New Saga Emerges from Popular Zichar Stall Run by Mandarin-Speaking Indian Cook

By
Chew Ming Hui
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If there’s one thing that bonds Singaporeans, it’s food.

And when good food is compromised, there’s nothing all the more enraging for us.

So now, don’t get too fired up about this, but Devid Retnasamy, the face of The Blacky Seafood, has officially parted ways with his popular zi char stall.

Humble Beginnings

The Malaysia-born hawker is known for his fluency in both Mandarin and Cantonese, despite being of Indian descent.

Devid managed to pick up the language and the dialect as he was adopted by a Chinese family when he was merely a 4-year-old.

Yes, he probably speaks Mandarin better than some of your Chinese friends do. 

As Devid grew older, he moved to Singapore to work as a cook at various zi char joints across the island, before finally deciding to start his own zi char stall.

In April 2022, the longtime cook, together with two silent partners, opened his zi char stall, The Blacky Seafood. The stall was named after his mandarin nickname Xiao Hei, which was a reference to Devid’s ethnicity.

The Blacky Seafood was a hit among Singaporeans, serving zi char classics like steaming hot Moonlight Hor Fun and crispy Har Cheong Gai.

Stirring the pot

Since business is booming, the zi char stall should be here to stay, right?

… Right? 

Wrong. On 18 September, the zi char cook suddenly posted on Facebook announcing that he will be leaving The Blacky Seafood.

In a subsequent interview, Devid revealed that the initial arrangement between him and his partners was for Devid to run the storefront and manage daily business operations. On the other hand, his partners would invest $50,000 into The Blacky Seafood.

What took Devid by surprise however, was when he was suddenly informed by his partners in August that they were disinterested in staying in the business.

In an attempt to keep The Blacky Seafood alive for its countless fans, Devid suggested to pay his partners $3,000 per month in exchange for keeping the storefront. His partners however, were still not keen on carrying on.

The last straw came on 17 September, when his partners informed him to return his company-issued phone.

Could they make it any more obvious that they wanted Devid out of the business?

Well, Devid took the hint, and on the following day, made a Facebook post announcing his departure from The Blacky Seafood.

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Not all hope is lost though.

A prior co-worker of Devid’s reached out to him after seeing the Facebook post, and offered to support Devid in restarting his zi char business.

Sure enough, the pair quickly found a new storefront at a coffeeshop situated at Cambridge Rd, naming their new store Mr Blecky Seafood.

The Blacky Seafood vs Mr Blecky Seafood

In response to this saga, Devid’s previous partners claimed that Devid had left The Blacky Seafood for other reasons.

Specifically, his previous partners claimed that Devid used to always leave his post to deal with personal matters. As such, his partners considered bringing in someone else to replace Devid, in order to better manage the business.

Purportedly, this was what made Devid unhappy, thereby informing his decision to leave The Blacky Seafood.

But that’s not all Devid’s previous partners had to say.

They also highlighted the similarity between the names of Devid’s new zi char stall and The Blacky Seafood’s, and emphasised that should Devid fail to remedy this, they will be taking action against Devid and Mr Blecky Seafood.

Additionally, The Blacky Seafood continues to operate as per usual, although it was pointed out that the two zi char stalls have no relationship whatsoever.

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Featured Image: Facebook (The Blacky Seafood)

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Chew Ming Hui
Email: [email protected]