Profile Article | Jason Chua: The Beng With a Big Heart

This recipe makes one serving of Jason Chua, who is more commonly known as the “Beng Who Cooks”:

A tablespoon of culinary expertise.

A dash of tattoos.

A sprinkle of profanity...

And most importantly, a (heaping) cup of heart.

Cook everything over a high heat of fiery determination and a man of paradox is made. Order up—Jason Chua, the founder, co-owner and chef of fine-dining restaurant, Beng Who Cooks@39.

Leaning back nonchalantly in a chair in his eponymous restaurant nestled in Tanjong Pagar, this self-professed ah beng (Hokkien for young male gangster)’s tough exterior belies a much softer exterior. He is cold yet warm, rough yet gentle, harsh yet kind.

In fact, he is best known for being a COVID-19 hero. During the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker, he offered free meals to those in need—no questions asked.

Curiously, it is within this very perplexing dichotomy that his charm lies.

But an even more perplexing dichotomy, according to 29-year-old Chua, is evident in Singapore's "start-stop, go-no-go" changes in COVID-19 safe management measures that have taken a toll on him. As a business owner in the food and beverage (F&B) sector, he is among the many F&B operators who have been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic.

As dine-in groups were cut to two from Sept 27, he finds himself having to adapt to last-minute changes once again.

But Chua knows all about being adaptable from his childhood.

"From a young age, I cooked for survival," he says. "Both my parents were self-employed, so they were seldom at home. That's why I developed a habit of improvising—I became good at finding whatever I could to whip something up."

Although his culinary journey began as a tepid obligation, it gradually developed into a burning passion. Through the tattoo-covered former national boxer’s formative years, cooking remained a constant in his life—a grounding force which balanced out his rebellious streak.

Growing up, he worked a series of jobs in the F&B sector. Then, he pursued a culinary course at OSAC International College where he was chosen for an internship at Kentucky Fried Chicken's Research & Development kitchen.

A turning point in his culinary journey came in 2018, when Chua poured his savings into opening a hawker stall, Beng Who Cooks, at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre. His signature offering was protein bowls.

As it turned out, being the youngest hawker there had its benefits.

Because of his unabashed and cheeky nature, Chua quickly became a well-loved presence at the food centre, building a special bond with his elderly hawker counterparts. Chua helped them read and translate the official letters they received. And in return, they brought him his favourite food and drink offerings from their respective stalls throughout the day—on the house.

“The older generation protected me like I was their kid, like how my parents protected me. They wanted me to feel safe. In this career, they always complained to me that they suffered from health issues such as gastric problems and knee problems because they didn’t rest enough. They didn’t want the same thing to happen to me.”

For Chua, the best part of his experience as a hawker was undoubtedly the “kampong spirit” (Malay for a sense of community and solidarity) that simply cannot be found anywhere else.

“As much as I hate to admit it, this ‘kampong spirit’ touched my heart a little,” he says. “It made me feel, hey, there's a stranger loving and caring for me, so why don’t I love and care for a stranger too?”

But at the end of the day, Chua still dreamt of opening his own restaurant.

“I wanted to open a restaurant because I felt that staying as a hawker was too stagnant for me. I'd become bored of it because I was only doing lunch. I couldn’t do weekends, I couldn’t do nights because of the area that I was in. I didn’t want to wait to be 35 and only then start a restaurant—I wouldn’t have that kind of energy.”

His dream, however, was temporarily crushed when COVID-19 struck.

The pandemic saw Chua’s daily sales plummeting to $12, down from $600 pre-COVID-19.

Yet, during the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker last year, Chua launched the Beng Who Cares Foundation, offering free meals to those in need—no questions asked.

The initiative was sparked by Chua's friend who had reached out to him to share his encounter with an old man who had approached him for money to buy food.

But the underlying motivation behind it ran deeper from Chua’s own personal experience.

“I set up the foundation with the mindset of helping all the parents who had lost their jobs.”

A call-back to his growing up years, Chua was inspired by his role model, his father. When he was 13 years old, he discovered that his father had been unemployed for the past few years due to the financial crisis that had hit Singapore. He was oblivious to the situation as his parents had chosen to protect him from the harsh reality.

“I was still eating fast food everyday. I didn’t know until my mum told me how my dad was starving so much at that time. He kept the harsh truth from us so that we could eat properly. That’s when I realised that most fathers are very loving and sacrificial.”

At the peak of the initiative, Chua was receiving 80 and 100 orders a day, yet refused to accept donations.

He dished out a total of $15,000 worth of free meals on the initiative.

“Since January 2020, I was already making a loss. I thought since I’m already making a loss, why not just give it my all and make other people’s lives a bit better for them?”

Through the process, Chua saw the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity.

Chua was scolded by some customers, and others even took advantage of his generosity. There was an instance when he realised one of his regular beneficiaries who had been receiving free meals for two weeks was not who he said he was after bumping into him at a private gym nearby.

But there were also moments that made it all worthwhile.

“I remember this particular incident that really struck my heart. There was a homeless man who had been receiving free meals from me for over two weeks. Eventually, he came back to tell me that he didn’t need free meals anymore. I asked him, ‘Why? Don’t need to be paiseh (Hokkien for embarassed), you know.' He said, ‘I found a job. You motivated me. Seeing you work inspired me to get back on my feet.’”

Chua declared, “I believe that was the highlight of my career already.”

Chua’s initiative earned him a special commendation for the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Awards 2020 Special Edition—Our Finest Hour in the City of Good, recognised in the “People of Good” category. He was given the opportunity to visit the Istana to meet President Halimah Yaacob.

When asked how he felt about being lauded as a “COVID-19 hero”, Chua says, “honestly, I feel that I’m a businessman; I’m a chef; I’m a cook—I want people to recognise me for my ability and craft.”

In October 2020, Chua shuttered his hawker stall at Hong Lim Food Centre to chase his dream of opening his own restaurant.

The following month, in November 2020, Chua opened his fine-dining restaurant, Beng Who Cooks@39 at 39 Neil Road.

“It was because of recklessness that I moved here, but that recklessness, I don’t regret.”

Beng Who Cooks@39 adopts a fine-dining concept, operating as a bistro in the day and morphing into a restaurant in the night, offering two completely different menus.

“The actual reason why we want to do this is because we want to change the mentality of fine dining. Usually, people do it for social media but they don’t really understand the food. So, we want people to experience fine dining and understand what they're eating—but it’s more casual so we will keep our character and a reasonable price point.”

Looking ahead, Chua plans to take a step back from Beng Who Cooks for his own personal well-being, and also that of the people around him.

“I was overworked. I was working Monday to Sunday, I was working 16 hours a day—that’s very unhealthy,” he says. “I was very bad tempered and it destroyed my relationships with my staff.”

Instead, Chua is focusing on self-improvement. He is currently sharpening his culinary skills at Restaurant Zén, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, under executive head chef Tristan Farmer.

Once Beng Who Cooks@39 hits its two year mark, Chua plans to move to a smaller restaurant space where he and his co-owner can handle daily operations between them.

Chua’s new approach to Beng Who Cooks points to his shifting priorities. He hints that a new addition to his family is on the way, prompting him to reevaluate what is important to him in life.

“Initially, I was chasing stars,” he says. “Now, I don’t want any stars anymore. I cook for the sake of pleasure or happiness. I want to cook for the sake of satisfying people. I want people to enjoy.”