S'porean man, 57, rents Chinatown hawker stall for S$1 a month to sell Indian-style mutton soup, opens 4 hours on weekends

A Singaporean man is running a hawker stall on the second level of Chinatown Complex Food Centre at Block 335 Smith Street selling Indian-style mutton soup.

The catch?

The business, Kook@Chinatown, operates for two hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday — four hours in total on weekends — from 11am to 1pm on each day.

It is a viable way to run a business as the monthly rental for the hawker stall is only S$1 per month, a fact that is advertised at the stall located at the perimeter of the food centre.

The stall owner, Ng Khai Choon, 57, has been at this gig for a while now.

He was featured in the media as early as 2015, and was recently interviewed by Tabla.

The reason his rental is low is because he put in a S$1 bid for the stall, which is located at a less-than-ideal spot in the hawker centre.

"People don’t even know you exist," he told Tabla of his stall at the side, which is away from the hustle and bustle of the interior of the food centre that contains 270 stalls.

He has been operating the stall since January 2024, after winning the tender bid in September 2023.

What it sells

Kook@Chinatown sells just four dishes: Gobi chapati, lentil soup, mixed salad, and mutton rib soup.

The mutton soup (S$8.50), which is the only non-vegan option, consists of six tender pieces of rib meat, which are not derived from frozen meat, according to Ng.

It also comes with mild, spicy, and very spicy levels.

Ng says he makes a profit of about S$1,000 each month from the stall.

The self-confessed mutton soup lover said he created what he thought was the best version of mutton soup after he tried a variety of them in Singapore and found the consistency wanting.

He made his dish via a trial-and-error process.

How he gets S$1 bid to go through

There is a method to sealing S$1 rentals.

Ng explained that he would observe which stall has been in the tender process for months without bids and make an offer if it is the ideal size and airy, and in this case, close to his home.

"So I placed a bid for S$1 and got it," he said.

Ng used to run an advertising firm in his 30s.

He then sold it.

His job these days involve running cooked food outlets.

When he is not at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, he runs another stall on weekdays selling the same dishes at Hong Lim Food Centre, which is also in Chinatown.

He put in a bid of S$44 for this other stall as he did not want to be in the news for being a successful low bidder.

The number 44 is also the unit number of the Hong Lim Food Centre stall.

Ng revealed that he prepares enough ingredients for just 10 bowls of mutton soup at each of his outlets.

He takes pre-orders on occasion.

He said he will extend hours and make more but he cannot find workers.

His S$1 monthly rent term will remain for only two more years though.

For hawker centre tenants, the rental rate is usually re-evaluated and adjusted after a few years.

Since 2019, the median adjusted rental rate has remained at about S$1,200 per month.

This means there is a likelihood that Ng's S$1 rental won't continue for too long.

Ng told Tabla he will stop operating if rental is no longer S$1 in the future.

Top photos via Google Maps