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Young hawkers determined to keep hawker culture alive bag awards

SINGAPORE — In 2015, pharmaceutical-science graduate Aericurl Chng, 25, took the plunge, signing up as a hawker despite her lack of experience in food and beverage (F&B).

Ms Aericurl Chng, 25, who bagged the Young Hawker Award by the City Hawker Food Hunt, said that striking it out on her own in F&B was her dream. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY

Ms Aericurl Chng, 25, who bagged the Young Hawker Award by the City Hawker Food Hunt, said that striking it out on her own in F&B was her dream. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — In 2015, pharmaceutical-science graduate Aericurl Chng, 25, took the plunge, signing up as a hawker despite her lack of experience in food and beverage (F&B).

She set up a stall selling traditional desserts — including chendol and cheng tng — at the Ci Yuan Community Club Hawker Centre in Hougang under an entrepreneurship programme by F&B operator Fei Siong to provide support for would-be hawkers.

Passionate about keeping the hawker culture alive, Ms Chng was one of those recognised on Sunday (Nov 5) with the Young Hawker Award by the City Hawker Food Hunt, a yearly contest recognising the best hawkers across various food categories.

Speaking to TODAY after the award ceremony at Our Tampines Hub, Ms Chng said striking it out on her own in F&B was her dream and the award was a “good encouragement” to young hawkers.

Noting that many of the hawkers are elderly, she said: “If a new generation can continue this culture and provide more affordable food items to neighbourhoods, it benefits everyone.”

Besides the preparation of chendol, which she learnt from Fei Siong, the rest of Ms Chng’s desserts are either family recipes or self-taught. For instance, she researched online for a cheng tng recipe, and made tweaks to the dessert along the way, based on customer feedback.

What sets her desserts apart from others? Ms Chng said desserts in most food courts elsewhere are prepared by a central kitchen and then warmed up at stalls.

But her stall prepares its hot desserts from scratch daily, drawing positive feedback from customers, who liked that they were not as sweet as offerings elsewhere. Her mother and a full-time employee help out at the stall.

Debunking the view that hawkers have it tough, Ms Chng said: “When you run your own business, it’s (at your) own time and own target, so let’s say, if you work and you’re tired, you can take a short break.”

At Sunday’s award ceremony, Senior Minister of State (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor noted that seven of the 20 hawker centres the Government previously said it would build by 2027 have been finished.

Five of them — including the one at Our Tampines Hub and Yishun Park Hawker Centre — have been launched. The other two, including Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre, are expected to start operations soon.

There are now more than 6,000 hawker stalls operating in 110 hawker centres.

Dr Khor said the awards, organised by piped town gas provider City Gas and Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News, were a public affirmation of their “very tasty” offerings.

This year, the contest attracted some 8,000 public votes across four categories: Braised duck rice, seafood hor fun, mee rebus and curry rice. The special awards — including the Young Hawker Award — were decided by a 10-member committee, which included food expert Moses Lim.

Another Young Hawker Award winner was Plum & Rice at Blk 216 Bedok North Street 1, run by three young men.

One of them, Mr Raphael Sim, said he and his business partners, Gladwin Yap and Eric Lee, all 26, had already decided to set up a hawker stall when they were schoolmates at the Singapore Institute of Technology — Culinary Institute of America.

“The hawker scene in Singapore is dying out; a lot of the senior hawkers we have in Singapore are either unable to hand over to the younger generation or they don’t want to hand over to their kids, because they don’t want them to follow in their footsteps,” said Mr Sim.

“We realised how important hawker culture is to us, Singaporeans. It’s something that we grew up with and …. we wanted to make a change.”

His stall fuses umeboshi (a Japanese plum) into rice and porridge, and pairs this with meats or fish, such as braised pork belly and steamed fish.

Winning the award slightly under a year into operations was “humbling”, said Mr Sim. “It’s a good sign for us; that means we’re doing quite well,” he added. He hopes that the award will spread the word about his stall.

Another award — the Heritage Hawker Award — was given to Traditional Hakka Lui Cha in Boon Lay Place Food Village, which serves Hakka thunder tea rice.

Mr Wong Kwek Keong, 65, who set up the stall in 2003, was taught how to cook the dish by his mother when he was just 10.

He plans to hand the business over to his son, Mr Wong Pixiang, 28, a former Air Force officer who felt it was “an appropriate time” to do his part for the family business.

“Lei cha, to me, is a dish that brings people together. I grew up eating it every other week at my grandmother’s place,” he told TODAY.

In the other award categories, Ah Xiao Teochew Braised Duck at Golden Mile Food Centre netted the top prize for braised duck rice, while Casper in Bendemeer Market & Food Centre came out tops for seafood hor fun.

For mee rebus, Inspirasi at Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre bagged top honours. Hainanese Curry Rice at Maxwell Food Centre was declared the cream of the crop for curry rice.

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