COFFEE SHOP AT ALBERT STREET
This is a photo of the shophouse at 126-A, Albert Street (road expunged). It was a rented property which housed Ng Teck Huat (黄德发), a bak kut teh shop run by Ng Wei Chian's Teochew grandparents, Ng Ah Liang (d. 1946) and Tay Gim Ching (1910 - 2001), who immigrated to Singapore in 1918 from the village of Gek Poh (Yupu), near the city of Jieyang in the Chaoshan region, Guangdong province, China.
They started selling bak kut teh and Teochew porridge from this shophouse around 1936, and the business continued until 1990, when the land was given up for redevelopment (the site is currently part of LASALLE College of the Arts). They had eight children, and the entire family lived on the second floor of the shophouse (the staircase on the left of the photo led upstairs).
The man in a white T-shirt facing the camera is Ng Wei Chian's second paternal uncle, Ng Seow Khern (d. 2001). He was the main cook in the business, and following the shop's closure, continued selling bak kut teh from a stall in a coffeeshop opposite the shophouse.
An interesting point was that while Ng Wei Chian's paternal family is Teochew, they sold Hokkien-style bak kut teh, which is much darker than the clear, Teochew-style bak kut teh more commonly found in Singapore. The story is that Ng Wei Chian's grandfather learnt the recipe from a Hokkien friend.
They started selling bak kut teh and Teochew porridge from this shophouse around 1936, and the business continued until 1990, when the land was given up for redevelopment (the site is currently part of LASALLE College of the Arts). They had eight children, and the entire family lived on the second floor of the shophouse (the staircase on the left of the photo led upstairs).
The man in a white T-shirt facing the camera is Ng Wei Chian's second paternal uncle, Ng Seow Khern (d. 2001). He was the main cook in the business, and following the shop's closure, continued selling bak kut teh from a stall in a coffeeshop opposite the shophouse.
An interesting point was that while Ng Wei Chian's paternal family is Teochew, they sold Hokkien-style bak kut teh, which is much darker than the clear, Teochew-style bak kut teh more commonly found in Singapore. The story is that Ng Wei Chian's grandfather learnt the recipe from a Hokkien friend.
01/08/1986
19980006533 - 0075
S7401
Viewing permitted. Use and reproduction only with permission.
Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore
Updated with contributions by Ng Wei Chian on 22 September 2022.
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