Nam Seng Wanton Noodles’ Well-Loved ‘Ah Po’ Hawker Passes Away At 94
The feisty Leong Yuet Meng started her stall in 1958, and helped to wrap her famous wontons and serve customers even well into her 90s.
Famed hawker stall Nam Seng Wanton Noodle’s founder, Leong Yuet Meng, has passed away. She was 94.
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An obituary post shared today (Feb 7) by hawker Melvin Chew in his Facebook group Hawkers United, presumably from Mdm Leong’s family, stated: “Our beloved mother and grandma, Madam Leong Yuet Meng has left us. Wake: 7th - 8th Feb, 2024. Block 228A Toa Payoh Lorong 8. S(311228). Funeral Procession on: 9th Feb, 2024.”
Started stall in 1958
Mdm Leong, whom her regulars affectionately called “ah po”, started her stall at a defunct hawker centre beside the National Library at Stamford Road, where she served tasty old-school char siew wonton mee and soy sauce chicken noodles.
She later shifted her operations to Far East Square, but moved again in 2022 to a franchised stall at a coffeeshop called Che Kitchen near her home in Toa Payoh. She explained that the move was due to dwindling footfall in the CBD during the pandemic.
Over the years, Mdm Leong had gradually left the running of her stall to hired staff. But even at her advanced age, Mdm Leong was still a familiar sight at the eatery, where she served customers and occasionally wrapped wontons with deft hands.
However, a check by 8days.sg with Che Kitchen revealed that the wonton mee stall had quietly closed “over a year ago”, and it is unknown if Mdm Leong’s three sons intend to restart their mother’s hawker biz in the future.
Photos: Nam Seng Wanton Noodles/ BestFoody
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