May 1st, 2010.. Labour day. I went to the usual coffee shop for lunch. Queue up for the beef noodle that draws lots of crowd.
I knew that the beef noodle is yummy, so who cares about the long queue. After waiting patiently for about 20mins, I finally have my mouth on the juicy, and tasty beef noodle... it's indeed heavenly. The boss happened to be cutting some ingredients on the same table. Thus I decided to strike a conservation. I asked him what time he needs to wake up in the morning to prepare for the stall. Mind you he is an old man, maybe in his 60s... He said he needs to wake up at 6am everyday just to boil the beef soup with beef bones. That's why the soup is so sweet and tasty, then they will start to sell at 8.30 am. I was thinking to myself, wow! what dedication towards his work. He said he felt bad that he can't sell more noodle to his customer (earlier on, i saw him rejected about 10 over customers who wanna to eat his noodle) He added that he never expect business to be good, who expected he said. To me he is just a faithful old hawker uncle, who work really hard with his whole family (his brothers and sisters are all at the stall helping). And having the desire to provide good old tradition Hai nan beef noodles to completed strangers or old time customers. His attitudes and good services had reflected on how all of us shall learnt from the older generation. This is the very reason why people are queuing up just for this one bowl of beef noodle!
For those who are wondering where to get the yummy beef noodle.. here goes (I don't get any commission for this:)
Hai Nan Xing Zhou Beef Noodles
Blk 22 Lorong 7, Toa Payoh
#01-06 Toa Payoh Food Centre
8.30am till sold out (about 2 or 3pm)
(Closed on Mon)
