Before 2016, Terence Aw was working as an investigation officer for the Singapore Police Force. Based at a neighbourhood division, he handled cases involving theft, scams, illegal gambling and fighting. “I was in the force for 10 years before I resigned. I had enough of being in a uniform and wanted to go out and see the complicated world,” the 38-year-old tells 8days.sg with a laugh.

As he liked cooking, he decided to try running his own hawker stall. “When the chance to set up a stall came up, I thought of doing something of my own,” he says.

In May 2016, Terence opened Aw’s Signature Minced Pork Noodle at Commonwealth Drive Food Centre. There, he served a selection of noodle dishes and braised pork rice. His recipes were self-taught except for the braised pork, which he says was a recipe “inherited from my mother”.

He runs the stall with his wife 

Terence also roped in his wife Jesline Chua, 31, to help him out. Initially, Jesline juggled hawking and her administrative day job at a company selling scientific instruments before resigning from the latter to focus on the stall. “It was too tiring,” she laughs.

“It was always just the two of us,” shares Terence, who has three kids aged 9, 7 and 2 with Jesline. As new hawkers, they had to get used to working in a demanding environment. Jesline recalls: “When we first started out, it was challenging. We were blur blur (laughs). There was an uncle who sold wonton mee who guided us along the way and we picked up [more skills]. But just when we picked up, the hawker centre went en bloc.”

In 2021, Commonwealth Drive Food Centre was torn down under the Housing Development Board's Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). Terence and Jesline moved their stall operations to a nearby gelato cafe called Milky Way, which they also co-own. “I make the gelato and waffles there too,” says Terence.

The bistro-cafe gained a following for its unusual menu pairing of bak chor mee and ice cream, and served celeb customers like Xiang Yun and Qi Yuwu. “We tried to see if we were able to get used to [operating in a cafe] but we couldn’t, so we went back to a hawker centre,” Terence shares.

Back to the hawker centre

After three years operating out of Milky Way, the couple shifted again. This time, they set up shop at Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre, which is located right next to their cafe. “We chose this area because we used to stay nearby and our kids go to school around here,” Jesline says.

Incidentally, their current hawker centre is also slated to be torn down next year. “We are trying out and testing the market,” explains Jesline of their decision to take up a short-term lease.

The couple is also pragmatic about working together. Their stall’s Facebook page updates customers on their closure days when they have to attend to their family, or simply take a break from the grind. Like a Valentine’s Day post above, where Terence jokingly said: “Hi everyone, we are closed for today due to Valentines. If not tomorrow nobody help me take order and cashier. LoL. See you tmr! (Sic)”

According to Terence, being adaptable helps him stay afloat as a hawker. “I’m very versatile and can adapt to changes quite fast,” he says. As an IO, he enjoyed a “secure salary, bonus and leave”. But as a self-employed hawker offering budget-friendly food (Terence’s menu is priced from $3.50 to $5.50), his income is not as stable.

The father-of-three currently supplements his earnings by driving Grab shifts at night, after he closes his stall. “As people say, 手停口停 (a Chinese saying that means ‘your mouth stops eating when your hands stop working’). No money more shag,” he jokes. “I told my wife, if this doesn’t work out, I’m going back [to a salaried job].”

Stall neighbours with Wei Yi Laksa

Aw’s Signature Minced Pork Noodle is located right next to a Tanglin Halt hawker stalwart, Wei Yi Laksa & Prawn Noodle. Even before 10am, there was a long queue for laksa, and competition appeared stiff.

But despite being in business there for only three days (Aw’s reopened this week on Feb 27), Terence and Jesline have their own pool of customers, with a line forming at their stall near lunchtime.

We can see why. Even though he is entirely self-taught, Terence serves up hearty wallet-friendly bowls. Compared to the other stalls in the small hawker centre, his menu is pretty varied, offering both rice and noodle dishes like Minced Pork Noodles ($3.50), Handmade Fishball Noodles ($3.50), Fish Maw Bee Hoon ($5) and Braised Pork & Curry Chicken Rice ($5.50).

Customers can also top up for extra ingredients like fishball (two for $1), mock abalone (two for $1.50), braised pork ($2) and quail egg (two for $1).

Signature Noodles, $5.50 

If you are lazy to choose, Terence offers a bowl of bak chor mee-style Signature Noodles topped with almost everything on his add-on menu — herh keow, pork slices, fishball, mushrooms, meatball, prawn and mock abalone over springy mee kia. It makes for a pretty filling meal, but we suggest you save some stomach space for his excellent braised pork (see below).

Braised Pork & Curry Chicken Rice, $5.50 (8 Days Pick!)

If you don’t fancy either braised pork or curry chicken, Terence offers ’em as individual options with your choice of either rice or noodles. But if you want a bit of both, there is this comfortingly homely combination bowl with rice.

The fluffy jasmine grains are drenched in curry — not the most lemak we have tried, but still tasty enough with two meaty chicken wings, cabbage and puffy curry-drenched tau pok. There is Terence's heirloom braised pork nestling in the bowl too, luscious chunks of fatty-lean pork belly marinated in a deliciously rich, fragrant braise sauce with tau pok. Super shiok and worth ordering.

Fish Maw Bee Hoon, $5 (8 Days Pick!)

We find this pick rather uncommon at a bak chor mee stall. It has a soup base spiked with the tasty braised pork sauce. We slurp up the al-dente bee hoon with spongy fish maw rings, braised quail eggs, mushrooms, minced pork chunk and more of the delish braised pork. A dollop of tangy blitzed bird’s eye chillies perk up this very satisfying bowl.

Minced Pork Noodles, $3.50 

The lard-slicked bak chor mee pok with pork slices, meatballs, fishcake and mushrooms is not bad too, though we would request for extra vinegar for this. At $3.50, this is a very reasonably-priced bowl of noodles to fill your tummy with. It also explains Terence’s hawker ethos of being a “Gen-Yper wishing to serve the public with cheap food”, which we find commendable given the current global inflation.

Aw’s Signature Minced Pork Noodle is at #01-21 Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre, Blk 48A Commonwealth Dr, S148813. Tel: 9827-6502. Open daily 6am-3pm. Facebook, Instagram 

Photos: Alvin Teo