Penang restaurant at Novena now a dessert stall at Tekka run by 25-year-old and his mum

With Singapore's hawker culture officially added to the Unesco Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, AsiaOne takes a look at young hawkers who snub the corporate rat race to slave over stoves instead.

Kyle Lim appears out of place among the many more experienced-looking hawkers at Tekka Centre.

With his pierced ears and cap, the 25-year-old looks like a typical millennial helping out at his mother's stall, except this is actually his full-time job.

Said Kyle of reactions that he'd get from customers: "Their initial response would usually be 'wah so good boy help your parents' [sic], but after finding out that I'm there full-time, they think it's good that the younger generation is getting into the hawker scene."

It might seem rare for someone so young to consider being a hawker as his first full-time job, and some might say even rarer for one's parents to fully support it. So what gives?

The thing is, the food and beverage scene isn't something that's new to Kyle, the youngest of three children.

His parents used to run the Penang Road Cafe at Novena Ville for about two years. They were forced to close shop in 2013 after the area went en bloc. The place is currently still under redevelopment.

Unable to find a suitable location to resume the business, his father became a taxi driver to support the family. But the thought of returning to the food business wasn't far from the family's mind.

After Kyle graduated with a diploma in management studies and enlisted in NS, he harboured the thought of helping to further his parents' legacy. His mum was also eager to get into the business again, even if it were in the form of a hawker stall. The search for a space began in 2018, but got more serious once Kyle completed his national service.

After ORD-ing in 2019, Kyle worked a string of contract jobs — from being a call-centre employee to a restocker at a supermarket — all while waiting for a suitable location to open up.

"I didn't really want to get a full-time job as I thought it wouldn't be good if two or three months later I got a stall and I'd have to quit to help set it up," said Kyle.

He and his mum had zeroed in on Tekka Centre due to its "decent" location and relatively low rent. It took a while and one failed bid before they finally managed to get a stall there. Lim Cendol opened for business last October.

"The $1,500 rent is manageable, I would say," said Kyle, adding that the start-up cost was about $10,000.

"On a good day, we can sell around 100 to 120 bowls. Some days when it rains, I'd say it's around 50 to 70 bowls. Business was pretty slow at the start but it has picked up a little in February and March," Kyle candidly shared.

Their stall serves up a small selection of both hot and cold desserts. The items are pulut hitam, ice kacang and, of course, their signature chendol.

Kyle wakes up at 7am to make the green pandan jelly from scratch, while his mum would handle most of the prep work for the other desserts.

They'll then make their way to Tekka from their home in Bishan, in time to open the stall at 11am. After closing at 6pm and doing the cleanup, they'll be back home by about 8pm. After about an hour's rest, they're back to doing the necessary prep work for the next day.

The day ends at around 10pm to 11pm for the pair, "but that is not considering the days we have to cook the gula melaka, where we'd have to spend an additional one to two hours on it".

It's definitely a steep learning curve from when he was simply helping out at his parents' restaurant "as a cashier or waiter" when he was a teenager.

Surprisingly, the worst part of the job for Kyle is not the long hours nor the laborious washing of bowls and cutlery that he's in charge of.

"Busy days are good days and you don't think too much about the fatigue," said Kyle.

On the other hand, he gets dejected when crowds are thin and business is poor due to rain or other factors.

"The worst days are slow days. Usually, lunchtime is our peak hour, but like today it rained quite heavily, so I'd feel really affected for the day already."

Compared to his salary as a contract worker previously, Kyle shared that he is earning "a bit less now, as we just opened for less than five months".

"You know you're putting in the hours every day so definitely you'd want to see it pay off also. Right now I won't say we're earning a lot, so hopefully, it picks up."

He added: "Some days you seek the validation to spur you to keep going, but it is definitely fulfilling when you get positive feedback on your products."

Despite the hard work involved, Kyle sees the opportunity to be your own boss as a plus point to being a hawker.

"If you work in a firm and you have to do OT, you're still working for the company. But here if you work really hard, you can see the fruits of your labour, so it can be very satisfying," he reasoned.

How about Penang char kway teow?

The stall's current menu is almost too concise if you ask us, with just three permanent items offered. Each bowl of ice kacang and chendol is priced at $2.30, while the pulut hitam goes for $2. Occasionally, their home-made agar-agar is added on to provide more variety. 

However, Kyle tells us that expanding their selection is in the works. Next on the menu could be the common but well-loved cheng tng dessert, as "quite a lot of people have been asking for it".

From what we've read online, Kyle's mum, who's from Penang, also happens to fry a mean plate of char kway teow. Their former restaurant's prawn mee soup and lor bak, also made by mum, had also received positive reviews.

This begs the question: will former customers nostalgic for their favourite Penang dishes ever get to savour them again?

Kyle shared that they had thought of selling Penang char kway teow when they were hunting for a stall, "but when we got the stall at Tekka and I looked around, there was no dessert shop, so I thought okay lah, let's do chendol first".

"If it works out, then maybe we can expand to sell Penang prawn noodles and char kway teow."

As for whether he has found his calling in life, Kyle knows it's way too early to tell.

"To be frank, I did not give myself a timeline to see if this will work out. It was more of taking a step at a time and seeing if it does."

Kyle shared that his dad, who suffered a heart attack last year and is taking a break from work, has reservations about his younger son's chosen career path. His advice to him was to still pursue a degree as backup.

But Kyle intends to wait it out.

"At the end of the day, you've got bills to pay and a life to live. So as long as it works out then I'll be in it for the long run."

Chendol, siew dai

The bowl of Lim's signature chendol was simple and clean-tasting. A generous scoop of pandan jelly was laid atop a bed of shaven ice, topped with kidney beans, fragrant gula melaka and coconut milk. 

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The jelly was soft and smooth, without any powdery aftertaste. The huge kidney beans had a good texture and just the right amount of bite to it. Despite not being a fan of beans in general, I finished all of them in my bowl.

While many desserts, chendol especially, can be cloyingly sweet, the ones here are refreshingly siew dai, which makes it less heavy on the palate. One could down a bowl easily and not have to share, especially on a hot day.

It was a deliberate decision to tone down the sweetness of the desserts, said Kyle, based on the realisation that "quite a number of people these days have a preference for 'less sweet'. For customers with a sweet tooth, it's easier to adjust it to be sweeter as well rather than for it to be too sweet," he added.

Where: Lim Cendol, #01-315, Tekka Centre, 665 Buffalo Road, Singapore 210665
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm, closed on Sunday

candicecai@asiaone.com