After losing $90,000 on a Bangkok restaurant at 25, Mervyn Chua now runs 2 Singapore eateries

SINGAPORE – In 2023, Mervyn Chua moved to Bangkok in search of greener pastures, only to lose $90,000 on a restaurant he ran for six stressful months. Then 25, he took over a two-storey shophouse in the trendy Ekkamai neighbourhood for $2,700 a month. He turned the first storey into the 20-seat Mervyn’s Ekkamai restaurant and lived upstairs. His confidence was bolstered by the early success he found starting a small poolside cafe within Ridgewood Condominium in Ridgewood Close in December 2020. Then 22, he had opened Mervyn’s Madeleines with $12,000 of his savings, two months after graduating from At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy with a…