Popular Kueh Pulau Pinang Hawker, 73, Closing His Stall Despite Good Business
Teo Ah Bee, 73, is very popular at the Buangkok Crescent coffeeshop where he runs his hawker stall Kueh Pulau Pinang. He sells what Singaporeans would commonly call min jiang kueh, though Ah Bee said: “Back in the day, we always called it kueh pulau pinang, not apam balik or min jiang kueh. So that’s what I put on my stall’s sign.”
He has been making and selling pancakes since he was 13. “That was back when it was 10 cents a piece at pasar malams. My father was very strict; I wasn't allowed to go home until I had sold every piece!” he chortled.
Business has also picked up for him at Buangkok since Covid-19 dine-in restrictions were lifted. Ah Bee makes yummy, homely traditional min jiang kueh from $1 a slice, with fillings like his own fried-and-grinded peanuts, grated coconut with gula melaka and red bean paste.
Closing stall permanently
To his regulars’ surprise, he has now decided to wind up his well-loved stall. His last day of operations is Aug 31. According to Ah Bee, his coffeeshop was recently renovated and he was asked by the management to shift his stall to another spot in the kopitiam.The new space, he said, was too cramped. “It’s now very inconvenient for me to work. So I thought since it’s so tough, I might as well not continue lah. So difficult, for what?” he shared candidly. Before the opportunity came up to take over a stall unit in his coffeeshop, Ah Bee was working there as a cleaner.
No plans to relocate
Ah Bee’s customers, who were sad to see him go, urged him to find another stall. "But it’s not cheap to rent a coffeeshop stall now,” he pointed out. “I had applied for an NEA stall in the past but I couldn’t get it even after a few tries. The competition was so fierce that there could be 140 applicants bidding for the same stall.”
With the recent inflation, his customers had also questioned whether he could still sell his pancakes at a dollar a piece. “I sell my min jiang kueh for $1, people say, ‘How you earn?’ But I’m not out to earn money. I’m just happy when people are happy eating my kueh,” he said earnestly.
There were offers that came in for Ah Bee to impart his recipes. “My friend is interested to learn. Some people had asked me to teach them how to make min jiang kueh, they said they can give me an ang pow, but I’m getting old,” he said. As for what his plans are after closing shop, Ah Bee remarked breezily: “See how lah. See what plans the heavens have for me.”
Kueh Pulau Pinang is at Yi Jia Food House, #02-01 982 Buangkok Crescent, S530982. Tel: 8620-3754. Open daily except Tues, 6.30am–1pm.
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Photos: Alvin Teo
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