The Taste Paradise Group.

I knew Eldwin Chua before the empire.

Years ago, we were car friends.
A group of us would drive to his coffeeshop at Defu Lane, an industrial estate in northeastern Singapore where nobody goes unless they're picking up spare parts or loading cargo.

We'd sit, eat, drink, and talk until late.

Eldwin was always there.
Not sitting with us for long, though.
He'd come over, chat for a bit, then disappear into the kitchen or take a call or check on something at the back.

The man was always working. Every single time.

What I remember most is this: the coffeeshop was small, the food was good, the prices were honest, and the owner never stopped moving.

The dish that kept us coming back was the Signature Creamy Butter Crab, a white pepper butter sauce unlike anything else in Singapore at the time. I remember eating it and thinking this was genuinely different from every other crab dish I'd had.

That crab is what put Defu Lane on the map.

I also remember one visit where a friend and I drove out to see Eldwin, and he'd just finished renovating his kitchen.

He must have spent a few hundred thousand dollars on it, maybe more.

The equipment was top-notch, everything gleaming and commercial-grade.

He walked us through it, and you could see two things at the same time: he was so proud of what he'd built, and he was stressed out of his mind about the cost.

That combination, pride and fear in equal measure, is something I didn't understand at the time. I was young, fresh out of army, just starting university.

I didn't know what it meant to bet everything on a kitchen. I understand it now.

I didn't know I was watching someone build an empire.
I just thought he was a guy who ran a really good zi char place, made an incredible crab, and took his job seriously.

That zi char place is now Paradise Group. Over 100 restaurants across thirteen culinary concepts in nine countries: Canton Paradise, Taste Paradise, Paradise Dynasty, Beauty in The Pot, LeNu. From a 25-seater in an industrial estate to Ion Orchard, Marina Bay Sands, and restaurants in Shanghai, Tokyo, Jakarta, London, and Dubai.

He started with $10,000.

Eldwin Chua started young, working in the food industry from the age of 12, including stints at McDonald's and seafood restaurants. In 2002, at the age of 25, he took over a zi char stall in a coffeeshop at Defu Lane with $10,000 in savings.

It was a three-man operation: Eldwin cooking, an assistant chef, and a helper, selling fried rice and fried noodles ten ways each at three dollars a plate.

A favourable food review brought a wave of customers, and the reputation spread fast, driven by a dish Eldwin had created himself: the Signature Creamy Butter Crab, a white pepper butter sauce crab that became the reason people drove to an industrial estate for dinner.

He eventually converted the entire coffeeshop into a proper seafood restaurant and called it Seafood Paradise.

His brother Edlan joined the business, and together the Chua brothers began building what would become one of Singapore's largest Chinese restaurant groups.

In 2009, Eldwin made the leap that nearly broke him. He "exhausted his resources to put together $4 million" to open a second Taste Paradise at Ion Orchard.

This wasn't Defu Lane.
This was premium mall real estate, competing directly against Tung Lok Group and Crystal Jade, two of the most established Chinese dining brands in Singapore.

He called it his "toughest time."
They survived, and Taste Paradise was later listed as one of Singapore's top 10 Chinese restaurants.

The way he recruited his executive chef tells you everything about how Eldwin operates.

He wanted Chef Fung, a skilled Cantonese chef he'd met at a previous workplace. Chef Fung said no.

Eldwin sent text messages, lots of them, but Chef Fung still said no. Eldwin showed up with his bank statement to prove he could actually pay the salary.
Chef Fung finally said yes.

That's not networking.
That's siege warfare with a bank statement.

In 2010, the brothers launched Paradise Dynasty, and this is where the business went from successful to iconic.

The signature creation was xiaolongbao in eight colours and eight flavours, each dumpling a different taste from original to szechuan to cheese to truffle, the world's first of its kind and one of the most photographed dishes in Asian dining.

Paradise Dynasty expanded to Japan, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, and beyond.

In 2011, Eldwin won Entrepreneur of the Year at the ASME-Rotary awards, and today the group operates close to 50 restaurants in Singapore and more than 60 overseas, with brands covering everything from Cantonese fine dining to Teochew cuisine to hotpot to ramen.

He calls it a "Cinderella story."
He's not wrong.

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Eldwin Chua...

I think about the guy at Defu Lane who couldn't sit still while the rest of us were relaxing.

The car friends would be eating and drinking, and he'd be checking the kitchen, adjusting something, making a call.

That restlessness wasn't anxiety.
It was drive.

The same drive that made him stalk a chef with text messages and a bank statement, exhaust his savings for a slot at Ion Orchard, and bet on an eight-coloured dumpling that no one had ever seen before.

A $10,000 coffee shop, a brother who showed up, a chef who finally said yes, and a man who never stopped moving.

That's how a zi char stall becomes 100+ restaurants.