Fear your favourite hawker stall is heading for extinction? Andrea Azureene Heng discovers a second generation of vendors who’ve stepped up to the plate 

Forget social harmony – on this food-obsessed island, eating is probably the only thing that really binds us all. Think about it: Our hawker centres are the great racial and socio-economic equaliser, where financiers and immigrant workers can be found side by side, digging into char kway teow from the same stall. Yet with the gentrification of beloved hawker haunts, and the passing of their original (and largely unheralded) cooks, are we also at risk of losing our favourite kway chap or duck rice? 

The answer seems to be no. A new generation is picking up the ladle to continue running the stalls that their fathers and grandmothers opened decades ago, ensuring that trade secrets and carefully guarded recipes remain safe. Here are four soldiers of the new guard who will keep Singaporeans happily hankering for old-fashioned hawker fare for years to come. 

Stall: Kwang Kee Teochew Fish Porridge 
Famous for: Teochew fish soup and porridge 
Run by: Brothers Jason Tan, 40, and Daniel Tan, 38 
Started by: Father Tan Cheng Khim, 70, in 1952, at the old Tanglin car park 
Price: $4 to $8 
Why it’s good: Only the freshest catch, together with fish bones, goes into the fish stock. Noodles or rice are added to the stock, and then the finished product is topped with lettuce, fried shallots, dried seaweed and tongue-singeing chilli. 
Why it’s still around: Jason and Daniel decided to take over their father’s fish soup business because they’d been hanging around and helping out since they were young. ‘We thought of pursuing other careers,’ says Jason. ‘Daniel even went to Australia to work, but came back to help our father instead because we liked doing what we did. We get a sense of satisfaction when we see our regular customers.’ 
Accolades: The Map of Singapore award; City Beat award by MediaCorp Channel 8 
The scoop: Their father insists on heading out alone each morning at 2am to Jurong Port to select the fish. The brothers say he is very particular about choosing fresh fish that is smooth, moist and tender. Stall 20, Newton Food Centre, 500 Clemenceau Ave North. MRT: Newton. Daily 11am-10pm (off every Monday) 

Stall: Sajis Indian Food 
Famous for: Indian rojak 
Run by: Sabeek Mohamed Yusof, 36 
Started by: The late Mohamed Yusof, Sabeek’s father, in 1978, along Waterloo Street, where many Indian food stalls were usually found. 
Price: $2 and up (depending on number of items chosen) 
Why it’s good: Sabeek believes that each item in Indian rojak must contain the right ratio of ingredients – from flour and spices to potatoes and spinach – for the perfect balance in flavour and texture. Almost all the items in his rojak selection are handmade daily, so they retain a chewy consistency without being too elastic. Even the sauce – a concoction of peanuts, sugar and chilli paste – is made from carefully rationed ingredients. 
Why it’s still around: After his father passed away in 1994, Sabeek felt that the dish was slowly disappearing from the local food scene. Though many food courts were still selling variations of Indian rojak, few were doing it the way his father had. ‘Very good Indian rojak is hard to find. So I decided to continue the business,’ he says. 
Accolades: Singapore Best Food Online Directory; Green Book award; six chopsticks from Makansutra; Makansutra Street Food Masters award 
The scoop: Though Sajis is best known for its rojak, regulars also speak in reverential whispers of the mee siam and biryani. 
Stall 12, Nan Tai Eating House, #01-29, Blk 261 Waterloo St. MRT: Bugis or City Hall. Daily 9am-7pm (off every last Monday) 

Stall: Min Eryimin 
Famous for: Hot and cold beancurd
Run by: Caroline Ng, 45 
Started by: Mother Tan Kim Yeow and late father, Chung Tan Lai, in 1960, as a pushcart along Beach Road 
Price: 50 cents to $1 
Why it’s good: The soft, smooth and gleaming beancurd is handmade every morning. Every night, Ng grinds soy beans into a paste and boils it with water to form soy bean milk. Pandan leaves are added, followed by potato starch to create the curd. ‘It’s a simple process, but it’s important to monitor the amount of potato starch that goes into the mixture – too much and it’ll be too waxy and firm. Boiling the soy milk will also scald it and affect its quality,’ she says. 
Why it’s still around: What started as a close-knit family business turned a little ugly when Ng’s brothers split over a disagreement about business shares and started their own beancurd stalls in Jalan Besar, Geylang and on Sims Avenue. Ng and her husband decided to run this stall (previously owned by her younger brother), which is located next to the original Short Street branch currently run by her older brother. One wonders what Chinese New Year is like for this family. 
Accolades: None officially, but who needs awards when there are endless queues day and night? 
The scoop: To differentiate herself from her brothers, Caroline named her stall after her three daughters: Min Er, Min Yi and Min Min. She also has a son and jokes that he doesn’t help around as often as her daughters because his name isn’t in the stall’s brand. 
No. 4 Short St. MRT: Dhoby Ghaut. Daily 8am-midnight 

Stall: Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak 
Famous for: Nasi lemak 
Run by: Brothers Abdul Malik Hassan, 35, and Muhammad Fadzillah Hassan, 30 
Started by: Father Hassan bin Abdul Kadir, 62, in 1998 in the same stall and food centre 
Price: $2 for a regular serving of rice, ikan bilis, sambal and cucumber slices, to $5 for the Royal Rumble, which includes a fried chicken wing, an otah, a fried sunnyside- up egg, fried fish and a bergedil or potato cutlet 
Why it’s good: Besides using fresh fish, eggs and coconut milk, bin Abdul Kadir’s other ‘secret’ weapons are efficiency, and courteous and warm service. In fact, he claims good service accounts for 60 per cent of his business’ success, with the quality of the food making up the other 40 per cent. 
Why it’s still around: Two of bin Abdul Kadir’s sons – Abdul Malik, 35, and Fadzillah, 30 – are slowly being groomed to take over the reins of the stall, which draws long queues every day at almost every hour. In fact, traditional non-peak hours continue to be peak hours for this stall. Regulars queue for the piping-hot, fragrant coconut rice, which is neatly scooped onto a clean plate upon every single order and topped with a variety of items including fried egg, fried fish, fried chicken wing and otah. Good food plus good service equals nasi lemak success, plain and simple. 
Accolades: Five chopsticks from Makansutra; Makansutra Street Food Masters award; Straits Times Life!eats award; Anugerah Daun Pisang; Singapore Food Map award 
The scoop: The surprisingly tech-savvy bin Abdul Kadir has a website (www.sbestfood.com/adamrdnasilemakno1) and a WiFi-enabled mobile phone that receives immediate feeds of his delivery and catering orders. 
He’s also recently opened a second stall at Block 603 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5. Stall 2 Adam Food Centre, 2 Adam Rd. MRT: Newton. Daily 6am-10pm 

Stall: Sia Kee 
Famous for: Boneless duck rice and porridge 
Run by: Brothers Ron Oh, 33, Lawrence Oh, 31, and Bert Oh, 29 
Started by: Father Oh Kim Seng, 61, in 1978 in the same location 
Price: $6 gets you rice or porridge, with sliced duck and tasty duck soup. 
Why it’s good: At six o’clock every morning, the senior Oh and his three sons head to their Bedok factory to collect the succulent ducks which have been braised in a closely guarded marinade. Their signature sauce – made from duck stock and soy sauce – is the other secret to their duck rice dish. The result: slices of tender duck meat served with a dollop of liquid gold and boiled peanuts, thin cucumber slices and blanched bean sprouts for crunch. 
Why it’s still around: The decision to take over the stall was a natural one: the boys had been helping out since their schooldays, and they decided to continue running the stall after completing National Service. The boys are the only helpers, save for one hired employee. ‘The place is so popular, our father has always been short of manpower!’ quips Lawrence. And how – the coffeeshop seats are perpetually full, from the lunch hour till the evening, when neighbouring pub owners and residents drop by. Accolades: Yummy King food guide award by Channel U 
The scoop: Call it a force of habit, but to this day the senior Oh still insists on chopping the duck himself. Oh says he’s happy to do it day after day, as he has been for the past 29 years, until 3pm, after which one of the brothers takes over while the others serve the non-stop flow of customers. 
Sin Huat Eating House, 659/661 Geylang Rd. MRT: Paya Lebar. Daily 11am-7.30pm (off every alternate Wednesday) 


Stall: Yue Lai Xiang 
Famous for: Cheng tng, a pandan-infused soup brewed with longan. Even after the regular peak lunch and dinner hours, the lines still form. 
Run by: Andrew Lim, 51 
Started by: His late grandmother Madam Yap Kwee Eng in 1939 at the same location (when a beach still existed there), and continued by his father Lim Ah Lay (now 77). The menu hasn’t changed in all that time. 
Why it’s good: The cheng tng is prepared fresh daily by boiling two different soups: one with longan, rock sugar and pandan leaves; the other soup… well, that one’s prepared from a secret recipe. The result is a treasure chest of yam cubes, sweet potato, fungus, candied wintermelon strips and longan. Why it’s still around: Andrew continues his grandma’s traditional recipe mixing the two different soups with shaved ice and items such as sweet potato and longan to produce an icy and refreshing dessert. His father has since retired and he is the third generation of his family. 
Accolades: 2.5 chopsticks from Makansutra; Green Book award; Foodie’s Choice award by Mediacorp Channel 8 
The scoop: Andrew has three daughters who are all still in school, though he’s not sure if they’ll continue in the family business or if they have plans to pursue other career paths. So, order another bowl now. Just in case. 
Where: Stall 31 Bedok Food Centre, 1 Bedok Rd. MRT: Tanah Merah. Tue-Sun noon-9pm Price: $1.50 (small) to $3 (special)