A young chef isn’t just making sure the secondary school students where he opened a food stall are fed well, but he also makes sure they’re fed even when they can’t pay.
Maybe this is one reason why some students at Deyi Secondary School at Ang Mo Kio call 30-year-old Cyrus Phang “uncle,” but he doesn’t mind.
Education Minister Chan Chung Sing featured Mr Phang, who seamlessly made the transition from hotel sous chef to school food stall owner during the pandemic, in a Facebook post earlier this week.
The young chef is also a forward-thinking one, as Mr Chan showed in his post.
“Formerly a sous chef in a hotel, Cyrus decided to open a canteen stall at Deyi Secondary School last year. To make it easier for students to place their orders while maintaining safe distancing, he came up with the innovative idea of letting students place their orders via Instagram.
Needless to say, it was a huge hit with the students,” wrote the Minister.
Mr Phang serves laksa, hor fun, curry chicken noodles, and fried noodles, at prices students can easily afford.
And on the days when they’re short on cash, he makes sure they enjoy his food anyway.
“For some students who run out of money, I tell them, nevermind, you just pay me another time – and they always do.
We are all part of the school community, and it’s only right that we look out for one another,” he told the Education Minister.
This generous spirit earned a “Well-said indeed,” from Mr Chan.
One question the young chef gets at times is, “Uncle, will you have laksa tomorrow?”
The chef just laughs it off, saying, “Haha, I don’t mind that they call me uncle lah”.
Commenting on the minister’s post, many netizens praised Mr Phang.
Some netizens called for Mr Phang, as well as other canteen operators, to be given benefits with their jobs.
Another commenter wrote, “He made ‘uncle’ look & sound cool!”
/TISG
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