'It's a regret for me': Son of Chatterbox chicken rice co-creator didn't get to say goodbye when father died

When he heard that his father's health had taken a turn for the worse, Raymond Kiang Long Peng made arrangements to fly back to Singapore from New York, where he runs chicken rice establishment Lou Yau Kee. 

However, because of issues with his work permit, he came back a day too late. 

The 62-year-old's father is none other than Kiang Joon Toh, more fondly known as Sergeant Kiang.

Sergeant Kiang is one of the creators of the iconic Chatterbox chicken rice that's sold at Hilton Singapore Orchard. 

He died on April 23 at the age of 86. 

News of his death and details of the wake were shared on Facebook group Hawkers United - Dabao 2020 on April 24 by a family friend, Jimmy Cheang. 

When AsiaOne visited Sergeant Kiang's wake at 787 Yishun Ring Road on Thursday (April 25), Raymond told us that he was still unsure of what exactly caused his father's death. 

"It's very complicated. But it's suspected to be something to do with bile duct issues," he shared. 

Sergeant Kiang had already been sick for a couple of months and was struggling with gastric problems and low blood pressure. 

Earlier in February, he ended up being hospitalised for two weeks and was eventually discharged because he wanted to rest at home and not undergo any further health checks. 

All this while, Raymond was in New York taking care of Lou Yau Kee. 

Though he told his father that he wanted to fly back home to see him, Sergeant Kiang understood that it was not convenient for his son to do so. 

"When we talked over the phone, my father said he understood and he told me that he didn't want me to come back. He told me not to worry and asked me to take care of myself and my business," shared Raymond. 

But every night, the elderly man would call his other children and ask them where Raymond was.  

"I had to come back to hopefully see him for the last time," Raymond said. 

He was initially supposed to fly back to Singapore a day before his father's death but as he had to settle his work permit, he pushed back the date. 

"Without the work permit, if I leave New York, I can't go back again because it would jeopardise my applications for my work permit and Green Card. I don't want that to happen," he explained to us. 

But this ended up preventing him from seeing his father before he died. 

"I was a few hours late. I was supposed to come in early to see him for the last time. It's a regret for me, but I had no choice," Raymond told us. 

Raymond received the news of his father's death while he was in the middle of his flight back home. 

"My father was already gone," Raymond said, adding that Sergeant Kiang had died at 8.21pm on April 23. 

"I was back in Singapore on Wednesday at 5.15am. So it was only a few hours apart." 

A legend in the local food scene 

Sergeant Kiang started working his magic in the kitchen when he was just a child and he picked up a variety of skills and recipes from his mother and grandmother. 

He eventually worked as a cook in the British Army in the 1960s, where he got the name Sergeant Kiang in the Army Food Battalion Regiment.

After which, he cooked in several hotels, including Mandarin Hotel, which is now known as Hilton Singapore Orchard.

In 1971, he was tasked by the executive chef of Mandarin Hotel to create a signature local dish for the Chatterbox restaurant.

And that was how his iconic rendition of chicken rice was born. 

It's believed that he's also the first to come up with deboned Hainanese chicken rice that's served with three sauces — chilli sauce, garlic sauce and dark soya sauce. 

Later on, Sergeant Kiang helmed his own chicken rice stall in the 1980s at the now-defunct Rasa Singapura Sentosa food court. 

Subsequently, he worked with food chains like Kopitiam group, where he trained staff working at the Chicky Fun and Sergeant Chicken Rice chains. 

Before retiring in 2018, he was a food consultant with Kopitiam group. 

Continuing his father's legacy

While Sergeant Kiang has passed, Raymond is determined to carry on his father's legacy. 

In fact, he has already been doing so for years. 

Raymond told AsiaOne that when he was a teenager, he had no interest in school, and at 15, he picked up his cooking skills from his father. 

Eventually, together with his father and siblings, he co-founded Jiang Ji Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice in late 2010. 

The stall initially was at Havelock Road before shuttering. In 2020, the family reopened the stall nearer to their home in Yishun and were there till 2022 before closing it again because of "ridiculous" rental and operational costs. 

Soon after, Raymond was invited by a company to New York to be a food consultant and provide training for the staff. 

After this six-month contract role was done and dusted, he returned to Singapore for two months. 

A group of his friends then suggested that they open a chicken rice business together back in New York, which was how Lou Yau Kee came about. 

The restaurant officially opened in May 2023. 

"I'm continuing with my father's legacy, but in New York," Raymond told us. 

However, he feels that he will never be able to replicate his father's chicken rice. 

"Even right now, I'm trying to do so, but it can only be that close to his cooking. It's not as perfect."  

As he reminisced about his father's life, Raymond shared with us how selfless his father was, as well as the man's immense love for cooking. 

Despite cooking all day for customers, Sergeant Kiang would still often come home and prepare dinner for his family. 

"Not many chefs would want to cook when they finish work. Even for me, I don't want to cook for anyone after work. I would just buy back food," Raymond told us. 

"But my father would still buy ingredients back and continue to cook, especially for my mum." 

And he did all this because of his big heart. 

"He loves everybody. And he loves everybody to be around with him. He never ever complained that there was too much work and he would cook everything by himself. That's something great about him." 

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melissateo@asiaone.com