Hawker Family Sells Delish Economic Bee Hoon & Tong Shui Till Midnight, Nothing Over $2

Perpetual queues

Despite being tucked away in a corner, the latter is immensely popular. As soon as it opens at 6pm, queues start forming at the stall, all the way till it closes at 12.30am.

Mei Wei Xiao Chi’s (which means ‘delicious snacks’ in Chinese) signboard advertises a rather disparate selection of dishes. Other than economic bee hoon and noodles with an array of add-on sides, there is also tong shui like bubur pulut hitam, green bean and red bean soups.

Family-run stall 

“It’s not that our business is good. It’s just that we charge low prices lah,” says stall owner Maggie Chan modestly.

She started her business 18 years ago, and now runs the stall with her husband Albert Yiap, 58, and two of her three sons (the youngest is serving NS): David Yiap, 24, and Andy Yiap, 22.

The cheerful, affable family reminds us of characters in a heartwarming K-drama; Albert preps the ingredients, Maggie cooks, and their kids take orders and serve food to customers.

“It’s hard to find manpower. I’m glad that my sons are willing to work here. They can take hardship, so next time my customers won’t have to worry about not being able to eat my food,” chirps the jovial Albert.

He taught his sons how to cook the menu items at Mei Wei Xiao Chi. “But my wife said, let them ‘suffer’ and serve customers for two years first. Some customers are not easy to deal with. My kids need to know what’s going on at the front of our stall before they can work at the back,” he guffaws.

On training second-gen hawkers 

According to Albert, his sons are “happy” to be second-gen hawkers too. He explains: “They have had other jobs before. We gave them a choice. They can work outside or work with their parents. We pay them a salary that they think is enough, so they stay. But obviously we can work well together. Otherwise my sons will just go work for other people (laughs).”

Having your dad as your boss is a different ballgame though, as Albert shares, “I always scold my sons. Customers ask me why I scold them so much. I told them, they are my children. I have to train them well. If not, our business will suffer in the future.”

But he concedes: “We teach our children, then we have to let go and let them do things their way. They have already worked their way up from the bottom by washing dishes.”

He reckons that his strict training is necessary for his children to build a strong foundation. “So when we are not around next time, our kids can make our business even better. They can serve customers better and let them continue to enjoy good food,” he says.

Open from 6pm to 12.30am 

What’s unusual about Tanglin Halt Food Centre is that this heartland hawker centre has a few stalls operating till very late at night catering to the supper crowd.

“We have always operated at night ’cos very few people sell economic bee hoon at these hours. We won’t switch to operating in the day, in case our regulars come looking for us at night,” Maggie says.

She used to open her stall from 7pm to 2am, but has since adjusted her operating hours. “There are fewer customers now,” she notes.

Full meal for $2

The bustling stall looks enticing, with a display counter loaded with stacks of freshly-fried chicken wings, otah, fish cake, ngoh hiang, spring rolls and other tasty morsels to go with bee hoon and noodles.

A hearty portion of Fried Bee Hoon or Fried Mee is priced at only $1.30 (you can get a combination of both for $1.50). Most, if not all, customers add sides ranging from 40 cents for a fishball to $2 for a big plate of stir-fried cabbage.

If you’re craving for something lighter, there is Cantonese-style Peanut Porridge ($1.40) or hot comforting bowls of tong shui, also priced at $1.40.

We can’t help but ask Albert how he makes a living charging JB food prices in Singapore. He laughs. “I don’t own a car or condo! We earn less, but we are happy. And customers are happy eating our food. That’s the most important thing,” he avers.

He candidly shares that he does raise his prices by around 10 cents “every year” to keep up with inflation, with another 10-cent increase next January.

“But people can still enjoy our food at reasonable prices. There are many old folks living around here,” Albert points out.

“I believe in earning what I can” 

He runs his business based on the principle of not being greedy or tempting fate. “I believe in just earning what I can and selling the fixed portions I make every day without wastage,” he muses. “Life is funny — if I cook more in anticipation of more customers, there will always be something that crops up, like rainy weather, that will affect demand. And I have to ‘treat’ the rubbish bin to the excess later!”

When Tanglin Halt Food Centre undergoes its slated revamp in the future, Albert reckons he will move his stall to the new hawker centre next door that is being built over the old Commonwealth Drive Food Centre site. “Hopefully they will retain the nice arched ceilings. It’s very good for ventilation when us hawkers are cooking with high heat,” says Albert.

Meanwhile, he is grateful for the little things that keep his family-run stall going. “Thankfully we still have a carpark next to this hawker centre, so at least we get some customers at night. And I must thank NEA, because they waived a few months’ rent for us during the [Covid-19] Circuit Breaker when our business was affected,” he shares.

Maggie pipes up: “We don’t aim to make a lot of money. We just do what we can, until we can’t.”

Fried Bee Hoon & Mee, $1.50

Don’t be fooled by its rather plain, simple appearance. Though it’s jazzed up with just a light sprinkling of cabbage, carrot and taugeh, the economic bee hoon and mee here is very good. The noodles are flavourful and not too greasy, with a garlicky fragrance.

Albert laboriously chops garlic by hand for his dishes. “The store-bought chopped garlic just doesn’t taste right,” he declares.

Chicken Wing, $1.50 (8 Days Pick!)

The fried mid-joint chicken wings here are lip-smackingly good too, with crackly thin, umami skin and succulent meat. Order it to zhng your plate of bee hoon.

Cabbage, $2

An a la carte portion of cabbage is $2, the priciest pick at this stall. But we observe many customers scurrying off with a big helping of it. Like a good number of dishes here, the cabbage is deceptively basic-looking, but madly good once you start eating. There’s also the option of adding a smaller portion to your bee hoon/mee as a ‘combo’ for $2.

Peanut Porridge, $1.40 (8 Days Pick!)

A bowl of Cantonese jook for under $1.50? Almost unheard of these days. Even at this price, our porridge is served with a heap of dried anchovies and shallots.

Like the bee hoon and cabbage, it looks bland at first sight. But the smooth, silky porridge is packed with the complex notes of a good home-cooked Cantonese congee. To whip up her porridge, Maggie makes a stock by boiling pricey ingredients like dried oysters, cuttlefish and mussels.

We tapow-ed some porridge home and heated it up for breakfast the next day. Still fab. We also added an egg from our own stash for extra oomph.

Bubur Hitam, $1.40 (8 Days Pick!)

The bubur pulut hitam here has a wonderfully homely, nostalgic taste. It’s more watery than the goopy bowls we typically get, but we enjoy munching on the moreish, savoury-sweet black glutinous rice. The grains are cooked a little softer than usual, but still retain their signature crunch.

The green bean soup and red bean soup are worth ordering too. The green bean soup is loaded with little chunks of sweet potatoes and makes for a cooling treat during this ongoing hot spell, while the red bean soup is boiled with aromatic mandarin orange peels for extra flavour. Very nice.

Mei Wei Xiao Chi is at Stall #2 Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre, 48A Tanglin Halt Rd, S148813. Open daily except Wed & Sun, 6pm-12.30am.

Photos: Yip Jieying

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