Hard Work 

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Geylang Lorong 29 Hokkien Mee is coming to Singapore Day!

 

You go up to the uncle and order a plate of hokkien mee. He throws all the ingredients into his wok and seemingly effortlessly tosses them around in his wok. Five minutes later, an enticing plate of fragrant hokkien mee, with a generous amount of sambal chilli and a lime, is served to you.

 

What you don’t see is how he gets up before sunrise every day to secure the freshest of ingredients and how he stays at his stall for hours, battling the heat and exhaustion to serve you the best he can for a meal.

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Grace Tan, 58, and Alex See, 63, will be coming to Singapore Day with their daughter, Lilian, 39.

 

Alex said, “I wake up around 7am to go to the market to buy good prawns and squids. Then I come (to the stall) and prepare all the ingredients in the morning. Early in the morning I will be peeling the prawns, cutting the squids, making sure everything is in order.” The business commences at 1130am daily and closes only in the night, at about 9pm.

 

Alex shares that the peeling of prawns can cause itchiness and pain to the hands, and standing for long hours in the heat of the stall can be tiring. In order to retain the “traditional taste of hokkien mee”, he insists on frying his noodles with charcoal fire, and the heat in his stall is indescribably intense.

 

He said, “Sometimes I come out to take a 5-minute break, and already my customers will be asking why I’m not the one cooking. Some of them only want to eat the hokkien mee that I cook, and will not accept even my assistant’s cooking.”

 

At the age of 63, standing for long hours and bearing the heat of the flames rising from charcoal has proven to be bad for his health. “The oil, the prawn stock, the charcoal’s fire are all very hot. When you cook, the smoke goes to your face and your body.”

 

He has already gone for three surgeries between years 2005 to 2007, and is suffering from yet another hernia now. “I have been operated on left, right and centre. The doctor told me to leave the hernia alone if it doesn’t hurt, because he doesn’t know where else to stitch for me.”

 

Despite the doctor’s advice to lay down the wok for good, Alex is determined to fry his noodles for just a little while longer. He said, “I cannot stop or the traditional taste of hokkien mee will be lost. There are still many stalls selling hokkien mee, but I don’t see them preserving the important parts of traditional hokkien mee, like cooking with charcoal.” He did say, though, that Singapore Day 2013 might be among the last events he will be participating in before he takes a good rest.

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He said, “I want to show Singaporeans that this is the traditional taste of hokkien mee. If you want to try the hokkien mee of the olden days, come to my stall and eat.”

 

Be sure to catch this traditional plate of hokkien mee at Singapore Day this year! Register now!

 

By Sim Yu Xiang