‘Sad’ Kueh Uncle With Unsold Food At Maxwell Hawker Centre Is Actually Unbothered & Thriving
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Singapore, many business owners were affected by the sudden steep drop in business as customers stayed home. Elderly hawkers who are tech-illiterate were hit hard, as they could not jump on food delivery platforms to increase their sales.
One such hawker was the 71-year-old owner of Ri Xin Snack Delights at Maxwell Food Centre, who sells traditional ang ku kueh, huat kueh and the increasingly hard-to-find steamed wah kueh that he makes himself. Known simply as “Uncle”, he went viral online in 2021 after netizen Ng Chun Kiat posted a photo of the elderly man on Facebook group Can Eat! Hawker Food.
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“No Grab, no Deliveroo, no nothing”
In the photo, the hawker was depicted sitting at his quiet stall with piles of unsold kuehs, looking very dejected. Chun Kiat wrote: “Saw uncle seated alone at his stall. Quite a number of his kuehs and snacks are still not sold by evening time.”
Located in the CBD, Maxwell Food Centre typically only sees crowds from the nearby offices at lunchtime. By evening, most of the stalls are closed as diners have gone home for the day, which makes Ri Xin’s sparse stall an especially forlorn sight in the empty hawker centre.
The uncle does not own a mobile phone. “No Grab, no Deliveroo, no nothing. Not sure how long can his stall sustain if Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) is extended. If you like Ang Ku Kueh and Huat Kueh, do buy a piece or two from him,” said Chun Kiat in his post.
Kueh business has been around for over 70 years
According to Facebook user Chin Joon Lai, who commented on Chun Kiat’s 2021 post, the hawker’s kueh stall has been around for seven decades. “This uncle has been carrying on [his] family business for 70 years. I remember his father was selling ang ku kueh from door to door from his house at Amoy Street. The traditional flavours remain as it is today. Prices [are] reasonably cheap,” he said.
Up till around 2021, Ri Xin’s ang ku kuehs cost 60 cents each, but the uncle has since increased prices to $1 (not unreasonable, as the cost price of ingredients have skyrocketed since the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war).We reckon that his ang ku kueh is one of the best — if not the best — in Singapore. Each piece is plump and squishy, with skillfully-rolled thin, chewy skin wrapped around a very generous amount of filling. Uncle offers his ang ku kuehs with either grated peanuts or a sweet/salty mung bean filling.
Uncle is actually unbothered and thriving
What some people may not know is that the uncle only opens for business at 4pm daily, and closes at 9pm. Which would explain why, in the evening, he was still sitting there waiting for customers with a huge pile of kuehs.
On a random day, we stopped by the stall at around 4.30pm hoping to buy ang ku kueh, but they were still being steamed. “Come back at 5pm,” the uncle urged us. Out of curiosity, we asked him why he kept to his unusual (for the hawker centre) operating hours, considering that his fellow Maxwell hawkers typically stay open during the day to catch the office crowd.The camera-shy uncle — who despite his melancholic air is actually very friendly and gentle-mannered — responded by asking us: “Who eats ang ku kueh for lunch? Ang ku kueh is not lunch food. People want a proper meal.”
But they could tapow your kuehs for teatime later, we offered. The uncle gently laughed and said: “They can come down to tapow later.” Spoken like a true artisan?
As for his customer pool, the uncle said: “There are some regulars who come here to buy my ang ku kueh at night. There are also people who are drinking [at the nearby beer stalls that open late] and they buy my kuehs too.”
He conceded that business is slower on some days than others, and he stays open just a bit later, till around 10pm, to try and sell all his wares. “The hawker centre is mostly empty and dark by then, but no, it’s not scary lah. I’m used to it,” he chuckled. “In life, you don’t have to rush, rush, rush and focus on making money all the time. Sometimes, all you need is just to do your best.”
But of course, don't wait if you want to enjoy traditional, tasty hawker food — it's best to patronise these well-loved longtime hawker stalls before the elderly hawkers retire.
Ri Xin Snack Delights is at #01-55, Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur St, S069184. Open daily 4pm-9pm.
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