CYBERPIONEER - EGGSPECIALLY FOR YOU (JUL 10)

Poached, boiled, fried, scrambled, baked - Hatched serves eggs in all ways. Owner Captain (CPT) (NS) Gerald Tan takes a brave crack at selling breakfast all day long.

Step into the cosy, laid-back interiors of Hatched and be prepared to be welcomed by the fragrant wafts of toast and eggs at all hours of the day.

The seven-month-old joint at Evans Road specialises not just in all-day breakfasts, but also in the multitude of ways that eggs can be prepared.

CPT (NS) Tan, who was a Signals Officer at the Signal Institute before he left the Singapore Armed Forces in June last year, first came up with the idea of an all-day breakfast eatery centred on eggs two-and-a-half years ago.

"The entrepreneurial bug just bit me... I have always been interested in food, especially eggs, and I felt that a food and beverage venture would be a good place to test out the different things I learnt in school, such as marketing techniques and different components of branding," he told PIONEER.

Before opening the restaurant with his father, he spent months researching websites and cookbooks for the myriad ways the humble egg can be served.

The most popular food items he reckons you must try at Hatched, are the Burly Benedict, half an English muffin embellished with corned Wagyu beef, poached egg and drizzled with Mormay sauce, and his personal favourite, Le Rossini, a decadent concoction of foie gras, truffle oil and scrambled eggs.

Hatched boasts an all-day breakfast menu that features eggs prepared in seven different ways.

CPT (NS) Tan believes that the varied experiences of his former appointment as a Signals Officer also contributed to the success of Hatched. "The skills of detailed planning ingrained in me in the Army definitely came in useful while running the many different components of my food and beverage operations," he said.

"Being in the Army and meeting people from different walks of life certainly improved my interpersonal and communication skills, as well as how I manage my staff here at Hatched," he added.

Of course, running a successful eatery has its fair share of ups and downs. CPT (NS) Tan, who was put through a self-professed steep learning curve, found staffing and licensing issues challenging at first.

Fortunately, with time came experience, and he also had good help. "As my dad is a trained accountant, he is an expert in the financial side of the house, though he also helps out on weekends as a maitre d', while I'm more in charge of the conceptualisation and overall running of the place," he said.

Though the main focus now is to stabilise operations, he and his team constantly reinvent Hatched by introducing new dishes every quarter. The newest dishes to be served up include the salmon frittata and truffle omelette.