Who: Ted Kim, 42, is the founder and hairstylist behind hair salon Suchehwa by Ted. The South Korean has lived in Singapore for the past nine years with his wife, who is a stylist at another salon, and their eight-year-old son.

After plying his trade with popular Korean hair salons here, he set up his own at 9 Penang Road at the end of 2022. Sought after for his perms, he hopes to one day have more branches islandwide. As he works on weekends, his perfect day off is on Thursday.

“Weekends are my busiest working days, as our salon is usually packed with customers from 10am till late. But on my days off, I enjoy playing golf and basketball with a group of friends to relieve stress after a week of hard work.

I have a group of golf buddies and we usually play at the courses in Marina Bay, Tanah Merah or Sentosa. When we have more time, we enjoy driving across the Causeway to play, and end with a seafood dinner in Johor Bahru.

I have also recently started playing golf with a few of my customers.

Some nights, I play basketball with a group of Korean friends at a court in Tanjong Pagar. There are usually groups taking turns to play, and the games can get quite competitive. We often have supper at my friend’s Korean restaurant Twins, also in the area, after our game.

I also spend time at home with my family. For Korean food, I prefer to have simple home-cooked food like gimbap and rice cake soup – prepared by our helper, who worked for other Korean families before and is very adept at making Korean dishes.

If I dine out, I enjoy Korean barbecue at Hanjib in Clarke Quay; its meats are very tender. For comfort food, I like the Naju Ox Bone Soup at Eee Mo BBQ in Maxwell Road.

I also enjoy Singapore food such as bak kut teh – my favourite is Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh in Havelock Road.

I recently tried Mexican food and durian for the first time, both of which I really enjoy.

My current favourite Mexican restaurant is Margarita’s in Dempsey Hill, although I also recently discovered Papi’s Tacos in Seah Street. After dinner there, I usually stroll across to the Korean mart at Bras Basah Complex to pick up my favourite snacks.

I was introduced to durians by a local friend, who buys them only from Sindy Durian in Whampoa Drive. I was initially taken aback when I saw the tiny store with plastic tables and stools scattered around. But after the first tentative bite, I understood what the hype was all about.”