“I’m Very Tired”: Ah Seah Teochew Porridge’s Owner Closes Popular Stall Shocking Regulars

Most people hope to knock off at 6pm, but a typical work day for Carol Lee starts from 6am and ends after midnight, six days a week. The 55-year-old is the second-gen owner of Ah Seah Teochew Porridge in Hougang, which her parents founded in 1955.

Pornsak, Vivian Lai and Zoe Tay have also dropped by Ah Seah Teochew Porridge to film variety food show What’s For Lunch?.

The old-school joint is popular for its Teochew muay with a myriad of side dishes like braised intestines, steamed fish and stewed chicken feet. It also has a long list of celeb fans like Pierre Png, Xiang Yun, Edmund Chen, Zheng Geping and Terence Cao. “Andy Lau came by a few times, many years ago when my shop was still [at the old location] across the road,” Carol shares.

So it came as a shock to Carol's regulars when she announced that she was closing her longtime business for good. The eatery’s last day of operation is on June 19, 2022, just before its lease expires on June 30.

Speaking to 8days.sg, Carol says the main reason for the closure is manpower shortage, which took a toll on her and her family members who are helping her to run the eatery. “I’m very tired. It’s seriously very tiring. It’s a busy job,” she tells us wearily.

Andy Lau with Carol and her family at Ah Seah Eating House

“It’s not a glamourous job”

Due to the local manpower quota, Carol struggled with hiring staff. “In the future manpower is going to be an issue. Youngsters don’t want [the job] and the elderly can’t cope. It’s not a glamourous job. In the future it’s quite difficult to be in this line. This is labour-intensive work, you cannot do everything on your own,” she shares.

It was a further blow to her when "two aunties” working at her shop resigned. “They said they cannot manage ’cos they are too old,” Carol says. “One of them, her back was bent almost 45 degrees after two years of working. One day she said she cannot already and wanted to leave, so I had to let her go. The other auntie’s husband had a heart attack, so she had to go look after him.”

Other than her current four hired staff, Carol’s husband, son, daughter and sister were also roped in to help with the family business. “I don’t think they want to be there, but they have no choice,” she says. Her kids, who graduated from SIM, started working at Ah Seah right after graduation. “They cannot zao (Hokkien for run),” laughs Carol. “When a staff member takes MC, we are seriously shorthanded.”

Ah Seah Eating House's founder Lee Huat (aka 'Ah Seah'), who passed his business to his daughter Carol in 2007

Hawker’s tough life

A permanent closure seems inevitable, as Carol notes that “nobody is going to take over” the business once she retires. “Nobody wants to do it lah (laughs). I used to be a clerk at SATS Catering enjoying myself, but when I was needed here I had to resign,” she says. She took over the business in 2007 from her father ‘Ah Seah’, whom the shop is named after.

Carol's younger sister, who used to be a housewife, joined her. “She was a ‘HDB taitai’ before, but now she has to work as a hawker,” says Carol, adding candidly that her sister “also doesn’t like this job — it takes up too much time, no life.” Before the manpower crunch, Carol and her family worked “from 4am to midnight with breaks in between”, though labour shortage has forced them to cut down on rest time. But the sisters held on through sheer willpower. “Just have to bear with it, it’s our own business,” Carol shrugs.

On cooking 50 dishes

Carol offers some 50 dishes to go with her Teochew porridge, all of which she cooks in-house. Closing the eating house for a midday break doesn’t make sense to her. “I need to cook anyway, so no point closing,” she says.

When we suggest reducing the number of dishes to ease her workload, Carol chuckles. “If my customers say ‘why don’t have this item?’, I will say ‘oh you come back tomorrow I cook for you’. It’s me lah (laughs). I can’t refuse. People have told me to [reject requests] and I managed to turn down a few, but I want to satisfy everybody,” she explains.

May reopen in the future

Customer service is also the reason why her prices have remained unchanged despite raging global inflation. “Some customers may not be able to afford it if I increase my prices, and there’s no point increasing if I was going to close,” she says. She also foresees her operational costs going up. “In the future, rent will go up as well. My landlord asked us to sign [a lease] for another year, but we could be asked to move out anytime since they are going to tear down and rebuild the whole row of shophouses,” she shares.

Once she wraps up Ah Seah’s operations, Carol is planning to take a much-needed break. But she doesn’t rule out reopening her famous biz again. She muses: “I’ll see if there are other opportunities. Maybe I’ll open a stall and stick to just a few items.”

Ah Seah Teochew Porridge will operate until June 19, 2022. 31 Teck Chye Terrace, S545731. Open daily except Mon, 11am-10pm. www.facebook.com/AhSeahEatingHouse

Photos: Carol Lee/ Ah Seah Teochew Porridge