When the well-known stall Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles instantly closed in July of this year after 60 years of operation, prawner pasta fans were shocked. After struggling with a lack of labor and substantial rent, its second-generation owner, Mary Quek, 48, made the decision to call it quits.
Quek ended up hurting her hands and experiencing chronic pain as a result of doing the majority of the cooking and preparing at the stall by herself and working long hours. Her decision to close was likewise influenced by her ill health.
CONSIDERED BY HERSELF
James Tan, Quek’s ex-husband, and she used to operate together at the barn, but they divorced about ten years ago. She shared,” We were split up for a long time, so we each went our separate ways.”
Before moving to Longhouse food courtroom in Upper Thomson, her former father-in-law had started the company in 1963 as a rickshaw in Tiong Bahru. Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles relocated to Balestier Food Center after Longhouse was sold off in 2014, where it remained until 2023.
Tan left the F&, B market, but Quek kept running their company after the divorce. The mother of two, whose daughters are 13 and 20, said,” We are also friends today.”
She views herself as having retired at this point. ” And I adore it.” Mary enthusiastically remarked,” I was up to being my sons ‘ family, sending them to college and cooking for them.
She acknowledges that she misses cooking as a job, despite the fact that everything has been” so far so good.” She continued,” Many people were still calling and requesting that I resume and look for a new location to restart.”