Weng Hong himself runs the famous Yong Huat stall, which has been at the same spot since his father opened it in 1949. It’s well-loved by Katong and Joo Chiat residents for its Hokkien mee, fried mee sua, fried mee tai mak and char kway teow, which Weng Hong’s equally friendly wife, Chia Siew Heok, 63, cooks. The cramped but charmingly gritty stall is located within mod kopitiam Alibabar The Hawker Bar (which is opposite 112 Katong mall). According to Weng Hong, Alibabar used to be an old-timey coffeeshop called Hock Ann. “See? It used to look like this,” chirps the uncle as he slaps a dog-eared laminated printout of Hock Ann on our table (we suspect he had given the same history lesson to many more customers).

Plastered on his shopfront are photos of stars who have visited his stall. Naturally, there are several of Xiang Yun and Edmund Chen with kids Chen Yixin and Yixi in tow, plus Bryan Wong, Mark Lee and Zhu Houren. “Yvonne Lim came by too,” offers Weng Hong, adding that Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, and a line of East Coast GRC MPs have also chowed down on noodles at his stall through the decades. He proactively points out a black-and-white photo of himself (pictured) to us: “I was 20 in this photo! So long ago hor?”

But come this August 31, the elderly hawkers are hanging up their wok for good. Weng Hong has been working as a hawker since he was 16, taking over his dad after the senior Mr Pang fell ill. His wife started cooking alongside him some 30 years ago so they could churn out orders faster. “I’ve been doing this for 50 years now,” he emphasised. “My two children, and even my mother, who’s 86, told me to retire.”

The decision didn’t come easy for him; he had been mulling over it since last year. Six months ago, he made up his mind after suffering a spate of health woes. “My leg started aching. It has been painful for two, three months now. My wife has leg pain too, so she can’t man the stall by herself. Occupational hazard for us lah. And my eye is all foggy from a cataract. I will be going for eye surgery after I close my stall. I don’t even dare to drive [my car] now. My wife is doing the driving,” he shares. While he still serves customers’ orders to their table, we observe the uncle shuffling stiffly and pressing up uncomfortably against a counter to peel prawns.

Other than recuperating for a few months after his upcoming surgery, the grandfather-of-four has no fancy plans after his retirement. “Never plan anything lah, just stay at home and take care of my grandkids lor!” he booms. He’s extremely proud of his son Ji Yao and daughter Charmaine, who are 38 and 37 respectively. He offers, “Both of them are university graduates. My daughter has a master’s degree.” His kids are currently both working as engineers “at ABS and PSA”. Their career success convinced Weng Hong that he and his wife could retire with ease. “Our children give us allowances every month, and they also buy insurance for us. ” he says.

When we ask Weng Hong if his kids had considered taking over his business, he shakes his head vehemently. “Nahhh. They don’t want to learn [the ropes]. They don’t have to work on weekends now, but being a hawker, there’s no day and no night.” He muses, “Of course it’s a pity [that there’s no successor for Yong Huat]. But I will write down my recipes for my grandchildren. They can go and cook next time lor! (Guffaws)”

The menu

Yong Huat’s fans all have their personal favourite orders at the stall, but its (arguably) most famous dish is Fried Mee Suah. Each plate of mee sua is robustly tossed with thick slices of pork belly, minced pork, fish cake and fat prawns. We hoover the wok-kissed soft mee sua with curls of crispy, ultra shiok pork lard and heady house-made sambal belachan. Truly good stuff.

Siew Heok’s formidable wok also serves up wok hei-heavy char kway teow, which isn’t stingy on blood cockles like other disappointing CKT stalls we’ve patronised. The silky kway teow is redolent with dark soy sauce and bits of egg, prawns, veggies and more pork lard than our arteries should handle. But this char kway teow is worth it.

Those who adore Yong Huat’s mee sua and char kway teow have opined that its Hokkien mee pales in comparison, but it’s still very tasty. Uncle and auntie are generous with ingredients, and the mee + vermicelli mix is fried on the drier side with squid, prawn, pork belly and lard. The umami prawn flavour lingers on our palate, and for a moment we actually feel sad that we will soon not get to eat this anymore.

Since his regulars found out that the husband-and-wife hawkers were retiring, they have been flocking to the stall. At lunchtime during our weekday visit, every table was filled with customers who were all scarfing down Yong Huat’s dishes. “Everyone came back ah,” chuckles the uncle, who says that his business “dipped by 30%” during circuit breaker due to the no dine-in rule. “But things have been improving. So my retirement has nothing to do with the coronavirus. I was already thinking about it for some time,” he avers.

While there are still two months to go before Yong Huat’s permanent closure, the auntie server at Alibabar’s kopi stall is already feeling emotional. She tells us she had come to know the couple well since she started working here eight years ago. “I can’t bear to see them go,” she suddenly blurts, misty-eyed. Us too, auntie, us too.

125/127 East Coast Rd, Alibabar The Hawker Bar, S428810. Tel: 9630-1370. Open daily 9am-6pm. 

PHOTOS: KELVIN CHIA