Singaporean works at family stall where customers ask about a change of cook
43-year-old Dietrich Mohan from Singapore works at the family-run Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake stall at Maxwell Food Centre. Some visitors do not know that he is the son of 69-year-old Hung Poh Hwa, whom regular customers are accustomed to seeing prepare the food. According to Mohan, people ask where she is, whether the stall owner has changed, and whether the taste of the fritters has remained the same.
Visitors' reaction
As Channel NewsAsia reports, Mohan, who is of Chinese-Indian descent, responds to visitors in Mandarin. After that, he said, they usually have no objections. He also said that some people approach the stall but decide not to make a purchase after seeing him at the wok.
Mohan explains part of this reaction by saying that regular customers may worry about seeing a different person in the usual place and about a possible change in the taste of the food. He noted that he does not rush to call such situations racism if the comments are not openly hostile.
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A stall with a long history
Mohan's maternal grandmother started the business on Tras Street in the Tanjong Pagar area in 1962. In 1986, the stall moved to Maxwell Food Centre. It is mentioned in the Michelin Guide and is known for its round crispy fritters with minced pork, oysters, shrimp and coriander.
Mohan and his mother work in shifts: she works the morning shift, while he starts in late morning and stays until the stall closes at 20:00. He joined the family business full-time in October 2024 after being laid off by a Chinese gaming company, where he had worked for slightly more than two years.
Before that, Mohan studied film, worked in the events industry and production, and also spent 11–12 years in the gaming sector. He hosted gaming events, organized esports tournaments, and worked with communities and social media. Mohan hopes to keep the stall operating until its 100th anniversary in 2062, when he will be about 79 years old.
