Peranakan economy rice eatery Belimbing Superstar, the sister restaurant of popular nasi lemak eatery The Coconut Club, has closed down five months after opening in August 2019.

Belimbing Superstar, located in Ann Siang Hill, announced its closure in a Facebook post on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

The eatery thanked customers for their support, without giving reasons for the closure.

This abrupt shuttering of doors comes after Belimbing Superstar's co-founder, Lee Eng Su, died suddenly in September 2019 at age 40.

His passing occurred just three weeks after Belimbing Superstar opened in August.

The restaurant continued its operations under head chef Ben Teo, 63.

Lee also founded The Coconut Club, which is known for its nasi lemak.

Lee wanted to make Peranakan food accessible with Belimbing Superstar, which sold items like a economical rice (cai png) or teochew porridge stall.

More than 30 dishes were sold.

They included ayam buah keluak.

AsiaOne reported that the closure caught the staff by surprise, who were informed about eatery shutting down on the day of the announcement itself.

Some of the staff are to be redeployed to The Coconut Club, while the others were reportedly retrenched.

Ian Lee, who is the cousin of the late Lee Eng Su, told 8 Days that Belimbing Superstar was not profitable.

Ian Lee, who is the director of hospitality group The Main Squeeze, which runs Belimbing Superstar and The Coconut Club, said: “I made the decision to close Belimbing Superstar because I was not confident that with the limited resources that we have, that it would be a viable business, and so I asked the management to focus on making sure the coconut club continues to serve the highest quality food with the best service and keep the consistency."

He also said his staff at Belimbing Superstar put in a lot of effort, but there was just not enough customers to keep the business profitable.

As a businessman, he had to make the call to not put the limited financial resources of his company under strain and to preserve The Coconut Club, which was also in the interests of his other staff.