Since Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) started on May 14, 2021 and dining-in is prohibited, hawker centres around Singapore have seen varying crowd levels. Some hawkers suffered anaemic business, while other stalls, mostly run by the less tech-savvy Pioneer Generation, were affected by their inability to pivot to food delivery.

But it’s heartening to know that Singaporeans are still ardent supporters of our local hawker scene. As calls to aid struggling hawkers gain traction online, food centres have started seeing human traffic again.

It is worth bearing in mind that while it’s good to help homegrown eateries through these tough times, it’s also important to maintain proper safe distancing, and not throng hawker centres and create risky crowds. After all, the goal is to stamp out Covid-19 and resume dining-in, yes?

78-year-old kueh maker Ah Meng, who we reported had grappled with a steep drop in customers, is selling out of his handmade ondeh ondeh and tapioca kueh at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre after strong public support. His stall now has a short queue daily with stocks running out at around 1pm, similar to his biz volume pre-Phase 2 (HA). He previously told 8days.sg that he “sells out by noon every day”.

Photo: Yip Jieying

Larry observes that people are still heading to the double-storey hawker centre at Holland Drive to tapow: “The usual crowd is here. From the kueh stall to the thunder tea rice stall (who is busy packing for online order) and the famed bak chor mee of this market (Ru Ji Kitchen). No semblance of lockdown in this neighbourhood.”

Photo: Larry Lai

The usually crowded ABC Market hawker centre is now a “mixed bag”, says Larry, with some stalls enjoying better traffic than their neighbours. He shares, “I detect a slowdown in business for many stalls but a few stalls like the roast meat, including Fatty Cheong, fried Hokkien Mee and the Ayam Penyet stalls were hardly affected.”

Photo: Larry Lai

“The stalls here are crowded,” Larry notes. “From the duck rice, chicken rice, fried carrot cake to the stoic but value-for-money desserts stall helmed by the one-woman-show old lady.”

Photo: Larry Lai

Most hawkers would fear that their food will go unsold, but not at this hawker centre. “Many stalls” were doing well enough to pack up for the day by noon, according to Larry. “The fried carrot stall opposite him has sold out. The roti prata stall behind has a constant stream of business.”

Photo: Larry Lai

The famed Chinatown hawker centre, which is so massive that its stalls are grouped by colour zones, is mostly closed. But the few stalls which are open are doing brisk business from Larry’s observation.

He says, “Many stalls in the green zone are sold out. Some like the mutton soup decided to close for this period. The char kway teow stall has two customers. The famous chee cheong fun and yam cake stall has about five customers. They were busy in the morning. The fried fritters stall has a considerable amount of food left. [Hawker Chan’s] chicken was almost sold out. I guess some hawkers here decide to rest as the Government waived rental. And looking at the amount of stalls with sold-out food, this HC is not impacted.”

Photo: Larry Lai