“Why Did You Study At Shatec & End Up A Hawker?” Culinary Grad Joins Family’s Laksa & Prawn Mee Biz Despite Dad’s Objections - 8days Skip to main content

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“Why Did You Study At Shatec & End Up A Hawker?” Culinary Grad Joins Family’s Laksa & Prawn Mee Biz Despite Dad’s Objections

After five years, the third-gen hawker's towkay dad has finally come round and Geylang Laksa Prawn Noodles now boasts a new outlet.

“Why Did You Study At Shatec & End Up A Hawker?” Culinary Grad Joins Family’s Laksa & Prawn Mee Biz Despite Dad’s Objections

Lim Yuyuan (YY, left in pic), 26, faced harsh opposition when he decided to join his family business. “My dad was against us [carrying on the family business]. He wanted me to work in the hotel line,” says YY, a culinary school grad from SHATEC and son of Geylang Laksa Prawn Noodles towkay, Johnny Lim, 63. “He said to me, ‘why did you study at SHATEC and end up a hawker? You might as well not study [there] at all’.”

Undeterred, the young hawker persevered and worked full-time at his family’s 36-year-old stall at Sims Drive for the past five years. Last December, with his father’s hard-won blessing, he opened a new branch in Ang Mo Kio – the first expansion for the family-owned brand (apart from a short-lived tenure at Clifford Centre’s food court in 2020, where biz was affected by the pandemic). 

The new kopitiam outlet offers the same menu as the original stall: laksa and prawn noodles with varied toppings like pork rib, intestine, pig’s tail and clams. Their laksa is based on a recipe created by YY’s late grandfather, Lee Sie Kian, who peddled the dish on trishaw in Geylang from the ’60s to ’80s, while the prawn mee was added to the menu later in the ’90s after Mr Lee retired and YY’s father moved into a coffee shop in Sims Drive.

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