‘Happiness is enough’: Elderly hawker, 90, still works 9 hours a day despite deformed finger from bad fall
At 90 years old, Lee Song Kun happily spends over nine hours a day running his noodle stall solo at Block 183 Toa Payoh Central — even after suffering from a fall that has left him with a permanent deformity.
Though he is relatively new to the coffee shop, his daily routine is hard-earned, coming just months after a devastating fall at an MRT station.
Speaking to Stomp, Lee held his hand up to show how the pinky finger of his right hand had bent unnaturally as a result of the accident. He shared that he only made a full recovery after seven months, yet persevered to set up his hawker stall in Toa Payoh.
Since its opening just three months ago, business has been brisk for Lee’s Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle stall. Regulars keep coming back for his affordable offerings, with many of the dishes priced from just $4.
Though he moves slowly and with a slight hunch, he skillfully manages multiple orders for dishes like laksa, fishball noodles and fishball soup even during peak periods.
He smiles cheerfully through it all, showing off decades of experience through every task.
Started hawker life at just 17
Lee shared that growing up, he was raised without formal education. “I didn’t go to school. Very early on, I dropped out,” he said.
He began to work as a hawker at 17, selling various different kinds of dishes like mixed vegetable rice, pork ribs and prawn noodles. When asked about his previous stall, Lee said he “doesn’t remember” when he stopped running it as it was a “long time ago”.
Despite the hiatus, Lee’s passion for cooking never waned.
With his daughter’s help, he rented the stall in Toa Payoh to restart his hawker business in July.
Now, he insists on opening every day, starting at 7am each morning. He serves customers until 2.30pm, takes a break, then reopens from 5pm to 7pm.
Lee personally prepares the ingredients and cooks every dish himself, running the store as a one-man show with no additional help.
Wife’s passing sparked his drive
Explaining his decision to restart the gruelling hawker life after a long break, Lee said it was better than staying at home alone all day.
He admitted to feeling listless after his wife’s passing, stating that he grew lonely after the loss.
“I’m on my own. My wife died...staying at home is gloomy,” he explained.
Instead of enjoying his golden years, Lee returned to running a hawker stall to cheer himself up and give himself “something to do”.
Concerned about his advanced age, his daughter was not supportive of the decision at first. She was hesitant to let her elderly father run a stall on his own, worrying about his physical condition.
After assuring her that he simply didn’t want to “stay idle” at home, she understood and ultimately agreed to support him and help rent the stall.
Values happiness above all else
When asked about the current condition of his right hand, he confidently replied that it had already healed and that it did not affect him, despite the visible deformity.
“I fell down, it wasn’t anything big,” he said, dismissing the incident. “The injury has been around for a while. It’s been over half a year.”
Speaking about the state of his new hawker stall business, he said that whether or not he has money does not matter to him, he instead values happiness the most.
Happiness is enough. Got money, no money, all okay.
“Losing money doesn’t matter. When I was younger, I lost a fortune to horse gambling,” he joked.
Although he has entered his 90s, he does not feel that work is too hard or tiring. Lee even stated that if he had found it tiring, he would have “never done it to begin with”.
He says he will continue running his hawker stall as long as he feels happy doing so.
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