$9.20 yong tau foo at closing Toa Payoh coffee shop stall says it all
When a long-running hawker stall shuts, we are conditioned to mourn it. But longevity alone does not guarantee value — and perhaps not every closure deserves nostalgia.
Upon learning that Hup Chong Yong Tau Foo at Block 203 Toa Payoh North would be closing for good, I decided to have one final meal there.
The popular stall has been around for as long as I have been working at Stomp (i.e. a very, very long time 😂) and I used to frequent it pre-Covid-19.
Over the years, I have seen staff come and go as well as prices going up and up. Ingredients went from $0.60 per piece to $0.80 each. Some were even labelled 'premium' and priced at $1.
Don't expect seafood or anything extraordinary though – by 'premium', the stall is referring to ultra-processed food infused with cheese and the like.
Meanwhile, regular ingredients include vegetables you can get for cheap at the supermarket, processed items such as hotdogs which I can find in my fridge, and fried food soaked in oil.
Portions also used to be bigger, though that might be because the staff at that time recognised me as a regular.
I stopped patronising the stall in 2023 after a bill shock that left me wondering why I was paying more for less than what I used to get, and have not returned since – until now.
I recently decided to have one last hurrah at the stall, costs be damned, and helped myself to a variety of ingredients with kway teow.
The staff said they did not have enough bean sprouts and topped up the shortfall with more broccoli (ironically known to be a premium vegetable at many stalls including economy rice), which I thought was a nice gesture.
Having braced myself before ordering, I was not shocked when I was charged $9.20 for my meal – though my family and colleagues were when I told them.
That amount for lunch at a stuffy coffee shop in the heartlands is indeed not cheap, even when you take rent, labour and overhead costs into consideration.
Then again, no one said running a F&B business is easy. Industry experts have told Stomp that hawker culture is dying, while The Straits Times recently said The Best Disappearing Act Award of 2025 goes to the Singapore diner.
Will I miss Hup Chong Yong Tau Foo? Unlikely, seeing how I'd gone without it for over two years. In fact, with so many better dining options in the area, I'd almost all but forgotten about the stall's existence until news of its impending closure.
Speaking of which, it's interesting that Hup Chong's owner blamed competition in the area and work-from-home culture for a dip in business, but seemed to utterly lack self-reflection.
After all, many hawkers face the same pressures — and it's adapt or die out. In today's saturated food scene, survival depends not on history alone, but on whether a stall still gives customers a reason to return.
One thing about Singapore is that good food is always just round the corner if you know where to look. And for every F&B establishment shutting comes two new ones in its place.
Goodbye, Hup Chong Yong Tau Foo.
