Yu Zhongrong and Lin Cailuan, both 75, will serve their last bowls of pig’s trotter jelly and Teochew-style kueh chap at Berseh Food Centre on 31 October, ending a hawker business they have run for 45 years and that starts each day at 3 a.m.
The couple told Lianhe Zaobao, in reporting carried by local outlets on 3 October, that the physical grind — washing ingredients, slow-braising pork, discarding unsold tofu and eggs nightly — no longer matches their stamina. A single serving of kueh chap costs S$4; margins are thin on labour-intensive braised dishes that younger cooks avoid.
A stall that moved with the city
Yu and Lin took over the business in 1987 and relocated to their current #02-37 unit at Berseh Food Centre in 1998. The menu pairs pig’s trotter jelly with shark meat dishes that have grown harder to source and prepare at scale. Lin said few hawkers still make pig’s foot jelly because preparation is lengthy and yields are modest.
Regulars face a familiar Singapore pattern: an ageing vendor cohort without successors, even as food centres undergo upgrading and rental policies shift. The National Environment Agency’s October cleaning calendar closed several centres for washing in the first week of the month, but Berseh remained open — giving customers a final window before the month-end shutdown.
What disappears with the shutter
Closure removes another low-price lunch option in Jalan Besar for office workers and seniors who eat at the counter. The couple expressed concern for loyal customers who return weekly. There is no announced successor taking over the recipes; the stall name will likely vanish from the directory board when keys are returned.
For food reporting, the story is not nostalgia alone — it is the economics of S$4 bowls against rising utilities and ingredient costs, and the hours required before the first customer arrives at 10 a.m. Yu and Lin’s decision is a dated exit, not a viral farewell tour, but the queue in the final week will show how much appetite remains for handmade braised hawker food in a heartland centre.
Rent and renewal pressures across centres
NEA’s October cleaning closures at other food centres — including Old Airport Road and Tampines Round Market in the first week of the month — temporarily shifted lunch crowds, but Berseh’s vendors operate on their own lease cycles. Hawkers who spoke to local media this year have cited electricity tariffs and ingredient inflation even when footfall recovered post-pandemic. A S$4 bowl leaves little margin to hire relief cooks, which is why ageing owners often choose retirement over succession.
Food bloggers who covered Yu and Lin’s stall note long queues at peak lunch, suggesting demand still exists. Without a younger family member willing to inherit 3 a.m. prep shifts, demand cannot keep the business alive. Workforce Agency grants exist for hawker succession, but uptake is uneven among traditional braised-meat cooks whose skills take years to learn.
Customers planning a farewell visit should note the stall’s published hours and expect sold-out items by early afternoon. After 31 October, the couple told reporters they have not decided on retirement plans beyond closing the business — another quiet exit in a city that celebrates hawker culture in campaigns while losing masters of labour-intensive dishes.
Photographers and heritage bloggers have documented the stall’s braising pots on social media, drawing weekend crowds that may extend operating hours in the final week. Yu told reporters the couple will thank regulars in person rather than hosting a formal event — a modest send-off typical of hawkers who treat their counter as a workplace, not a brand. NEA’s hawker succession programme remains available to other vendors in Berseh who want to recruit apprentices before their own retirement deadlines arrive.
Jalan Besar food centre managers said no immediate plan exists to reassign the unit; vacant stalls typically go through NEA balloting for new entrants. Whether another braised-meat cook takes over depends on who wins the queue — not on preserving Yu and Lin recipes.