer. This is in contrast to DanLao’s outlets, which are typically at the CBD and airport terminals, where people prefer quick and fuss-free options.” 

At Kawan Bowl, diners also have the option of pairing their mains with different styles of egg: Classic silken egg, telur dadar (omelette style) and crispy egg (deep-fried).

These were added to the menu after the founders sought feedback from their friends in the Muslim community, some of whom had a preference for fried eggs, as opposed to the more runny style of scrambled eggs.

Menu highlights

One of Kawan Bowl’s signature items is the ayam berempah egg rice. The deep fried Malay-style goreng chicken was inspired by Zhen Ning’s love for the dish, after he had tried it in Kuala Lumpur.

Here, the ayam berempah is marinated in a special sauce, deep-fried to retain its moisture and cooked thoroughly. We had a chance to try it and were thoroughly impressed by how tasty and tender the chicken was. 

While the menu indicated that the dish was spicy, I didn’t find the special sauce too overwhelming and thought that it added a nice kick to the dish. The scrambled egg was impressive too, silky, creamy and paired perfectly with the rice.

Another popular choice is the sambal prawn egg rice. For this dish, the prawns are pan-fried together with red onions and finished with a special taliwang sauce, as well as a squeeze of lime. 

You do need a higher spice tolerance for this, as compared to the ayam berempah, but the sambal chilli isn’t too heavy and complements the egg-and-rice combination well. We also tasted a tinge of sweetness in the chilli and appreciated the freshness of the prawns. 

If you’re a satay lover, the satay goreng chicken egg rice will definitely tempt you. The inspiration for this dish came from Zhen Ning’s memories of eating satay chicken rice, back in primary school, and the team agreed that it was a much-loved local dish that would compliment the eggs well. 

We found the satay chicken to be moist and tasty, pairing well with the satay sauce — it has just the right texture and consistency. If you’re looking for a unique dish pairing not commonly seen in hawker stalls, do give this a try! 

Coping with rapid expansion

At present, Kawan Bowl has five outlets in the span of less than eight months — at Sunshine Place, Jurong Point, Tam Chiak Kopitiam Bidadari, Anchorvale, and Pasir Ris Mall. 

Were the founders ever hesitant about such rapid growth?

As they tell us, building their brand fast is something they embrace. 

“We want to create a big impact — that’s why we pushed for expansion,” says Zhen Ning. “Unlike traditional dishes, our concept is considered a new trend in Singapore, so we have to strike while the iron is hot, and open new stalls while we are still young.” 

Of course, rapid expansion does come with its challenges, such as hiring experienced staff and maintaining standards. To ensure food quality is consistent, Jerrick takes charge of quality control and ensures that training and SOP is the same across all outlets. 

All four founders also head down to the stalls regularly to check that everything is running up to par.

As with starting any business, it has been a roller coaster ride for the founders, too. They recall snaking queues from 10am when DanLao first opened at Maxwell Road almost two years ago, all the while operating on only a skeleton crew.

“We lifted the shutter and saw the queue snaking all the way out back and I felt like closing it again, as we were already struggling to open,” recalls Jermaine. “At times like this, we had to challenge ourselves to continue pushing out food.” 

They’ve come such a long way since then and the founders hope to take their brands to even greater heights. They’ve just set up Yummy Thai in September — a food kiosk-style stall at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 selling moo ping (pork skewers) sandwiches, pad thai and beef noodles.

There’s also a two-in-one stall at Malaysia Boleh’s Northpoint City and Jurong Point locations, named Curry You Curry Mee and Sungei Besi Scramble Egg Rice. On offer there are Ipoh-style curry noodles and Malaysian-style scrambled egg rice.

“As we go on this journey, we hope to inspire the next generation of hawkers to step up, be creative and contribute to our local food scene,” says Zhen Ning. “Also, to encourage them that it’s possible to do simple foods such as eggs well, and still make money.” 

For more stories on young hawkers, read about the former piano teacher-turned-lei cha hawker at Hakka Leipopo, or the “tea nerd” brewing up a tea storm at Danger Close Beverage Co.

Kawan Bowl and Danlao are on the GrabFood delivery service and offer free delivery (up to S$3 off) with GrabUnlimited.  

Do explore the new GrabFood Dine Out service for awesome deals.

You can also book a ride to Kawan Bowl or Danlao.