Three best buddies in their 30s set up 6 Prawns and a Beer

Here’s a new food hub at Bukit Timah to enjoy a well-loved seafood with beer.

The folks from Beer Market has come a long way from being high school friends at Saint Joseph’s Institution to being entrepreneurs. Jeffrey Wan, Simon Liang and Alex Lu, this team of three have recently opened a new specialty concept, 6 Prawns and a Beer last July 1st at Bukit Timah.

According to Alex, their restaurant is about prawns and beer, mainly as the name suggest. In Singapore, the most common food pairing with beer tends to be pizza and chicken wings. However, they do feel that prawns is a great food pairing with beer as well. As Singaporeans becomes more sophisticated and exposed to cuisines all over the world, they feel it is a good time to do something different.

Breaking the common ground of food pairing, prawns with beer is the restaurant’s central theme. But not to worry, the restaurant also offers a non prawn selection to cater to customers who might not like or allergic to prawns.

According to Alex, the problems they faced is what many F&B operators faced - Manpower, as labour costs are rising, and it is getting more and more difficult to hire staff. But what they did was, they rotate some of their staff at Beer Market to assist with 6 Prawns. This also allow the staff to have a change of environment and to learn a new set of skills as operations at Beer Market and 6 Prawns are different.

With about $200,000, they were able to put the restaurant and bar and pursue their aim to bring something different to the pub scene in the west. Alex reiterated that they feel that with Singaporeans’ love for food, they wanted to do something different.

Alex shared that their future plans include doing food and beer pairings. Example, different types of 6 prawns to be paired with a different type of beer which would help their customers enjoy their food better.

The founders

6 Prawns and a Beer founders are also the founders of Beer Market located at Clarke Quay. They have been good friends since their secondary school days.

Jeffrey Wan, 33, founder and managing director. He studied business in Manchester and worked in the banking and finance industry prior to starting Beer Market. The idea for Beer Market was conceived during his travels in Europe when he happened to be in a bar in Barcelona named La Bolsa, which means “stock exchange”. Basically, the prices on the menu fluctuate based on the demand, as in the stock market. The stock market concept has also in recent years become popular in Europe, especially Germany, and is now catching on around the world.

And when he reunited with his ‘best buddies - as they had been drinking together since they were 18, in July 2009, he tossed the idea of starting a similar bar in Singapore. After a year of research, planning and preparations, they finally landed a great spot in Clarke Quay and Beer Market is born.

Jeffrey still continues to run his family’s construction business full time, while helping out at Beer Market and 6 Prawns.

Simon Liang, 33, director. Simon is from the insurance and finance sector before co-founding Beer Market. Though he’s still in the finance business full time, he helps out at Beer Market occasionally.

Alex Lu, 33, director. Alex studied real estate and worked in sales and insurance. Today he runs Beer Market and 6 Prawns full time.

6 Prawns and a Beer menu highlights

a. 6 Prawns – signature dish done in 6 different styles such as White Wine Cream, Grilled, Szechuan Spicy, etc.
b. Nothing but Prawns – Bites and Mains that is prawn based such as Aglio Olio Prawn Rice, Prawn Pasta, Crispy Prawn Burger.
c. Anything but Prawns – a non prawn selection to cater to customers who might not like or be allergic to prawns

As 6 Prawns is not just a restaurant but also a bar, Alex said that they carry beers that are not so commonly found at every pub. Their beer selection includes Brewdog IPA, Wells Banana Bread Beer, Mystic Peach Beer etc.
 

Do you know any new hot restaurant that just opened or is coming up soon? Just send us a message through Lee Anne Babierra at [email protected] or in the comments box below.