From fame to fallout, zi char chef Devid Retanasamy begins over at 42, Life-style News

SINGAPORE – When Chinese every day Lianhe Wanbao featured him in 2020, zi char chef Devid Retanasamy discovered himself within the highlight. Readers have been intrigued by a fresh-faced Indian prepare dinner fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese who may fireplace up a wok with chilli crab and curry fish head.

He wished extra. Publicity, the Malaysian believed, would increase his profession and assist him discover success in Singapore.

Instead, the years that adopted have been “like a roller coaster with extreme ups and downs”.

Investors and companions approached him. A sequence of ventures resulted in disagreement. In August 2023, he fell for a rip-off that left him $27,000 out of pocket. A person posing as a faculty trainer ordered banquet dinners and despatched him a pretend PayNow receipt.

Mr Retanasamy paid for seafood and wine upfront, however nobody turned up. The cash went down the drain.

“I was so down, I cried. I didn’t dare tell my wife. Until now, she does not know that I had to cover the loss myself,” says the 42-year-old. His spouse is a Shandong native who used to work as a stall assistant, and so they have three kids aged 17, 13 and 10.

He borrowed cash and used his financial savings to cowl the loss. “After meeting all these setbacks, I have to face them myself. Nobody can help me. I had to help myself,” he recounts in fluent Mandarin.

After that blow, Mr Retanasamy, who first got here to Singapore in 2002, wished to go away. But he stayed. “I didn’t want to give up. I felt it was a waste to give up on the amount of time and effort I had put in. I wanted to make my mark here,” he says.

Now, he’s beginning over with Xiao Hei Tze Char, which opened its first franchised outlet in Hougang Avenue 8 on Feb 1. The identify borrows from a nickname, which some prospects referred to as him through the years as a reference to his darkish complexion.

“People call me Xiao Hei. I don’t mind. I find it affectionate,” he says, including that he selected the stall identify himself. “It is how they know me and remember my food.”

A tricky childhood

Born in Tanah Hitam in Chemor, Perak, a 30-minute drive from Ipoh city, he was given up for adoption at age 4 by his organic dad and mom who confronted monetary difficulties. A Chinese couple took him in, and he grew up conversing in Mandarin and Cantonese, which is why he speaks neither Tamil nor English.

He dropped out of faculty after Primary 6. At 12, he turned a dishwasher at a neighbourhood espresso store, incomes $200 a month, with two days off.

He toiled 14 to fifteen hours every day, cleansing bathrooms, then progressing to chopping chillies and cleansing squid. He learnt learn how to wield a knife, typically chopping his fingers as he killed dwell fish and frogs that went into the dishes. Although he began work at 3pm, he would arrive at 10am.

“I wanted to learn and did as I was told,” he says, enduring scoldings and Cantonese vulgarities his seniors hurled at him every day. 

Within a yr, he progressed to cooking fried rice, greens and soup for employees meals.

At 16, he moved to Kuala Lumpur to work at a zi char eatery, making ready the elements for senior cooks. There, he learnt to arrange sauces for dishes similar to curry fish head and chilli crab. 

At 17, he returned to Ipoh and ran his personal zi char stall at a rundown espresso store. Business was brisk, however six months later, his landlord took again the stall to run it himself.

A former buyer then provided him a cooking job at a resort in Pulau Redang, the place friends praised his made-from-scratch sambal dishes. “It was there that I realised I may have some talent in cooking,” he recollects of his two years as a chef on the resort.

Encouraged, he moved to Singapore in 2002 at age 19, first working at an economic system rice stall in Hougang earlier than becoming a member of a zi char stall in Yishun. Over 20 years, he labored at varied eateries, together with the now-defunct 7 Wonders in Upper Thomson and Golden Charcoal Seafood SG in Bedok.

In 2008, he met his spouse, a Chinese nationwide now aged 43, when she was working at a neighbouring zi char stall. After a six-month courtship, they bought married. His spouse and kids now dwell in Johor Bahru, and he visits them on his days off.

In 2014, he returned to Ipoh and operated a small coffee-shop stall in Simpang Pulai, promoting noodles and stir-fries. Two years later, he invested RM100,000 – half borrowed from his father-in-law and half from his financial savings – to open a zi char eatery. It closed inside a yr attributable to poor budgeting and lean earnings.

In 2017, he left briefly to begin a zi char restaurant in New Zealand, however returned right here after three months as a result of he missed “home”.

Series of setbacks

Back in Singapore, he continued transferring amongst joint ventures.

In April 2022, he co-opened The Blacky Seafood in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, however the partnership dissolved inside six months. He later helmed Mr Blecky Seafood in Cambridge Road, however friction with buyers and mounting losses ended issues.

Subsequent ventures in 2024 and 2025 – together with ideas in Cambridge Road, Marina One and Bedok – have been short-lived or unprofitable.

He says he confronted many naysayers alongside the best way. Indian prospects questioned why he couldn’t communicate Tamil. An aged feminine buyer requested if his meals was clear as a result of he was “so black”.

“I ignore such comments and focus on my cooking,” he says. “Over the years, I have faced discrimination. I have learnt to be mentally strong and rise above it all. I am confident in my cooking.”

Now, backed by three new buyers whom he describes as supportive, he oversees the menu and coaching at Xiao Hei Tze Char. It has a crew of 13, with 5 stationed at Hougang and the remaining to be deployed at two upcoming shops.

Two of his signature dishes are Curry Fish Head ($30) and Coffee Ribs (from $15).

The curry fish head is cooked utilizing his housemade spice paste that includes greater than 10 elements, together with a four-day fermented chilli paste. He swears by Nescafe Gold espresso granules for his espresso ribs, which he says lend extra aroma.

Xiao Hei Tze Char will open one other franchised outlet in Serangoon North Avenue 4 and a stall in New Upper Changi Road on March 1, the place he’ll quickly be primarily based. Currently a piece allow holder, he hopes to acquire an S-pass and finally apply for everlasting residency right here.

Once hankering for fame, he now needs one thing extra prosaic.

“Fame is a bonus. Right now, I just want a stable source of income to support my family,” he says.

“When I think about those people who look down on me and who have bullied me, it motivates me to persist and find success.”

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This article was first revealed in The Straits Times. Permission required for replica.