Popular Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles Hawker Comes Out Of Retirement For Pop-Up At Fullerton Hotel

Considers herself retired

Mary used to work alongside her ex-husband, James Tan, at the stall, but the couple divorced several years ago. “We were separated for many years, so each of us went in a different direction,” she shares.

Her former father-in-law had started the business in 1963 as a pushcart in Tiong Bahru before moving to Longhouse food court in Upper Thomson. When Longhouse was sold off in 2014, Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles moved to Balestier Food Centre, where it remained till its closure in 2023.

While James is no longer in the F&B industry, Mary continued to run their biz after the divorce. “We are still friends today,” says the mother-of-two, whose daughters are 13 and 20.

She considers herself as having retired now. “And I love it. I was back to being my daughters’ mother, sending them to school and cooking for them,” Mary enthuses warmly.

While all was “so far so good”, she admits that she misses cooking as a career. “A lot of people were still calling and asking me if I was going to reopen and find a new place to restart,” she says.

Fullerton Hotel pop-up

Then Fullerton Hotel approached her to do a month-long pop-up as part of its Heritage Hawker Stories series, which has famous hawkers guesting at its buffet-style Town Restaurant. Mary agreed.

From now till Dec 15, she is helming a live station at the restaurant for its Festive Lunch Buffet ($78 per adult/ $39 per child till Dec 30).

Diners can help themselves to unlimited small bowls of Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles personally cooked by Mary, who is famed for her unique peppery, bak kut teh-like broth simmered with pork ribs and prawn heads.

“I’m offering the same item at my previous stall. Same broth, same big prawns. Fullerton [Hotel] wanted me to make it as close as possible to the original traditional taste of my prawn noodles,” she explains.

But you get better ingredients at the hotel restaurant for the premium price. Instead of the ang kar prawns Mary used to serve at her hawker stall, the prawn noodles at Fullerton Hotel come with large tiger prawns, meaty pork ribs and deep-fried lard.

“It’s a different environment and different kind of customers now, but I love seeing their happy faces and them coming back for a second serving,” she shares.

If you want to eat the prawn noodles but skip the buffet, you can also order a full-sized a la carte bowl for $26 at the hotel’s Town Restaurant and The Courtyard cafe. For Ah Hui regulars, don’t expect Mary’s pork tail noodles. That option is not offered at the hotel due to its relatively niche appeal.

The restaurants take customised orders too, as a hotel rep tells 8days.sg: “You can choose [to get] prawns and pork ribs, just prawns or just ribs. At the buffet, you can also tell Mary which ingredients you want or don’t want.” 

According to Mary, she currently has no plans to reopen her hawker stall. “Rental rates are still high, and manpower is a big issue for me. We have to endure long working hours, so it’s impossible for me to restart if I don’t have manpower. Ingredients are also expensive now,” she points out.

She has broached the topic of succession with her kids: “But they are too young. My older daughter has no interest in cooking. She helped me on weekends sometimes and she said ‘no no I don’t want to do this’ (laughs). But it’s a pity to close, it’s true.”

After her Fullerton Hotel pop-up, Mary reckons that she’s “going back to my role as a mother”. We suggest that she start a business selling her special prawn noodles from home, and she lights up. She chirps: “Oh, I can do that! I can sell prawn noodle paste for families to DIY at home too.”

Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles’s pop-up runs from now till Dec 15, 2023 at Town Restaurant and The Courtyard, Fullerton Hotel. For more information and reservations, go to www.fullertonhotels.com.

Photos: Fullerton Hotel/ Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles

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