Fishball Mee Hawkers Lose $10K Relocating Stall Thrice In 3 Months; They’re ‘Fickle-Minded’, Says Daughter

The stall’s five-decade history

Teck Hin Fishball Noodle first opened in 1975 at a kopitiam in 46 Holland Drive. The stall remained at this location for 25 years until 2000. Thereafter, Mr Tan shared that they operated their business on an intermittent basis, but did not provide more details. It was only in 2012 that the stall settled down at Blk 443 Clementi Ave 3, where it stood for seven years before finding its place in Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre. 

Last December, Eugenia announced Teck Hin Fishball Noodle’s impending closure due to “poor sales”, as shown in the Facebook post below.

However, Mr and Mrs Tan managed to continue their biz at the same Bukit Timah stall until 31 March 2024. “Biz was no good and we were only breaking even,” Eugenia tells 8days.sg. “But [they stayed on] as my father [was likely fearful] of stepping out [of his comfort zone].” 

When the hawkers had to vacate Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre, an option was to move their stall down to an interim site across the road. However, there were substantial sunk costs in terms of the stall deposit and higher rental fees. In addition, Eugenia added that they would have to pump in additional funds for new equipment. Hence, Teck Hin Fishball Noodle decided to leave the Bukit Timah enclave.

First relocation after leaving Bukit Timah

About a week after shuttering the Bukit Timah stall, Teck Hin Fishball Noodle reopened at Blk 117 Commonwealth Drive Coffeeshop, albeit under the signage of a previous tenant: 16 Storey Fishball Noodles. Yes, this is the same coffeeshop that houses the well-known Eng Kee Chicken Wings. 

“Through the classified ads page of the newspaper, my father read that there was an available stall with existing equipment. He immediately provided the deposit and the first month’s rental fees, and told me only after he got home. I thought maybe we would have overflow customers from Eng Kee but that wasn’t the case. We invested about $4K but our sales was only $250 max per day. It doesn’t cover the cost as my dad uses fresh fish in his fishballs. We were bleeding by the third month.”

Eugenia explains that Mr Tan didn’t want to bring trouble to the coffeeshop owner so he stayed on despite low sales, and paid the rent on a monthly basis until the owner found another tenant to take over.

“My wife and I need to continuously run the biz to earn a living”

Mr Tan was determined to restart his biz immediately in the next available location. When we asked him why he didn’t wait until he found a more ideal location, the friendly gent simply stated in Mandarin: "My wife and I need to continuously run the biz to earn a living and to save up as well."

The stall lasted for three days at next location

This time, he chose a coffeeshop unit in Kim Keat which also provided existing features. Eugenia exclaimed, “[His action] was impulsive and the location was worse than Commonwealth! There was no footfall at all as the surrounding residents are mostly elderly. I usually help him with his accounts and I realised that we lost almost $2K in a span of three days!” 

Thankfully, the coffeeshop owner was kind enough to return a fraction of Mr Tan’s deposit back to him, though a penalty fee of $800 was imposed. 

Now in Yishun - third time’s the charm?

Finally, on 8 July 2024, Mr Tan found a stall at Yishun’s Coffee & Tea coffeeshop, through another newspaper ad. Because of its convenience and proximity to his home, he liked the location so much that he decided to lock in a one-year contract with the coffeeshop owner. 

Stall operating under different brand’s signage ’cos can’t afford new signboard

At time of writing, their stall is operating under the signage of Original JLN Tua Kong Fishball Noodle, a previous tenant at the coffeeshop. Mr Tan shares that they will only change the signboard to that of their own brand in one or two months’ time. “It costs a few hundred dollars to change the signboard and we need to save up first before being able to afford it.”

Mrs Tan, who’s in charge of preparing the noodles, as well as “washing the plates and doing everything in between”, says earnestly, “Biz still isn’t picking up [despite being here for almost a month]. We are only earning less than $200 a day. And gas is so expensive here! We pay about $280 which is so much higher than before.” Her husband chimes in, adding that they barely break even as their expenses amount to about $3K per month.

“It’s tedious,” Mr Tan reiterates sadly in Mandarin, “But there’s not much of a choice. I’m just living one day at a time and taking one step at a time.” 

Daughter says parents are “fickle-minded” in their stall selection

Interestingly, Eugenia has yet to update the stall’s socials on its new location. Two weeks ago, a Facebook user left a comment on her previous post, asking “where is uncle and aunty now?”. To our amusement, Eugenia replied with the new Yishun address, and added: “My apologies as I cannot update in FB due to their fickle-minded approach towards the stall.

Eugenia clarified with 8days.sg, “[My parents] are fickle-minded because of the way they assess a stall’s location. I’ve advised them numerous times to find a better location first before starting biz but they refused to listen. The amount of money lost is crazy for such a short period of time, around $10K at least.”

Hawkers handmake fishballs from 2am daily

Teck Hin Fishball Noodle still prepares their dishes the good old-fashioned way. Though he is in his seventies, Mr Tan still crafts fishballs and fishcake using fresh yellowtail fish which he makes into a paste by hand – he usually wakes up at 2am to prepare the fishballs before reaching his stall by 7am. 

Eugenia explains, “He has the option to use machinery to help him [prepare the fishballs]! But he insists on doing them by hand because the texture is more ‘QQ’ (springy). He focuses on quality over cost.”

Free-flow house-fried lard

At the current stall, Teck Hin Fishball Noodle offers both the Dry and Soup versions of Fishball Noodles, which come in two sizes priced at $4.50 and $5.50. They also serve Fishball Soup ($7), and Fish Dumpling Soup for $5 (the dumplings are taken from a supplier). Mr Tan sells his handmade Fishcake as a whole palm-sized piece for $10. 

In addition, the brand is also well-known for their “free access” pork lard. The stall displays their pork lard as a condiment, and customers are allowed to help themselves to as much as they want. Eugenia informs us, “My dad also fries the pork lard and the chilli on his own, and is very fussy about using pork oil to fry the shallots and onions. It makes them very fragrant.”

The generation gap

Eugenia adds: “Sometimes it’s hard to get certain information across to them, especially when I try to tell them that their business model from the ’80s and ’90s doesn’t work any more today. You can’t just decide to cease and restart your biz in different locations because your regulars won’t know where to find you.”

When 8days.sg asked Eugenia, who is the Tans’ only child, whether she has plans to take over the stall and continue the craft of handmade fishballs, she replied, “Yes, but I probably won’t be insistent on handmade [fishballs] as fast-moving goods don’t need this kind of work,” explaining that it was a matter of “profit versus effort”. Nevertheless, she further adds, “I may not take over [for the time being] due to my commitment towards my kids [who are going through] PSLE and Secondary 1.” 

Teck Hin Fishball Noodle is at Coffee & Tea Coffeeshop, Blk 156 Yishun St 11, S760156. Open daily from 7am to 3pm. More info via Facebook.

Photos: Eugenia Momo Lim