‘Very difficult to be a hawker,’ Kf Seetoh honors kway teow uncle who passed away at 69

SINGAPORE: In recent social media posts, food guru KF Seetoh honoured Mr Song Yan Cheng, a well-beloved hawker who recently passed away at the age of 69.

The hawker, known to many as “Uncle Song” had worked for many years at  Hock Kee Fried Kway Teow at Berseh Food Centre.

Mr Seetoh said, in a video showing Uncle Song,  that Makansutra had just been about to rate his char kway teow in the “soon to be revamped Makansutra e-book food guide.”

A longtime champion of Singapore’s hawkers, the food guru added that “it is very difficult to be a hawker in today’s context. Nobody will want to work for you and you can’t hire foreigners who want to do this.”

He also marveled that although Uncle Song was already 69 years old, “he still churns out one of the best char kway teows around.”

Showing himself enjoying a plate of the stir-fried noodle dish, Mr Seetoh said, “It’s all there… all in there.”

He also noted that there had been “a little queue” in buying the dish, and at S$4, it was “very very affordable.”

The Makansutra founder ended the video by writing, “May you rest in peace, Mr Song Yan Cheng. I don’t know why society does not make it any easier for master craftsman like you to flourish sans the stress.

“Thank you for the pleasure and I will remember you.”

 

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A post shared by Kf Seetoh (@kfseetoh)

Uncle Song’s children announced that he had passed away peacefully on the 福记炒粿条 Fu Ji Fried Kway Teow Facebook page on Monday (Mar 18). Unfortunately, along with his passing, the stall will be closing as well.

There were more than a hundred comments on the post as netizens expressed both their condolences and how much they had enjoyed Uncle Song’s char kway teow over the years.

A netizen wrote on the Hawkers United – Dabao 2020 Facebook page that Uncle Song took over the business from his mother-in-law, who started it with just a pushcart in the late 1960s.

“Old school frying of char kway teow which is of nostalgic taste and of drier,, more savoury than sweet version. This is a tribute to late uncle Song and you are part of heritage food legacy gone but not forgotten. Hope family will continue his legacy,” wrote Mr Don Leow. /TISG

Read also:KF Seetoh: ‘Anti-competition’ acts by hawker management may cause would-be hawkers difficulties ahead