$2 Steamed Fish At Economy Bee Hoon Stall In ABC Brickworks Run By Teochew Hawker Family

Instead of reopening elsewhere, the veteran hawkers decided to retire. “Being a hawker isn’t easy. You work long hours and might not even turn a profit,” Lam Mong says. “For mixed rice, you need manpower, which is even more difficult. Nowadays, who wants to work this job?”

Poh Chun settled into taking care of her grandchildren during working hours, but Lam Mong grew restless. After about a year “sitting at home”, he got a job clearing plates at a kopitiam. “The boss treated me well, but it was hard work [as the plates were very heavy],” Lam Mong tells us. He lasted a year, before finding a gig as a cleaner at the Science Centre Singapore – though he left after seven months when he took a fall.

He returned to that kopitiam gig, but eventually found a job clearing tables at the hawker centre near his house with “very flexible hours”. The veteran hawker maintains that he wasn’t working these jobs out of necessity, as he’d saved up enough money over the years running the hawker stall. Thiam Hock and his three older siblings (a brother and two sisters) were also helping to support their parents financially. “I’ll usually be drinking beer with my friends there anyway, so why not earn a bit of money?” Lam Mong says.

However, their active retirement was put on hold when Thiam Hock quit his job as a warehouse executive in favour of starting a business in F&B. “I decided to start a hawker stall because it was like returning to my roots – I used to work with my parents at the mixed rice stall,” he tells us. “I thought that I should start now, while my parents can still guide me along.”

His initial plan to open a Teochew porridge stall didn’t pan out, when he couldn't find a suitable shophouse. Instead, he found a vacant stall at ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre, and decided to set up his hawker biz there anyway.

Thiam Hock shelved the idea of selling Teochew porridge due to space constraints in the hawker stall, instead opting for economy bee hoon as “there’s only one other economy bee hoon stall in the hawker centre”. On reflection, he also reasons that economy bee hoon is “a lot easier to handle” for him and his parents as there’s less prep work involved compared to Teochew porridge.

While his parents had their misgivings about Thiam Hock reentering the world of F&B, they decided to go all in and help him out at the shop. “He’s hardworking and a good cook. It’s scary to open a stall now, but we wanted to support him to work as a hawker,” Poh Chun tells us. Lam Hong adds, “I don’t mind helping. After all, it’s for family.”

They plan to work at the stall until business has settled down. “Maybe two to three years?” Poh Chun adds. “It’s good also lah, to get a bit of exercise.”

A plain plate of fried bee hoon, kway teow, mee tai mak (or any combination of the noodles) goes for $0.80, while a base of nasi lemak costs $0.50 each. Thereafter, pile on a mix of generic deep-fried accompaniments like Taiwanese sausages, luncheon meat and fish cake, as well as some housemade items like chicken wings, curry veg and, if you’re lucky, steamed rabbit fish. There isn’t a price list, so warm up your pointing finger and be prepared to ask how much everything is.

The secret to making something simple like economy bee hoon good, Poh Chun tells us, is balance. “The noodles can’t be too hard, salty or oily. Or too expensive,” she says. There’s nothing to complain about the stall’s plain bee hoon – the strands are reasonably toothsome and none too oily, though it could do with more deep-fried shallots or sliced carrot to liven things up.

We get it with some bog-standard luncheon meat ($0.50) and housemade curry vegetables ($0.50). The latter, which comprises cabbage, long beans and tau pok in a spicy, reasonably aromatic rempah, is competently done. Don’t make the mistake we did – ask for more of that lemak gravy on your noodles.

As is expected from nasi lemak this affordable, there’s only a light hint of coconutty fragrance from the plate. There’s nary a whiff of the pandan or lemongrass within, though the AAA-graded fragrant rice grains are well-separated with a bit of bite. With this, we choose a fried egg ($0.50) and mackerel ($0.50) as our sides. The fried egg isn’t too bad – the yolk is about two-thirds cooked and still a bit runny – while the kuning ($0.50 each), though nicely salted, aren’t crispy enough for us to bite through the fish, bones and all. The accompanying belacan, made with hae bee (dried shrimp), onion and chilli, lends some piquancy and savouriness to the meal.

We get a mix of kway teow and bee hoon, both fried with lashings of light and dark soya sauce for colour. Again, competent enough, but nothing to shout about. Unfortunately, the fried chicken wing ($1.20) that we paired with the noodles isn’t too exciting. The five-spice, flour and white pepper coating lacks any crunch, and the chook within is dry as well.

We’d rather get the steamed rabbit fish ($2), when available. Pek thor her, as they’re called in Teochew, is popular among the dialect group during Chinese New Year when they’re breeding and filled with roe. It’s steamed for “around five minutes” with salt and oil, yielding flaky, clean-tasting flesh. We haven’t had steamed fish at an economy bee hoon stall before, so this is a rare find. We hear it’s popular with the older folk who swing by the economy bee hoon stall in the mornings.

Lee Economical Fried Bee Hoon & Nasi Lemak serves up affordable fare that’s a little rough around the edges. We suspect the food might fare better when it’s hotter, as our shoot was long after their early morning rush hour. Do try out their hard-to-find steamed fish if Lam Mong manages to snag fresh fish when you head down.

Lee Economical Fried Bee Hoon & Nasi Lemak is at #01-120 ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, S150006. Tel: 8666-6650. Open daily except Wed, 5.30am – 1pm. More info via Facebook.

Photos: Kelvin Chia

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