Seletar Hill Restaurant set to shutter after 34 years due to owner's health

Residents living near 16 Jalan Selaseh are likely familiar with Seletar Hill Restaurant. 

The eatery, specialising in Sichuan cuisine, has been around since 1990.

Unfortunately, the old-school restaurant is set to close for good in March.

On Monday (Jan 13), a Facebook user shared a photo apparently of a page in the restaurant's menu on the group Can Eat! SG.

The page wished customers a prosperous Lunar New Year and gave an update on the restaurant's impending future.

"We are retiring. We'll stop our operations on the 1st March, 2025. It's been our pleasure to be of service for the last 34 years," the announcement read.

The Facebook user noted that news of the restaurant's closure was unexpected, describing it as "a bolt out of the blue".

He added: "I am very sad. We've been coming here at least twice a month ever since we discovered it."

When AsiaOne contacted Seletar Hill Restaurant, Jamie Pang, wife of chef-owner Ng Kok Hua confirmed the restaurant's closure.

She cited her 70-year-old husband's health issues as a reason behind this decision.

The 65-year-old told AsiaOne that he was diagnosed with stage-four cancer in 2021 and is currently in remission.

While the announcement of Kok Hua's retirement was recent, Jamie noted that the couple have been contemplating closing the restaurant for "two to three years".

When asked about how customers have responded to the announcement, Jamie replied: "We've been serving two generations. The children have become parents now, and they too continue to patronise our restaurant. They feel it's a waste."

Jamie also shared with AsiaOne that they had been on the lookout for a possible successor since November 2023.

However, potential suitors did not seem "sincere" to the owners and they opted against the idea.

How it started

Jamie and Kok Hua's culinary journey began in the 1980s when they headed to New York to work in an upmarket Chinese restaurant.

The couple then returned to Singapore with recipes shared by their mentor Chef Chou.

In 1990, Seletar Hill Restaurant opened its doors and the restaurant proudly shares how all items are prepared in-house, from skinning and deboning chickens to fermenting sauces.

Signature dishes include Camphor Tea Smoked Duck ($60 for whole), Claypot Sea Cucumber with Duck Webs (from $38) and General Tso's Chicken (from $18).

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amierul@asiaone.com