26/09/2021
Yes. It is true.
Today is our last day of Operation. We didn't post this earlier on the main page of the business because we didn't want to cause a deluge of customers at the very last moment, potentially creating a situation that might breach the rules and regulations of the current COVID-19 situation.
It has been a fruitful 17+ years in this business. We've met so many family who dined here, watching their sons and daughters sitting in baby chairs, to become teenagers and adults, we've had families that moved away, and visited us a couple years later, still remembering us, and yes we do still remember you :) Especially Lady Boss, being one that loved to talk, she remembered all you old faces.
The ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic situation in Singapore had been very challenging, and while we managed to tough out the previous year, mostly attributed to the Government's financial aid and the immense support of our customers ordering deliveries in drove, it had not been a easy burden to bear, along with the mental stress that the situation had caused us in the backend, it had already seemed like a decision had to be made since last year.
We held on, and sometimes it felt like things had a chance at getting better, only to have something else hinder our progress to recover fully, this along with the Owners getting on age and the ever increasingly difficult manpower situation, our fortitude to endure had only shrank as time went on.
The truth is, we are no professionals, and I don't think any of us here in Food Odyssey, particularly me, had upheld our position professionally, yet somehow we made it work for 17 years, stumbling through difficulties and hardships, made lasting friends, known families, offended some, shared laughs with others. To me, our cuisine also reflected the people who ran the restaurant, home-cooked food with a taste more familial, akin to foods cooked by mom and grandma, compared to the more heavy handed styles that most other restaurants features. Somehow, what was originally a show of our lack of restaurant operation and mainstream dish knowledge became the selling point for the whole 17 years we were in operation, a taste of home. It wasn't fancy, but it was earnest and simple. Well, barring the exotic few dishes such as Turtle and Crocodile Soup, I suppose.
We've invested so much to the Restaurant, literally bled for it, cried for it, and it's provided for us for the past decades in abundance, yet all good things will come to an end, eventually, and now simply seemed like a good time to stop.
The Restaurant may be gone, but we are not, and if you do see us around, do give us a wave :) For now, we'd liked a rest.
Till we meet again.
