Woman Runs Bendemeer Stall Alone After Father’s Death, Handmade Siew Mai Draws Daily Queues

Siew Mai In Bendemeer Market Handmade Daily By 66-Year-Old Hawker Who Starts Work At Midnight

It’s not easy running a business by yourself, especially when it’s a hawker stall where all the food is handmade.

But that’s what a 66-year-old woman does in Bendemeer Market after her father passed away, making delicious siew mai and lo mai kai (glutinous rice chicken) through the night.

She’s rewarded by daily queues in the morning for her food.

Customers queue at Bendemeer Market for handmade siew mai

The stall in question is located in Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, reported Shin Min Daily News.

With the unassuming name of “Singapore Bao”, the stall attracts long queues of customers, sometimes even before they open from 6am.

Apparently, one has to come down pretty early in the morning as they’ll be sold out for the day at around 9.30am.

However, the wait isn’t too long despite the queue — Shin Min reported that on 21 Dec, there were eight people in line at 8am, but it took about 7 minutes for them to get their orders.

That’s because the sole woman behind the stall works fast even though she has to dish out and pack the food as well as collect money.

Stall serves affordable siew mai & lo mai kai

Perhaps the Bendemeer stall is popular because of their fat and juicy siew mai, and chewy but not too greasy lo mai kai topped with pieces of mushroom and chicken.

And yes, that’s all the food that they serve up.

Or maybe because their prices are affordable, at just S$2 for a plate of lo mai kai and S$0.70 for one siew mai or S$2 for three.

That means one can have a tasty meal for just S$4.

Stall owner arrives at midnight to prepare

Though the food is simple and inexpensive, running the stall is no small feat.

Proprietor Wu Shujiao says her working day starts at midnight, when most of Singapore is tucked snugly in bed.

That’s the time she arrives at the stall to begin preparations, said told Shin Min.

After all, the food is made entirely by hand, and she’s the only one doing it, so the going is indeed tough.

According to the report in Shin Min’s e-paper, Ms Wu is open to accepting “disciples”, and had help before.

However, some young people couldn’t take the early hours and hard work, she said.

Woman ran stall since father’s death & chef’s stroke

Ms Wu told the paper that her father had been helming the stall since the 1970s.

At the time, he would make the siew mai and lo mai kai while another chef would make bao.

However, when her father passed away and the bao chef suffered a stroke, she has been valiantly running a one-woman show.

Though it’s a tough job, she said she will persevere with it.

But due to the lack of manpower, she can serve only two menu items.

She even joked that her hands are big, so the siew mai she makes are also bigger, that’s why customers like them.

A hawker hero who deserves respect

When many people desire a comfortable office job with regular hours, Ms Wu is slaving away in the wee hours of the morning providing Singaporeans with cheap yet tasty food.

Much respect for her for keeping a beloved stall alive on her own.

She’s truly one of Singapore’s hawker heroes indeed.

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Featured images adapted from Google Maps and Google Maps.