New Ubin Seafood has quite the history, coming a long way since Pang Seng Meng's days in a seafood restaurant on the north shore of Pulau Ubin to three locations in Tampines, CHIJMES, and Zhongshan Park - with a Bib Gourmand award on the Michelin Guide too!
Today, the brand is proudly family-run, with 63-year-old Pang (better known as SM Pang) and his eldest son Alexander, 34, steering the ship. Their goal? To change perceptions of what zi char cooking is all about.
Hi Mr Pang! First of all, congrats on the launch of UbinEats. How do you think this will align with the future of food and dining trends in Singapore?
The future of food and dining trends in Singapore will be governed by how this pandemic plays out and how we respond as a nation as well as a generation. The next six months will no doubt be a challenging time for New Ubin, and UbinEats will provide us with the opportunity to pivot towards the current trend of solo diners or single portion meals delivered to their doorstep. Both UbinEats and New Ubin’s islandwide delivery platforms will play a major role in ensuring our survival.
The magic bullet is a vaccine as well as our initiative to secure our supply chains. Then the future of Singapore’s food and beverage sector will be able to have a much brighter outlook!
How would you describe your style of food?
Truly Singaporean. We’ve spent the last four decades 'growing' alongside Singaporean foodies as their palates grew more diverse and adventurous. We’ve been here for the traditional and we remain to stay at the forefront of what Singaporeans are craving for till this day. This directly correlates to how we interpret all the dishes that we as a community embrace.
Why do you think zi char is such a big part of being Singaporean?
Zi char is part of our national identity! We all live near a kopitiam or hawker centre that will inevitably have a stall offering zi char, which is often what fills the tables with groups of families, friends and colleagues from all walks of life. You know there will be something for everyone. It's tasty, quick and inexpensive!
How far back do many of your family recipes go?
Most of them come down from family members like aunts or from my own dining encounters. So not so old. Probably not more than 30 years.
What’s one dish on your menu you’ll never get sick of?
All the noodles that are currently on our menu such as the Hokkien Mee Special and Chye Poh Kuay Teow, as well as those that are akan datang (coming soon).
Outside of work, what are some of your favourite local eats around Singapore?
This business is time-consuming and often requires us to work through meal periods. But otherwise, when we do dine out, for casual dining it will be Atout. For fish balls, noodles and such would be Soon Wah in Newton Hawker Centre and for Japanese it would be Keria in Cuppage Plaza.
As you open more modern outlets around Singapore, is the direction going from coffeeshop to ‘atas’ restaurant?
We have a two-prong strategy. We will expand into coffee shops or canteens with our New Ubin Village concept that has done well in Tampines, and more 'atas' venues will be run as a New Ubin restaurant. We'll also continue to expand our digital brands such as UbinEats in order to widen our offering across the food delivery market. All are equally important in growing the business and ensuring we stay true to our ‘Truly Singaporean’ promise.
How do you see the future of New Ubin, succession-wise?
The plan is to develop a totally professional management team so that we will succeed, and the brand can continue its upward trajectory and grow its legacy with future generations of Singaporean foodies. I can’t say more than that at the moment!
Read our Burpple community's reviews of New Ubin Seafood here!
