27-Year-Old Hawker Serves Comforting Soupy Bak Chor Mee With Dad
Their stall is called My Father’s Minced Meat Noodle.
When Aaron Lim, then 23, completed his National Service after getting a diploma in Business Information Systems, he made an easy decision — forgoing university and the chance of a cushy corporate life to become a hawker. He wanted to join his father in running their stall called My Father’s Minced Meat Noodle in Tampines. Telling said father about his life plan, however, wasn’t as easy.
“My dad was furious,” shares baby-faced Aaron, now 27. “He told me off, saying that this line of work is very hard, with no time off and no holidays.”
What eventually persuaded Lim Seng Guan, 50, to come around, was his son’s enthusiasm for the craft and an impassioned plea to contribute to a business that’s fed his family since 1992, back when it was named Chai Chee Minced Meat Noodle.
All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg
Common beginnings
The stall’s signature dish is the relatively uncommon soup-based bak chor mee. Notable competitors within this space include famed rival stalls Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian and Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee at Bedok 85 Market (aka Fengshan Food Centre), and Soon Heng Pork Noodles at Neil Road.
The older Lim picked up the recipe from his grandfather, who used to run a bak chor mee stall as well. His uncle also runs another soup-based bak chor mee stall in Bedok. Aaron suggested renaming the stall to My Father’s Minced Meat Noodle when the signage was due for a change in 2018. “It was to honour my father, his father, and his grandfather,” he explains.
How Aaron joined the biz
Thus began Aaron’s apprenticeship (and daily 5am mornings) in earnest, though it wasn’t his first stint at the stall - since the age of five, he hung around the stall on weekends doing his homework. “I recalled hating the place because it was warm, packed and it had no TV,” he says.
When tasked to collect dirty dishes, he’d often vanish to the nearby playground. His first experience helping out in earnest came in 2007 when he was in secondary school. He wanted to earn enough money to buy a ticket to Jay Chou’s The World Tour concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, so he devoted his weekends to working at the bak chor mee stall.
“When I finally saved enough money, I decided not to spend it on the concert. I also realised how happy I was being a hawker, even part-time,” he recalls.
Four years later
Today, the gregarious senior Lim handles the morning shift, while the soft-spoken junior helms the kitchen in the afternoon after four years of learning the ropes. “Ke yi lah (can lah),” Lim remarks in Mandarin, when asked to rate his son’s bak chor mee-making skills.
The biggest challenge in becoming a full-time hawker wasn’t learning the recipes or preparing ingredients - that was easy enough, says Aaron, with practice and guidance from dad. A little more difficult was juggling orders with various specifications, customer interaction and getting everything just right. “Sometimes, customers compare [our food],” he shares. “But my father has 29 years of experience versus my four. Sometimes, they’ll say: ‘Oh, yours is better than your dad’s!’”
Aaron plans to eventually take over My Father’s Minced Meat Noodle full-time once his dad retires.
Bak Chor Mee (Soup), $3.50
If you’re used to the punchy meatiness of other bak chor mee soups, expect a lighter touch in this bowl. While cleaner, it’s still flavourful and comforting — the generous helpings of minced meat and savoury parcels of wontons stuffed with briny dried flatfish and fatty pork help. There’s an option for kway teow if you aren’t fond of the traditional mee kia or mee pok’s alkaline flavour, which tends to emerge a little more when soaked in soup.
Bak Chor Mee (Dry), $4
The dry version is pretty much identical to the soup-based one, at least in terms of ingredients. Our mee kia is cooked just right and tossed in a fragrant, spicy mix of sambal, vinegar and lard. The meatballs, though factory-made, are springy and flavoursome. Not bad.
Bottom line
The soupy bak chor mee here may not be as robust as the ones we’ve had from the famed noodle stalls at Fengshan Food Centre, but its lighter taste profile is still rather flavourful and comforting. Worth getting a bowl if you’re in Tampines — especially to support a next-gen young hawker.
Listen Now
Related Stories
Shopping
