This NUS lecturer and PhD holder left academia to open restaurant that sells one handmade pasta dish daily

Pasta-making has been harder on his body than expected.

“When we first opened, the restaurant was only closed one day a week. I increased it to two so I can recover, and exercise more on my off days to cope better,” he says.

The change has also meant a pay cut – his current salary is “about 50 per cent less” than what he earned as a lecturer. He’s adjusted by cutting back on personal expenses.

When asked how long it took for the restaurant to turn a profit, his answer is measured: “It depends on how ‘profitable’ is defined. If it’s just profit equals revenue minus all operating costs, then we were profitable from the first month.”

Is the current model – one pasta dish a day, small seating capacity – financially sustainable long-term? Again, Lim Zhi Han says, it depends on the definition.

“Most customers don’t eat more than one pasta and most who dine here don’t mind the lack of choice. The concept means a return visit will likely feature a different pasta, so I think the lack of choice doesn’t really impact revenue. As for small seating capacity, it does put an upper ceiling on revenue but I think that ceiling isn’t too low to make the business unsustainable.”

Lim hopes more Italian customers will visit so he can gauge if his pasta meets their standards. “I’m pretty confident the nonnas will approve,” he says, adding that he believes his food holds its own against other Italian restaurants in Singapore.

He’s grateful that diners have embraced his one-pasta-a-day concept, and for their patience – especially since preparing each dish single-handedly takes time. If someone chooses to walk away because the day’s pasta isn’t to their taste, he takes it in stride. Most of his customers live or work nearby and many are regulars.

The work also means less family time. In academia, his flexible schedule allowed his daughter to hang out at his office or for them to go out together. Now, Sundays are kept free so he can spend the day with his wife and daughter.

His long-term goal is to hire more staff so he can spend more time experimenting with dishes, but that will only happen once the business grows further. For now, the restaurant is already profitable and often fully booked for dinners and weekends – sometimes turning customers away for lack of seats. He declines to share specific figures, but says the numbers so far are encouraging.