If you’ve ever gone fishing or bought fresh seafood and had no idea how to cook it, this new Chinatown zi char stall might be for you.
At XH Delicious Seafood, which opened on April 20, customers can bring their own seafood to be cooked on-site. The coffeeshop stall is currently chef-owner Devid Retanasamy’s only outlet, with the 42-year-old handling all the cooking himself.
“We can cook it [in] any pattern you like,” Devid, who also goes by Xiao Hei, tells 8days.sg.
Devid first gained attention in 2020 after being featured in Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, where many were intrigued by an Indian hawker fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, who cooked zi char dishes like chilli crab.
Originally from Ipoh, Malaysia, Devid says his cooking style is Cantonese, which he picked up while working in zi char kitchens from a young age.
Despite his Indian heritage, Devid grew up in a Chinese household after being adopted at a young age, which shaped both his language abilities and cooking style.
“Some people are very curious — they’ll say, ‘Eh? This Indian man knows how to cook Chinese food?’” he shares.
Bring your own seafood, from $12 to cook
The idea for this stall’s concept came from customers from his previous stall.
“Many of my customers [would] go fishing and often bring it to me to cook. Not many places allow you to bring your own seafood,” he explains. “Those who fish don’t know how to cook, so I decided to allow this.”
There’s no fixed price, as it depends on the size of the seafood. For example, cooking a 500g fish costs about $12, while a 1kg fish is around $18. Crabs are priced at about $15 for 500g and $25 for 1kg.
Customers are encouraged to clean their seafood beforehand. The chef is otherwise open to requests, with popular styles including curry and assam (tamarind-based) broth.
Despite being newly opened, he says the response has been encouraging, with both locals and tourists dropping by. Some customers have even brought in unusual catches.
“I saw a lot of seafood that I didn’t recognise, and I didn’t even know what type of fish it was,” he says with a laugh.
Zi char dishes from $7
If you’re not bringing your own seafood, the stall also offers a regular zi char menu.
Dishes include Prawn Paste Chicken ($12), Curry Fish Head ($30), BBQ Stingray ($20), Dried Shrimp French beans ($13) and Moonlight Hor Fun ($7).
Pressing on after scam setback
In 2023, he was hit by a scam that left him $27,000 poorer after a customer placed a fake banquet order with a forged PayNow receipt.
“At first I felt very angry and upset at myself for being so easily trusting of others,” he tells 8days.sg. But he adds that the experience has also strengthened his resolve.
“I have always believed that as long as a person is alive and has a healthy body, there is no problem that cannot be solved,” he says, adding that support from friends and customers helped him through the period.
Why he decided to go solo now
After years of working with different partners, Devid says he decided to strike out on his own this time.
“Sometimes it was due to differences in opinions, and sometimes my partners could only accept profits and could not accept even a single month of losses,” he explains.
Encouraged by the owner of his current Chinatown coffee shop, he decided to run the business independently.
“He kept encouraging me to stand on my own, to work hard for myself and take responsibility,” says Devid.
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