'He moderates for me': Diner bowled over when Amoy Street hawker stops him from ordering every side dish

While most would focus on selling out, this hawker seemed more fixated on helping his customer make decisions on his diet.

Loon Poh Yeo went to a nasi lemak hawker stall at Amoy Street Food Centre to buy his breakfast and tried to order every side dish but was stopped by the stallholder, he shared on Facebook on Wednesday (July 26).

"I told the gentleman at the stall, 'I want all the liao (Mandarin for side dishes)'," he wrote in his post.

Instead of allowing Loon to purchase all the side dishes, the hawker contemplated before giving his response.

"Maybe you don't need the fish cake," Loon recalled the stallholder saying.

Loon later returned to his seat with two plates of nasi lemak, each adorned with a slice of fried luncheon meat, fish fillet, fried chicken, otah, anchovies, a fried egg and a fried meat roll.

Both plates also had a generous serving of sambal chili on the side.

He added, expressing both respect and gratitude towards the hawker: "He moderates for me, thank you [uncle]! You can really eat at this place!"

Netizens, however, were more interested in the price he paid for a meal with so many side dishes and were pleasantly surprised to find that it only set Loon back $6.20.

"That's very reasonable," one user said.

Another opined: "Definitely a steal at $6.20. The sambal looks yummy."

A user also added: "Oh this is superb, no joke. Very affordable for city area too."

Some netizens also praised the hawker for his character, with one mentioning that while the food is good, it's not "mind-blowing" — instead, the uncle's "happiness vibe" has left a deeper impression.

"Uncle is very friendly and overly honest too," a comment said. "He gets sold out by early lunchtime so do go early!"

According to Loon, the stall had sold out before 11am on the day he bought from it.

Giving flavour to your meals

While food is certainly part of what gives Singapore character, sometimes it's also people behind the food that amplify the experience.

When Tokyo 2020 Olympian and US rugby player Ilona Maher dropped by Singapore in June, she went to Maxwell Food Centre and had a unique encounter at the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice stall.

The aunty had taken a look at her physique and said: "Looking strong. You go to gym, I give you breast meat."

Happy that she was given a choice cut of chicken, Maher said: "So ladies, that is why you got to lift — because they'll give you good chicken if you look like you work out."

khooyihang@asiaone.com

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