A cook who never stops trying
PROFILE by Kathleen Tan
While some of us are probably still in bed, Ng Keow Ngoh is already busy stewing soup in NUS’s arts canteen. The owner of the Yang Tau Foo and Laksa stall reaches school by 6 a.m. every morning to start cooking before business begins. She has to get up at 4:30 a.m. daily, yet the robust woman never protests. Her endurance is exemplary – Ng not only has to wake up in the wee hours of dawn but also needs to stand from morning to late afternoon.
Ng never settles for second best. To make sure her ingredients are as fresh as possible, she makes it a point to prepare them each morning instead of the previous night. Ng is always seeking ways to improve. In her strive for perfection, she has never been afraid of criticism. “I frequently ask my customers for opinions on my food’s taste,” she said. “They used to say the laksa gravy didn’t taste good enough,” she laughed sheepishly as she recalled.
That motivation to keep getting better also brings out the creative juices in her. Ng came up with the clever idea of using different types of clothes pegs to represent different orders from customers. “It’s like a secret code to get the orders ready more quickly to shorten waiting time,” she explained. The “codes” are easy yet clever – plastic clothes pegs are for laksa orders, wooden pegs for dry noodles and no pegs for soup orders.
Some of us live to eat, but Ng lives to cook. She has been in the food business her entire adult life and previously operated a stall at Mei Ling Food Centre.
Her experience is probably one of the reasons for her consistent success. Her stall has been voted the best in the arts canteen by students almost every year. A humble woman, Ng downplays the prominence of those newspaper articles and award certificates displayed on her stall front. “I never expected our stall to be such a hit,” she said, “the students’ support is the best reward for me.”
The friendly vendor always makes effort to build rapport with students and chat with them. Students find it easy to warm up to her. “Aunty always serves with a smile!” Rene Thong, a third year Arts and Social Science student, said. “She has no airs of arrogance although her stall is so popular.” It is no wonder that former students willingly come back to patronise her stall because of her good food and good service.
While some of us are probably still in bed, Ng Keow Ngoh is already busy stewing soup in NUS’s arts canteen. The owner of the Yang Tau Foo and Laksa stall reaches school by 6 a.m. every morning to start cooking before business begins. She has to get up at 4:30 a.m. daily, yet the robust woman never protests. Her endurance is exemplary – Ng not only has to wake up in the wee hours of dawn but also needs to stand from morning to late afternoon.
Ng never settles for second best. To make sure her ingredients are as fresh as possible, she makes it a point to prepare them each morning instead of the previous night. Ng is always seeking ways to improve. In her strive for perfection, she has never been afraid of criticism. “I frequently ask my customers for opinions on my food’s taste,” she said. “They used to say the laksa gravy didn’t taste good enough,” she laughed sheepishly as she recalled.
That motivation to keep getting better also brings out the creative juices in her. Ng came up with the clever idea of using different types of clothes pegs to represent different orders from customers. “It’s like a secret code to get the orders ready more quickly to shorten waiting time,” she explained. The “codes” are easy yet clever – plastic clothes pegs are for laksa orders, wooden pegs for dry noodles and no pegs for soup orders.
Some of us live to eat, but Ng lives to cook. She has been in the food business her entire adult life and previously operated a stall at Mei Ling Food Centre.
Her experience is probably one of the reasons for her consistent success. Her stall has been voted the best in the arts canteen by students almost every year. A humble woman, Ng downplays the prominence of those newspaper articles and award certificates displayed on her stall front. “I never expected our stall to be such a hit,” she said, “the students’ support is the best reward for me.”
The friendly vendor always makes effort to build rapport with students and chat with them. Students find it easy to warm up to her. “Aunty always serves with a smile!” Rene Thong, a third year Arts and Social Science student, said. “She has no airs of arrogance although her stall is so popular.” It is no wonder that former students willingly come back to patronise her stall because of her good food and good service.