Enter any hawker centre in Singapore and you’ll be greeted with a sea of endless options, from oil-coated noodles to mouthwatering stir-fry. Not many will spare a second glance at the vegetarian food stall, planted there assumably for variety’s sake.
We first stumbled upon Origanics while filming our guide to Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre. As a hardcore vegetarian bee hoon fan – my favourite being Ruyi Yuan at Block 80 Redhill Lane, which I only realised years later was meatless – I stopped for a closer look. The bright green banner caught my attention first, but it was the menu that really drew me in. Kolo mee, ‘duck’ rice, ‘fried fish’ bee hoon soup – these were all dishes Singaporeans know and love, but reinvented as meat-free versions.
We got talking to the owner, 32-year-old Darryl Tong, who shared his story of growing up in a vegetarian household, dropping out of school and becoming a hawker, and what Origanics is all about.
A product of circumstance
Darryl grew up in a staunch Buddhist family where his parents were strict vegetarians. As a kid, he only ate vegetarian meals at home and was not allowed to bring back any form of animal products. Though he only became a vegetarian four years ago, much of his knowledge of food and cooking is influenced by his upbringing. So when it came to breaking into the F&B scene, the decision to sell vegetarian food was a natural one.
Darryl has been in the industry for more than a decade, but while he can now somewhat say that it’s by choice, it wasn’t really the case 10 years ago. As a polytechnic student, he was expelled for poor attendance – an era he attributes to poor decisions and being around bad company. It was then that he started learning cooking from his father and began running a vegetarian food stall at Temasek Secondary School. Four years later, he decided it was time for a change.
I figured it was time to create a brand that really expresses me as a person.
Origanics began in 2020 as a humble vegetarian stall in The Deck, a canteen in NUS’ College of Humanities and Sciences (then known as the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences). The food was well-received by students and staff, and was especially popular among foreign exchange students and expats exploring vegan diets.
“At NUS, I realised that people are starting to pay more attention to their bodies – what their bodies want, what their bodies need,” says Darryl. With this newfound confidence, he took a first step beyond school canteens and ventured into the hawker space, opening his second stall at Buangkok and his latest one in Woodleigh.
The irony of our hawker culture
As celebrated as Singapore’s hawker culture is – winning the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage award, nods of approval from Anthony Bourdain, and not to mention the hearts of all six million of us – Darryl reminds us of its sobering reality:
Hawker culture is very important in Singapore. But if people are not watching out for how they eat, this culture is not going to add any value to society
“As much as we enjoy food, we can’t forgo the part where food has to bring some kind of nourishment to our bodies. And if you look at the top three diseases in Singapore, it’s diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. All these are food-related,” he says.
Indeed, our favourite hawker dishes don’t always align with health needs, but it still is a tough pill to swallow. After all, what’s Hokkien mee without the lard, or nasi lemak without, well, the lemak?
Darryl isn’t unaware of these hesitations, which is why Origanics’ menus include meatless recreations of beloved local dishes that don’t compromise on flavours, such as braised ‘duck’ rice and caramelised ‘char siew’ noodles – popular items at the Woodleigh branch. Each stall’s menu is also tailored to the demographics at that location: more tofu, beans, and lentils at NUS; kway chap at Buangkok to cater to the older crowd; and ‘chicken cutlet’ noodles at Woodleigh for younger folks.
Meat-free, not challenge-free
Becoming a vegetarian stall owner entailed a set of moral questions for Darryl, who wasn’t a vegetarian in the first six years of his career. “Whenever I hung out with my friends, I would just accommodate them. Whatever they were eating, I would go ahead with that,” he shares.
I woke up one day and asked myself, “If I’m not able to convince myself to be a vegetarian, how am I supposed to convince others?”
The switch was relatively easy for Darryl, but it wasn’t as much so for his wife. “When I wanted to change my lifestyle and pick up a vegetarian diet, she couldn’t accept it. We were happy and then I just dropped this bomb on her. It took us a while to really understand each other. She compromised and ultimately gave in. She’s not vegetarian but she’s open to having a vegetarian meal with me, and I’m very grateful for that.”
The couple enjoys meals at Darryl’s go-to vegetarian restaurant – Mother Earth in Geylang – and for a more economical option, Shu Vegetarian.
As far as being an F&B owner in Singapore goes, Darryl has met with his fair share of challenges. Dealing with the announcement of the Covid-19 circuit breaker just 10 days before his NUS stall was due to open was one of them, but there’s also the part where he has to dispel misconceptions about vegetarian food on the daily to sceptical customers. And of course, the nagging uncertainty of how long this business can sustain him.
That’s why he’s back in school. The 32-year-old is currently enrolled in a Business Administration course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, attending three days of virtual classes while managing his three stalls. “I don’t know how far [Origanics] will take me, so I wanted something to fall back on. I wanted a contingency plan.” He hopes his diploma will help him build up soft skills to run and expand his business.
From school canteens to the Istana
When we bring up how he got to serve his dishes to former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, newly-elected President Tharman, and other delegates at the Istana in March 2024, Darryl appears visibly sheepish. He shares how the opportunity came about. It turned out that when he set up his Buangkok Stall, a representative of Fei Siong Group – which manages the hawker centre – recommended him as a vegetarian vendor for the Istana’s annual reception where it hosted local and foreign delegates.
“I think he believed in me and saw that I worked my guts out. It was definitely nerve-wracking because I didn’t know who was going to be trying my food. Prior to [the event], I couldn’t sleep for three nights,” he recounts.
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His mee siam and char siew rice stole the hearts of many that day. “A lot of them were blown away because they thought it was the real thing. It was very fun and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I got to see people who I thought I would never see before.”
What’s next
We ask Darryl what his dreams are, both for Origanics and himself:
One of the dreams I have for Origanics is to curate a menu that caters to people who are diagnosed with diseases, be it diabetes, high blood pressure, or even gout.
"I think food is one way to help – not in terms of curing diseases, but at least not aggravating them,” he says.
But that’s not all. The hawker also shares his ambition to one day participate in the popular cooking show MasterChef. “If I do [decide to take part], I will use non-animal products to compete,” he shares. Just as our eyes widen at the idea, he breaks into laughter and adds, “But I’m not ready for it yet.”
Well, as we patiently await Darryl’s grand debut on MasterChef, we guess plates of kolo mee or curry-drenched economic bee hoon will have to do for now.
Find out more about Origanics here.
