By Huang Lijie

A mini restaurant empire, a three-room Robertson Quay condominium apartment with private lift access and two luxury cars, including a Mercedes - this is a life Mr Eldwin Chua, 32, never dared dream of.

Yet this has become reality in seven years for the one-time zi char cook in an industrial estate.

He is the chief executive officer of the Paradise Group of eight Chinese restaurants, including the newly opened $4-million Taste Paradise at Ion Orchard and casual dining chain Paradise Inn, which debuted this year at West Coast Plaza, Funan DigitaLife Mall and City Square Mall.

The group is synonymous with high quality Chinese food and its signature dishes such as superior shark's fin soup served in a Japanese stone bowl are so popular, they have been copied by rival restaurants.

Life! meets the self-taught entrepreneur, sharply attired in a long-sleeved white shirt and jeans from edgy high-fashion label DSquared2, at his opulent bachelor pad. He moved from his family's four-room HDB flat in Hougang into the posh condominium early this year.

Large chrysanthemum prints in yellow, red and white bloom against the black living room wallpaper. The space is decorated with a Swarovski crystal chandelier, a grey L-shaped couch, a magenta rug and a flat-screen TV set.

He says: 'I wanted my home to have a contemporary Zen look but my interior designer said it did not reflect my personality so he came up with this lush design, which he says is 'very me', and I like it.'

His swanky new home is the result of him having the Midas touch.

Despite the depressed economy this year, his company's revenue grew to $36 million, 50 per cent more than in the previous year.

The new Paradise Inn outlets, specialising in mid-priced classic Cantonese cuisine such as double-boiled soups, have proven to be a hit during belt-tightening times.

And its fine-dining Taste Paradise restaurants at Ion Orchard and in Mosque Street continue to attract gastronomes. The wait for a table at the 200-seat Ion Orchard outlet can last up to 45 minutes during peak periods on weekends.

The decor of his restaurants mirrors the sumptuousness of his home.

Taste Paradise at Ion Orchard boasts a stylised dragon motif, hand-covered in gold leaf, that winds its way across the dining room ceiling and specially commissioned paintings of Chinese emperors that hang on the walls.

Beneath the flamboyant trappings, however, the floppy-haired young man is a soft-spoken hard worker with no airs.

Mr Fung Chi Keung, 43, the Hong Kong-born executive chef of the restaurant group, says in Mandarin: 'Other restaurateurs might leave the work to their subordinates after they become successful, but Eldwin is very hands-on and he works tirelessly. If he comes up with an idea for a new dish or a restaurant concept in the middle of the night, he will call me to share it.

'Also, he is humble when people offer him advice and suggestions about his business.'

Mr Paul Ng, 39, a flight attendant and close friend of 12 years, says: 'I knew Eldwin when he was starting out in the food business as a drinks stall owner in a coffee shop. We would party at Zouk until 3am, then he would catch 40 winks before going back to making kopi. And he is still as down-to-earth today.'

The restaurateur is unassuming because of his modest beginnings.

He says: 'I never thought I would get to where I am today because I am not good at studying and I did not graduate from university.'

He was the second of four children. His father, Mr Chua Tien Chong, 56, worked as a lorry driver at his grandfather's gunny sack trading company, while his mother, Madam Chan Li Peng, 55, was a part-time baby-sitter. Both of them have retired.

Although the family was not poor, finances were tight and the family lived frugally.

He recalls: 'My pocket money then was 50 cents a day. Thirty cents for a piece of cake and 20 cents for a syrup drink. I had no money for the things I wanted and my parents never bought us any toys.'

So he decided to earn his own money. He worked part-time at fast-food chain McDonald's from the age of 12. By 16, he was juggling three jobs a day during the school holidays as a convenience store assistant, a hotel banquet helper and kitchen assistant at the seafood restaurant Palm Beach.

He says: 'The long hours were no sweat because I wanted to own the 'cool' things my friends had. I would spend all my money on things such as a cassette Walkman, pager and stunt bicycle.

'I also bought branded clothes and dressed like an Ah Beng in Dolce & Gabbana, Armani and Versace because that was the trend then.'

After national service, though, the alumnus of the now defunct Upper Serangoon Technical Secondary School wised up and stopped chasing after material goods. Armed with a business administration diploma from a private school, he took on a clerical job before becoming a property agent.

Then in 2002, his grandfather, Mr Chua Seng Kee, who is now in his 70s, asked Eldwin, the eldest grandson, to help run his coffee shop in Defu Industrial Estate. He agreed as the job would supplement his income.

He leased out the stalls, ran the drinks stall himself and soon after, took over the zi char stall, too, when its owner quit.

The quick-thinking businessman says: 'The industrial estate was dead at night and there was little business at the coffee shop. But if the zi char stall was popular, people would come for dinner and this would also improve my drinks business.'

He quit his property agent job, sank $10,000 of his savings into the stall and became a cook, relying on the culinary skills he learnt as a kitchen help at Palm Beach to whip up simple dishes such as fried rice and noodles.

But business did not spill over into the evenings.

Undeterred, he launched valuefor-money set meals priced from $16.90 for three persons, which included three dishes and a soup, to target workers in the area. The set meals were an instant hit and diners started returning, even for dinner.

By 2005, his zi char stall, Seafood Paradise, was bustling and his signature creamy butter crab attracted crowds to the obscure location. He gave the stall, which specialises in seafood, its name because he wanted diners to feel as if they were in paradise after eating there.

His team grew from three to 10 staff and he moved from cooking in the kitchen to serving guests.

He says the turning point for the then 50-seat stall came after a positive review of its food appeared in The Straits Times.

'The stall was packed for the next month and the crowds were so crazy, I had to call my family down to help take care of customers,' he recalls.

He eventually roped in his younger brother, Edlan, 29, a former Singapore Armed Forces commando, to assume the position of chief operating officer. In 2007, Seafood Paradise in Defu Lane was converted into a 400-seat restaurant.

He went on to open the fine-dining Chinese restaurant Taste Paradise in Mosque Street in 2006, spurred by a friend's remark that running a high-end restaurant was beyond his reach.

He ploughed $800,000 of his savings into the 130-seat eatery and hired chef Fung, previously the head chef of Pine Court Chinese Restaurant at Meritus Mandarin hotel, to helm the kitchen.

Adamant that it would not be just another fine-dining Chinese restaurant, he also brainstormed with the chef to create a menu that features exquisite modern Cantonese fare such as its shark's fin soup, which is served in a Japanese stone bowl to keep the soup warm longer and paired with a crispy spring onion roll for textural and flavour variation.

Here again, the combination of a winning restaurant concept, good food and positive reviews from restaurant critics helped Taste Paradise take off.

Yet it has not been all smooth-sailing for the restaurateur.

The second Seafood Paradise outlet, which opened at the Singapore Flyer last year, did not do as well as expected.

He says it is not making a loss but its revenue is lower than targeted and its $3- million set-up cost has yet to be recovered.

He says: 'We felt that the waterfront location would be perfect for a seafood restaurant and we thought the Flyer would attract many diners. But the volume of visitors to the attraction did not quite meet our expectations.'

Nonetheless, his overall accomplishments have been remarkable and the potential of the restaurant group has caught the attention of venture capital fund Sirius Growth Partners I and G8 Investments, the investment arm of food distribution company Goh Joo Hin.

They gave the group a $600,000 cash injection this year to help it roll out new restaurants.

He says: 'My dream now is to expand overseas and become a public-listed company in Singapore in three years.'

To kick-start that, he plans to roll out 10 new restaurants next year, including the group's first overseas outlet, a Paradise Inn branch in Kuala Lumpur.

He will also unveil two new dining concepts - Canton Paradise and Kungfu Paradise - next year. He draws inspiration for his restaurants when he visits China and Hong Kong on procurement trips for premium seafood items.

Canton Paradise is a dim sum speciality restaurant that will debut at the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort as a $3-million restaurant with 250 seats. Kungfu Paradise will be a Hong Kong-style cafe that also serves gourmet coffee and Western-style cakes, and plans are to replicate it in malls.

But is he expanding too quickly, too soon?

Mr Chua, who works at least 15 hours a day, seven days a week developing new dining concepts and menus and negotiating with landlords for space to open new outlets, says: 'We are growing at a comfortable pace. We have built up a strong business foundation and our team of experienced staff is able to execute our concepts quickly.'

He adds that the consistency of food at its outlets is also closely monitored by restaurant managers, chef Fung and through customer feedback.

His success as a restaurateur, however, has been at the expense of his personal life.

He says: 'I always thought I would get married when I was 30 but unfortunately that did not happen because my hectic work schedule makes it difficult for me to be in a relationship.'

For now, though, he is whole-heartedly devoted to his restaurant business and happily, too.

He says: 'It is very satisfying to see my baby grow from nothing to what it is today, a major player in the Chinese dining scene.'

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