Dine in groups of only 5, no dine-ins, take-away (dapao) only, use Food Delivery apps for your meal purchase, dine in groups of 5 again, no dine-ins again, vaccinated only, the changes will continuously happen.

I salute the hawkers who still make their day to day work, well, work. Many of the shops at the Hawker Centres I was deployed to have shuttered; some for the time being, some for good.

I took out a folded $10 note, with some change, and ordered a piping hot bowl of soto ayam. If you’ve only had mee soto before, soto ayam is similar, just replace the yellow egg noodles with cut-up chunks of lontong (Malay steamed rice cakes).

I sat alone to dine right at the corner with a 6-seat round table that had 4 seats taped “out of bounds”.

I had a few spoonfuls of the clear herb-y, spice-y hot chicken soup and added the chicken meat. The chicken was boiled (or possibly double-boiled?) very well, the meat just giving in and chunks of fibrous chicken fall off the bone very easily under the push of the fork.

Something felt very surreal and familiar.

Also, I think the stall might have given me a good quarter chicken portion, as it was a massive heaping of white meat for a $4.50 bowl (could it be to minimize the wastage at the end of the day? Or did I look really hungry?). 

I have definitely tasted this exact taste for the soto before. But where? or when?

The lontong rice cakes were another story entirely; I felt like I was eating for two. The co-star for this would be the bagedil; crispy on the outside and super moist and flavorful within.

I stared at the bowl, now a luscious mix of lontong, pulled chicken meat, healthy dose of bean sprouts, the yellow-ed boiled skin from the chicken and a solitary exposed chicken wing bone.

Then it hit me.

When I was in Primary 1, I cried during the first week of school. During recess, the Primary 5 student leaders would help out the lost Primary 1 kids to get their meals. A very nice Chinese boy came to me, and brought me to a Chinese stall (I was always mistaken as a Chinese boy then, maybe not so much now) which ended up in me crying even more.

I was lucky to have my sister who heard my cries (lol) from the other end of the canteen and came over to help me and take over from the poor dumbfounded Chinese student leader (God bless you man. I don’t know where you are now and i hope you are doing well. Sorry if I dampened your helpful spirits at such a young age).

My sister brought me to the malay stall in the tuckshop, and I bought a bowl of mee soto for $0.40, which was a small serving of yellow noodles, and one solitary chicken drumlet.

As I ate, I semi-laughed between tears and I remember very clearly the tears falling into the bowl and me saying “It’s salty”.

But it was a good bowl of mee soto.

Simple, hearty, hot, and filling.

It hits the spot when you're hungry, and maybe even when you're just peckish for a really good bowl of chicken soup to calm your soul.

This bowl of Soto Ayam from Rahim Muslim Food at Chong Boon Market brought me back to almost 25 years ago when I was a kid in shorts, not knowing that we would be in this very situation now.

Being a hawker is tough work, and for some, might be the only skillset they have.

As alone as I felt then as a Primary 1 kid, I wonder how alone some of the hawkers might be feeling now.

All the best to out hawker guys/gals. 

Let’s be more empathetic and understanding to everyone that we meet; be it the hawkers, cleaners, or our colleagues. Thank you hawkers, your food is a window into the lives of Singaporeans islandwide.