Filial duty
At Jin Ji Braised Duck and Kway Chap stall in Smith Street Food Centre, 37-year-old Melvin Chew is helming the hawker stall that his parents founded when he was just five.
After his father passed away last year, Chew left his job as a garage technician to run the business full time. He says he wakes up at 5 a.m. to reach his stall by 7 a.m. and doesn't leave until about 8 p.m.
Apart from selling traditional teochew-style kway chap (flat rice noodles in meat broth served with a selection of pig offal, braised duck and condiments), Chew has introduced a bento set to reach out to a younger generation of eaters.
The set bundles the stall's traditional offerings with newly introduced soft-centered eggs and a choice of yam rice bowl or kway chap.
"We've more than a 30-year history selling kway chap," says Chew. "Even though being a hawker is hard work -- just think of all the pig intestines and stomachs I have to wash daily -- and involves long hours, I want my parents' legacy to live on."