Legendary Ngoh Hiang stall China Street Fritters in Maxwell to permanently close from 3 Jul 2023
This hawker stall which has been operating for over 80 years has a large fanbase for its handmade Hokkien-style Ngoh Hiang
The hawker stall which has been operating for over 80 years has a large fanbase for its handmade Hokkien-style Ngoh Hiang. Other fan favourites include their Liver Roll (S$0.90) and Egg Slice (S$0.80). As with so many other traditional hawker stalls, the hawkers are required to stand for extended periods of time. This has inevitably taken a heavy toll on their health.
This is not the first time that the brand has considered closing permanently. In Mar 2022, they attempted to sell their business recipes for S$1 million dollars but there were no takers. They continued the business, but with shorter working hours. Halving the price to S$500,000, the owners are still looking for buyers interested in the recipe. Previous tentative handover arrangements have fallen through due to conflicting interests between the parties involved.
Famed Maxwell Ngoh Hiang Stall China Street Fritters To Close After 81 Years
The owner tells 8days.sg that a hawker from China will be taking over his stall unit at Maxwell Food Centre
For the past few years, the fate of popular Maxwell Food Centre hawker stall China Street Fritters has been very uncertain. It started with the Ng family, who runs the business together, asking for S$1 million for their recipes. The longtime stall is famous for its handmade Hokkien ngoh hiang, liver rolls, sausages and egg rolls.
The reason for selling their recipes was that hawker Ng Kok Hua, 66, his wife and his three siblings had all wanted to retire to nurse their ailing health. But there were no takers for their $1mil offer, and they announced that they were closing their stall in March 2022.
Just a month later, the family suddenly reversed their decision and continued operating, albeit with shorter hours. Speaking to 8days.sg, Kok Hua revealed that he had changed his mind because of his diehard customers. “I got scolded,” he laughed. “One customer said, ‘How can you close just like that? We have been patronising your stall for four generations!’
With no successors, famed hawker stall China Street Fritters to shutter after 81 years
The curtain falls on another legendary eatery in Singapore. China Street Fritters at Maxwell Food Centre is set to end its operations after 81 years — for real this time.
Brothers Ng Kok Hua, 66, and Ng Kok Rong, 67, were looking to hang up their aprons by March last year and sell their brand and recipe for $1 million, but deals fell through. The asking price was eventually reduced to $500,000. Since last year, China Street Fritters has also shifted to a four-day work week and shorter hours because of the owners' age and deteriorating health.
It was previously reported by Lianhe Zaobao that Kok Hua suffers from varicose veins, which makes standing up for long gruelling hours difficult for the second-generation stall owner. "I underwent an operation for the condition seven years ago and while it is not a serious problem now, I have been sleeping less than six hours a day for many years and I'm exhausted," he shared last March.
Ngoh Hiang 香脆五香 (Crispy Meat Roll)
I have been waiting for this recipe for 3 years and it’s definitely worth the wait! Crispiness from the bean skin, juiciness from the pork belly, crunchiness from the prawns and sweetness from the water chestnuts. these Ngoh Hiang are packed with bursting flavours.
Tell me which stall/restaurant is selling the the best Ngoh Hiang.. always not the best to me cause the best I had is the one made by my late Daddy! Sadly, my dad and I were like water and fire in kitchen and we can never be in the kitchen together. So I never get to know how he made it. The only one who inherited the recipe was my helper who helped my Dad in the preparation but when I asked her for the recipe.. she only remembered how to wrap it *cry*
Ever since my dad left me 4 years ago, I never had any ngoh hiang that passed my picky taste bud. Until Now!
Ngoh Hiang Lor Bak 五香
Ngoh Hiang is a delicious seasoned meat roll that is also filled with crunchy vegetables like jicama and carrots. Its beancurd skin is deep-fried for the extra crispiness. This recipe explores tips to retain its juciness even after frying and to prevent oil splatters.
Originating from eastern China, it is no surprise that this dish is popular among the Chinese descendants especially among the Hokkien and Teochew community. Ngoh Hiang or Lor Bak is a five spice pork roll, a favourite fried food dish in Southeast Asia especially Singapore and Malaysia. Sometimes served as an appetizer, Ngoh Hiang is also popular in the Philippines, Indonesia and also Thailand. This dish is very famous for its crispy skin and flavourful filling. It is made with a variety of ingredients such as meat, crunchy vegetables like carrots and a mixture of sauces. Every bite is delectable especially when dipped in the accompanying sweet or spicy sauces. In this recipe, make the best crispy delicious Ngoh Hiang that even your grandma will definitely approve!
Salted bean curd skin is most commonly used to make these five spice meat rolls. It is soft and pliable making it easy to roll and shape. However, if you are living in US or Europe, bean curd sheets which are soft may be used and there is no need to soak before using. The skin of the meat roll uses a special salted bean curd skin/sheet which has a salt coating. Using a wet kitchen towel, wipe the salt off the bean curd skins after cutting them into smaller sizes to be used as wrappers. Ngoh hiang will become too salty if there is too much salt on it.
I tried learning my grandma's well-loved ngoh hiang recipe — and it was easier than I thought
Since I was little, my extended family has always visited my grandma for dinners during the weekends. ut my grandma, being 88 this year, is no longer in tip-top condition to cook up a storm weekly.
During the circuit breaker period, she spent even less time cooking since we couldn't visit her for meals. In order to learn her well-loved ngoh hiang and to spend more time with my grandma, I decided to learn the ways from her.
Famous Tiong Bahru Five Spice Prawn Fritter Hawker Relocates Stall, Still Operates For Only 2 Hours A Day
The popular Zion Riverside stall moved out of the food centre in October this year as hawker’s landlord wanted the unit back
Back in October, popular ngoh hiang stall Tiong Bahru Five Spice Prawn Fritter & Fried Bee Hoon unexpectedly announced that it was closing. It had been operating at Zion Riverside Food Centre for a few years, sharing a unit with a barbeque seafood and zi char joint.
Its stallowner Kwok Lin Shen, 77, told 8days.sg that he had to move out as his landlord wanted the unit back. “I only want to rent the stall for half a day, from 12pm to 3pm. The [short] hours are okay for me because I have a lot of customers. But [my landlord] wanted to rent it out to someone else who could take over for the whole day,” he said.
After his stall’s closure, Lin Shen had planned to reopen elsewhere or, failing that, simply retire. Fortunately for his regular customers, he has found another stall at Jalan Kukoh Food Centre (also known as Kukoh 21 Food Centre) and has been operating there since Nov 1. “My regular customers can find this place easily, and it’s not hard for them to find parking here,” chortles Lin Shen.
Xin Sheng Ngoh Hiang Prawn Cracker’s 3rd-Gen Hawker Worked 20 Hours A Day To Learn How To Run Family’s Popular Stall
A former national tennis player, Matthew Liu left his job in a bank to become the third-gen owner of Xin Sheng Ngoh Hiong Prawn Cracker. “Hawkers generally don’t advise their children to enter the line. But this is heritage — if no one takes over that’s the end,” said the young lad, who now makes great ‘wu xiang’.
While getting dinner on a random weekday evening, we walked past the popular Xin Sheng Ngoh Hiong Prawn Cracker at Taman Jurong Food Centre. The tantalising wu xiang spread caught our attention, and we paused for a moment to consider our options.
Noticing our hesitation, the hawker in the stall gave us an encouraging nod. It was the subtle push we needed to try this stall. We grabbed a pair of tongs and started piling our plate. As with most ngoh hiang-and-prawn cracker stalls in Singapore (the two are typically offered together), you can choose your own items and have ’em cut into bite-sized pieces.
12 Ngoh Hiangs From Home-Based Businesses To Try This Chinese New Year
Among all the typically extravagant Lunar New Year dishes, the humble ngoh hiang is one of our favourites. Believed to have originated in Fujian, China, these crispy rolls were an ingenious way of making the most of leftovers — home cooks would mix excess meat and vegetables with five-spice powder and wrap the fillings in beancurd skin before steaming and deep-frying to extend the shelf life of these yummy rolls.
We aren’t exactly sure why there’s been a surge in home-based businesses selling ngoh hiang since the pandemic (we counted at least two dozen of them when doing research for this article). Most of the owners on our list launched their businesses around last July, while Mum’s Ngoh Hiang was one of the earliest to start operating in May.
Several owners told us that their customers disliked the ‘gluey’ and ‘pasty’ texture of mass-produced ngoh hiang and were happy to support the homemade versions instead. The deceptively simple rolls require sophisticated culinary technique with contrasting textures and seasoning to create an addictive snack that is much more than the sum of its parts. It’s painstaking work.
6 best ngoh hiang in S’pore that’ll make you forget about the calories altogether
- China Street Fritters - China Street Fritters offers Hokkien-style ngoh hiang with four classic items – sausage, meat rolls, liver rolls and egg slices which were well-executed and not overtly oily.
- Lao Zhong Zhong Fine Spice Stall - Wake up to a large variety of ngoh hiang ingredients that are offered at Lao Zhong Zhong Five Spice Stall which will certainly ignite your taste buds for the day!
- Hup Kee Ngoh Hiang - Hup Kee Ngoh Hiang is one of the last few stalls in Singapore that specialises in perfecting their home-made Hokkien styled Ngoh Hiang.
- 93 Wu Xiang Xia Bin - Located in the heartlands, the ngoh hiang at 93 Wu Xiang Xia Bin is prepared in the Teochew style that are lovingly hand made by the stall owners every day.
- Bukit Merah Central Wu Xiang Guan Chang - Many people patronise them for their tasty meat and liver rolls as well as their moist tau kwas with melt-in-your-mouth textures that would be hard to resist.
- Xin Sheng Gor Hiong Prawn Crackers 新生五香虾饼 - If you are a big fan of deep-fried prawn fritters, this hidden gem at Boon Lay would pique your interest along with their wholesome range of ngoh hiang ingredients.
