His Cantonese porridge is very good, with wallet-friendly prices to boot, starting at S$3.30 for egg/century egg porridge, S$3.50 for a bowl of handmade meatball porridge to S$6.50 for seafood porridge with fresh prawns, batang fish slices and cuttlefish. Customers can also top up for extra ingredients like sliced fish (S$2.80), prawns (S$2.80) and minced century egg (S$0.60).
“Good meh? Okay only lah. Hotel restaurant porridge nicer,” beamed Ngoh modestly, typical Asian dad-style, though he looks pleased when we compliment his food. To keep his prices affordable, he came up with his own versions of congee recipes, using ingredients like scallop brine for the congee stock instead of whole dried scallops, which are a lot pricier.
Ngoh is now teaching his stepdaughter Lim Hwee Yi, an only child, the ropes to helm his business, while he and Ivy Lim plan for their retirement. Lim noted: “I see my parents getting older. One day I looked at them and felt like, eh, how come they have so many wrinkles and white hair? I want them to relax and have an easier life.”
She had originally wanted to work at her parents’ hawker stall right after graduating from polytechnic, but was dissuaded by her mother. “My mum said I should take five years to pursue my other goals. After poly, at 21, I haven’t seen the world. After that, if [hawking] is still the path I want to take, I can do it,” she recalled.
The stability of a government job ended up being a comfort zone for her. “I’m very happy with the five years I have spent in the police force. It was a dilemma to leave for sure. I loved my job. My colleagues and supervisors were great and everything was going very well. Wun wun jiak bee hoon,” she joked, referring to a playful Hokkien phrase to describe unshakeable stability.
