For most of his life, Kid Chua wasn’t a fan of Hokkien mee, and at hawker centres, he usually gravitated toward other dishes.
Now, the 41-year-old runs a stall at East Coast Lagoon Food Village selling it.
“Back then, I thought Hokkien mee was just another dish,” he told AsiaOne when we paid his stall a visit on May 11.
Kid opened his stall, Ah Yu Fried Prawn Noodle Hokkien Mee, in November last year. The name was inspired by his Chinese name, Zhen Yu.
Prior to becoming a hawker, Kid joined the banking industry in 2015 as a relationship manager before leaving in 2019 to work as a mortgage broker.
However, he found little satisfaction in the role and left after a year.
“I realised that it wasn’t very fulfilling and I thought that maybe it’s time that I sought a change in career,” he said.
Kid had always wanted to start his own business, and the pandemic, along with strong government support for local businesses, gave him the push to do it.
Despite having no F&B background, he knew that he wanted to do something coffee-related.
“I always had a passion for learning how to make coffee and thought it was quite cool to do things like latte art,” he shared.
In 2021, he opened Starbrew by Laughing Cafe at 122 Bedok North Street 2 and bought an Illy coffee machine.
After receiving a two-hour tutorial from one of Illy’s in-house baristas, Kid spent the next two months experimenting with the machine and turned to platforms like Pinterest for recipes and tips.
“I even printed out a chart from Pinterest to refer to. It was quite fun,” he said with a laugh.
After perfecting his craft, he officially opened the business four months after getting the keys.
Transitioning from banking and brokering to F&B was quite a big change for Kid and he initially struggled to get used to it.
“Physically, it was more taxing. I had to stand for many hours, and the working hours were also very long,” he shared, adding that the amount of cleaning and washing of dishes he had to do was exhausting.
But over the three years running Starbrew by Laughing Cafe alone, Kid got used to it.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, business was good and Kid even had several regulars.
He slowly expanded his menu to include food, and a few months into the business, he also got an alcohol license, turning the cafe into a bistro.
However, when borders opened and travel resumed, footfall began to drop and the business started losing money.
One day, a customer-turned-friend, who owns a hawker stall selling Hokkien mee, advised him to shutter the bistro.
“He said that since business was not doing very well, I should cut my losses, close my business, and help him out at his stall,” Kid recounted.
After some consideration, Kid closed Starbrew by Laughing Cafe in December 2023 to become a hawker.
Learning to cook Hokkien mee
Kid’s friend was the one who changed his perception of Hokkien mee.
Back when he was still running the bistro, his friend would occasionally bring over packets of Hokkien mee, and the pair would enjoy them over drinks.
“That was the first time I had Hokkien mee that was so good. The wok hei and umami were perfectly balanced, and I was never a fan of Hokkien mee,” recounted Kid.
“I was very impressed. I wouldn’t say I worship him, but I idolised him for being able to produce such good Hokkien mee.”
Kid added that if not for his friend, he probably would not have become a hawker.
“My friend’s Hokkien mee made me feel like this was a dish I wanted to explore more, and one that could sell well,” he said.
Kid started working at his friend’s stall in January 2024, but he didn’t get to cook Hokkien mee immediately.
For the first few weeks, he took customers’ orders, as well as learned how to prepare the ingredients and the broth.
Three weeks in, his friend let him try his hand at frying Hokkien mee. However, Kid was not allowed to serve the dishes to customers, so he ate them himself.
Finally, after around four months of practice and tasting his own cooking, Kid was allowed to cook for customers.
“Now I’m sick of tasting my own Hokkien mee, but in the past, I found it quite fun. Every plate of Hokkien mee tasted different,” he admitted with a laugh.
The transition from bistro owner to hawker was a major adjustment for Kid.
“It was initially very, very tough. There was no air-con, and when the boiler started running, the whole place became very hot,” he shared.
The long hours on his feet were also more demanding than when he ran his bistro, and he would get scolded by colleagues whenever he made mistakes.
But in hindsight, Kid said this pushed him to want to learn more.
“When you’re there to work, you’re really there to work. When I was at my bistro, sometimes I had time to sit down and chat with the customers. But when you’re a hawker, the pace is very fast and I don’t really talk to customers anymore.
“The only thing I say to them is ‘having here or takeaway’?” he said with a chuckle.
Despite it being more tedious than running a bistro, Kid has no regrets about learning how to become a hawker.
“I was there to learn as much as I could. I was focused on perfecting everything so that they could teach me how to fry Hokkien mee.”
After working at his friend’s stall for a little over a year, Kid left in March 2025 to open a Hokkien mee stall of his own.
He spent a lot of time sourcing for a location for his new venture, and after months of searching, he found a unit at East Coast Lagoon Food Village.
The location was perfect. Apart from being near his home, the place also brought back plenty of fond memories.
“I grew up here. When I was young, I hung around this area a lot,” he recounted.
His friend, who is supportive of Kid’s new venture, even sent flowers after Ah Yu Fried Prawn Noodle Hokkien Mee opened.
While Kid declined to share how much the start-up costs were, as well as his earnings to date, the number of customers ordering at his stall was decent when we visited during lunch time.
Currently, Kid runs the business mostly by himself. In the evenings, his wife would come down and help him.
At the start, business was slow, especially since his stall is just a few units away from the famous Geylang 29 Charcoal Fried Hokkien Mee.
But he pointed out that he wasn’t the only one experiencing such competition, and that there were many other different hawkers at East Coast Lagoon Food Village selling repetitive dishes.
“There are some stalls that are side-by-side that sell the same dishes, such as stingray. There will definitely be competition. But I think healthy competition is all right. And I don’t feel like I am competing with them, I’m just giving customers more options,” he said.
And while sales have picked up, low footfall, especially on weekends, is still an issue Kid struggles with.
In the meantime, he is focusing on stabilising the business and building a customer base.
“Hopefully, when the time comes, I want to expand my business. But at this moment, I want to settle down and at least break even.”
Thinking of opening your own hawker stall or business? Kid encourages people not to be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.
“I always thought that if you wanted to make a lot of money, you should work in the finance industry. But if I had not taken that leap of faith and changed my career, I would not enjoy my life that much,” he said.
“While it is true that the finance industry is still where one can earn big bucks, right now, I really enjoy what I do. So if you ask me if I have any regrets, the answer is I don’t. In fact, I feel like I’m in a better place right now.”
Trying the Hokkien mee
Kid specialises in wet-style Hokkien mee and we got a plate to sample.
Prices start from $6 and go up to $12 for bigger sizes. Diners can also opt to add prawn ($2) and sotong ($2).
While the Hokkien mee doesn’t have an extremely prominent wok hei element, the concentrated prawn broth the noodles are fried in makes up for it. This was packed with umami and had a hint of briny sweetness.
The dish is also loaded with a generous amount of prawns, sotong and cubes of pork lard.
For a kick, pair the dish with some of Kid’s sambal. Be warned though, it was really very spicy and I had to gulp down some sugercane juice to put out the flames.
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