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The ongoing battle of curry puffs within the family behind Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff and Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original has taken another dramatic turn.

The stalls are managed separately by two brothers, Ray Ng, 51, and Peter Ng, 57, one unit apart from each other at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre.

Ng Yong Cheong, who founded the original store in 1952, accused the elder son, Peter, of distorting the stall's history and claimed he wanted to disown him over it.

Peter, however, claimed that his father played favouritism and favoured his younger brother over himself.

Elder brother accused of distorting stall's history

According to Shin Min Daily News, Yong Cheong was unhappy with Peter's statement made on May 14, 2023, on his business site, where he made several claims about how his stall (Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original) was the original and authentic stall over his brother's stall (Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff).

Yong Cheong accused Peter of distorting the stalls' history.

In the statement, Peter said he had been running a separate curry puff stall at Maxwell for 14 years.

He claimed his father could not keep the original stall at Hong Lim running and asked him to return to help in 2016 while transferring the stall's ownership to him.

Peter claimed that the stall received a recommendation from the Michelin Guide in 2017 due to his continuous efforts in researching and improving the products.

He also claimed that Ray became his assistant in 2019 because the stall's business improved and lacked manpower.

Peter claimed he agreed when Ray wanted to start a new stall two years later, as long as Ray would not open the new stall in the same area.

He said not only did Ray open the new stall next to his, but Ray also trademarked the stall's name.

As such, Peter said he had to change the name of his business from "Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff" to "Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original" in April 2022.

Father refuted elder son's claims

Yong Cheong claimed to Shin Min he only asked Peter to return to the Hong Lim stall in 2016 as Peter's stall in Maxwell was not doing well due to an MRT project.

He highlighted that when the stall received the Michelin recommendation, he was still in charge of the stall, not Peter.

Yong Cheong claimed that Peter changed after starting a relationship with a woman, so he asked his younger son to help out at the stall a few years later.

He wanted the brothers to run the business cooperatively, but he claimed the elder son became obsessed with money.

He said he was disappointed with Peter and would pass on the brand to his younger son and two daughters instead.

Yong Cheong emphasised that he would be cutting ties with Peter as Peter was the one who distanced himself from his family first.

Ray accused Peter of misleading customers into thinking the latter's stall was the authentic one.

Ray said the two stalls used to have their own business listing on Google and claimed that Peter tampered with the listing and merged them under Peter's stall, Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original.

Regarding the dispute over the Google business listings, Peter claimed to Shin Min that after he provided information to Google, Google determined that he should be the one with control over the listings.

When Mothership reached out to Peter, he showed the information he provided to Google.

Elder brother says parents playing favourites

Peter said it was unfair that his parents favoured his brother more.

He pointed out that his father didn't support him when he wanted to start a new stall. However, when his brother started a new stall, his father helped attract customers.

He also said he didn't understand why the family in-fighting never seemed to end.

Peter told Mothership that he had been giving his father S$600 a month before his father "handed the business to him".

He claimed that after his brother began operating a different stall, his father demanded S$1,200 monthly instead.

Alleged physical altercation

In a follow-up interview with Shin Min, Peter claimed that Ray often cursed at him and his fiancée.

He also claimed that Ray once pointed a knife at him and assaulted his stall assistant on another occasion.

Peter claimed that both altercations resulted from the ongoing dispute about their stalls' origins.

Peter said his stall assistant lodged a police report.

Younger brother says he will take legal action

When Shin Min reached out to Ray, he denied Peter's accusations.

He explained that he happened to be using the knife to cut things and claimed that he happened to be still holding to it when Peter's fiancée "provoked" him into an argument.

As for the alleged assault, Ray claimed that Peter's stall assistant came over to his stall shouting.

Ray claimed that the stall assistant assaulted him first, and he merely retaliated.

Ray also claimed he will consult a lawyer for legal action.

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Top left image via Google Maps/Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original, right image via Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff since 1952/Facebook