By all accounts, Foo is an accomplished woman.
She started cooking some 40 years ago, selling food from a tiny stall at a hawker center — or open-air food court — with her husband from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., six days a week. She sells chicken rice, Singapore’s de facto national dish, which comprises steamed or roasted pieces of chicken, seasoned rice, and sambal, a spicy chili sauce.
The stall, Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice — which means “every day” or “day by day” in Chinese — was founded at Maxwell Food Center in Singapore’s Chinatown. Foo took over the business from her brother, an accomplished chicken rice chef, in 1986. When she was starting out, she prepared 15 to 20 chickens every morning — this was enough to feed her small customer base for the day.
Today, Foo’s business has expanded, but it still runs from that same stall at the same place.
“It was difficult in the beginning. There were times when it would rain and flood, but I never wanted to waste food, so I was out selling until every plate was sold,” Foo told me in Chinese.
She charges $1 more than the average price
I met Foo, now 74, at her stall at Maxwell Food Center in November.
Standing in her petite frame and wearing a mustard blouse and simple trousers, Foo greeted me with her warm eyes and soft smile. Her manager, William, helped interpret the interview. He joked that Foo “got dolled up” that day, knowing that I was going to be photographing her.
Foo’s food isn’t cheap by Singapore hawker food standards — the smallest plate of chicken rice costs 5 Singapore dollars, or $3.70. The average plate of chicken rice in the city-state costs $2.70.
But the premium price tag doesn’t deter locals and tourists from spending up to an hour lining up at her stall. Foo told me that her team prepares some 200 whole chickens each day, whipping up thousands of dishes a week for hungry diners.
William told me that they count how many whole chickens the stall sells in a day instead of the number of plates. According to the local food critic KF Seetoh, one whole chicken can be divided into 10 to 15 portions of meat. According to those portions, the stall could sell between 2,000 to 3,000 plates of chicken rice a day. Tian Tian did not confirm this estimate.
While the stall officially operates from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday, it closes early once the meat runs out.
“I worked hard and I was sincere about the business, that’s why it eventually picked up,” Foo said.
When I visited the stall on a weekday at lunchtime, dozens of people were waiting in a line that snaked around the two small stalls from where the eatery operates.
With over 100 food stalls, the hawker center buzzed with energy. Tourists photographed their lunch at the orange tables, cooks shouted out orders, and flaming woks and simmering broths created a fragrant aroma. Despite the wide selection of food on offer, Foo’s chicken rice was selling like hotcakes.
Bourdain brought her fame
Foo skyrocketed to fame after her version of chicken rice was featured on the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s famed television show “No Reservations” in 2008. She said she initially had no idea who Bourdain was — but her stall blew up.
“I thought it was just a bunch of people taking a video,” Foo said, adding that Bourdain spent the whole day at the hawker center.
Foo said Bourdain was “low-key,” humble, and “very down to Earth” — and acted like an ordinary diner trying out local food.
“I didn’t get to talk to him, but he did say this,” Foo continued, pointing to the sticker on her stall.
“Chicken rice is so fragrant and delicious that it can be eaten on its own,” the sticker, designed with a speech bubble and portrait of Bourdain, read.
Two years later, in 2010, she retired.
Ramsay brought her out of retirement
But Foo decided she wasn’t done cooking. In 2013, Foo competed against Gordon Ramsay on who could make better chicken rice in Singapore — she ended up beating Ramsay.
The challenge — called “Hawker Heroes Challenge” — had Ramsay compete against three famed hawker chefs: Foo, noodle shop 328 Katong Laksa’s Ryan Koh, and popular crab eatery Jumbo Seafood Restaurant’s Ang Kiam Meng.
“I had the impression that Gordon was very strict, very fierce, and very vulgar,” Foo said. “But he turned out to be a really nice guy.”
Foo described Ramsay as “extremely hard-working,” and that he was already at the competition venue — another hawker center in central Singapore — at 12 a.m., prepping the ingredients for the day ahead. The competition only started in the afternoon.
“I also had no idea who he was. So there wasn’t any pressure at all. But on the day of the competition, I had the shock of my life. There were so many people — they turned out to be his fans,” Foo added.
Passing on the baton to her daughter
By this time, Foo’s daughter, now 48, had left her accountancy job to take over. But Foo never really left the business and still spends much of her time at the stall, helping her team serve diners.
She now has three other stalls — one in eastern Singapore, one in western Singapore, and another in central Singapore. As of 2017, Tian Tian employed 40 staff, per Michelin. Tian Tian did not confirm the number of staff currently employed.
Three years after she met Ramsay, Foo’s stall was awarded the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand — a round-up of the best eateries serving food “at an affordable price.” At the time, only 17 hawker stalls made the cut.
Foo’s stall has retained the award in every edition of the guide since, so it’s no surprise that it was named on this year’s list, too.
“It’s a win for us and all the hawkers. It’s a good thing because the Michelin Guide recognizes stalls beyond restaurants,” Foo said.
“Hawker culture is rare too, and not a lot of countries serve delicious food at such a low price,” she continued.
When I asked Foo what she was up to these days — a decade after she retired — she told me most of her time still revolves around her hawker stall. She said it’s still what keeps her going.
“Until now, I’m here. I didn’t even change the menu display, it’s still the same. It holds good memories for me, sentimental value,” Foo said.
