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Tian Tian Porridge run by five siblings in Chinatown Food Complex is shutting down after 70 years. It will cease operations at the end of October.
The two brothers and three sisters aged between 71 and 90 have been battling poor health for some time now. Just last month, they permanently closed their adjacent stall, Tian Tian Noodle House which was famous for its wanton noodles.
Tian Tian Porridge started off in the 1950s as a small store in a back alley run by the siblings’ parents. Even as children, they would help out in the kitchen, picking up the skills that have brought them on this long and rewarding journey.
The parents relocated the stall to its current location at Chinatown Complex in 1983 and the children took over daily operations after their mother passed away in 1988. Very soon, they earned a reputation for cooking delicious Cantonese-style congee and noodles.
Stalls like Tian Tian Porridge are the reason Singapore’s Hawker Culture made it to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It really is a tragedy that after such a rich and lengthy history, it will simply disappear overnight.
It’s clear that their family either cannot or isn’t interested in running a hawker stall, which can be very difficult. I wonder if the siblings could have found a way to sell their recipes and techniques to an aspiring young hawker and keep their beloved name going.
Perhaps the government could introduce a scheme to match young and old so that these gems of our hawker culture don’t die out.
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