Singapore widow invests S$800,000 to start hawker culture experience centre in honour of late husband

Singapore widow invests S0,000 to start hawker culture experience centre in honour of late husband

SINGAPORE: Five years after losing her husband to cardiac arrest at age 48, Lena Lee left a stable corporate career and invested more than S$800,000 (US$392,249) in Jiak 99 at the Singapore Flyer.

Partly inspired by the way he used to express care through food, she started the 2,800 sq ft nostalgic hawker edutainment concept, a gap she saw in the Republic’s tourism landscape for more authentic, cultural and immersive food experiences.

The 42-year-old resigned from her role as assistant director of island investment with Sentosa Development Corp in January 2025 and began working actively on the project in July.

Jiak 99, which means to eat until you are full in Hokkien, opened in September with a 45-minute guided experience that introduces visitors to Singapore’s hawker culture through tasting sessions, exhibits and hands-on activities. Today, about 70 per cent of its visitors are foreigners. The rest are locals, including school groups.

Visitors walk through a street lined with replicas of old shophouse facades, where displays introduce classic dishes representing Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian food cultures. Interactive game stations test their knowledge of local kopi orders and different types of kueh.

The space also houses a 20-seat cafe called Jalan Makan, which serves local fare such as Nasi Lemak with Chicken Cutlet (S$9.90) and Singapore Laksa (S$11.80).

Throughout Lee’s three-year marriage, food was the language of love.

Her late husband, Dr Jeremy Ng, was head of general surgery at Singapore General Hospital. His colleagues remember him for his patience, generosity and care for patients.

At home, he approached food with the same attentiveness. “Food was always a special way we connected,” says Lee.

She remembers what struck her when they started dating in 2013: “The way he sliced the chicken meat off the wing with surgical precision.” From then on, she adds: “I never had to deshell or debone anything myself, he always took care of it.” They tied the knot in 2017.

The couple ate dinner together almost every night. “It was a conscious choice we made every day to have dinner together.” Their definition of success, she says, “wasn’t money, but fulfilment and happiness”.

Dr Ng collapsed after a jog at East Coast Park on July 4, 2020, at age 48. In the years that followed, grief came in waves.

“Grief feels a bit like a hangover that never quite goes away. It ebbs and flows like the tide.”

For a year, around the fourth of every month, she would visit their favourite bak chor mee stall – then in Seng Poh Road – and eat a bowl in his memory. It was the breakfast they had planned to share the morning he died.

She would also visit the breakwater at East Coast Park, the last place they were together, and talk to him there. “I will never forget the final meals we shared that week or the last conversation we had on July 4.”

Bak chor mee is featured in a mural at Jiak 99, depicting a Singapore hawker scene in the 1960s with a couple digging into bowls of noodles. The artwork not only keeps their shared meals and memories alive, but also mirrors the heritage she now works to preserve.

For Lee, food is inseparable from memory. She grew up eating local dishes her mother prepared. She recalls her late mother using Chin Mee Chin Confectionery kaya to make toast for breakfast before she and her two siblings headed to school.

Whenever she and her siblings – her brother is now 48 and her sister is 47 – were unwell, their mother would cook fish porridge for them. Before her mother died at 65 in 2013, Ms Lee filmed her making pig trotter vinegar so the family could replicate it.

“Nostalgia and personal memory are at the heart of our tours,” she says. That is why Jiak 99 relies on guided storytelling rather than technology. While guides follow a script, they are encouraged to share their own anecdotes. “Food becomes the bridge that builds a bond,” she adds.

The concept also reflects her professional training. Over nearly two decades after graduating from the National University of Singapore with a bachelor’s degree in science in 2006, she worked in property, operations and human resource roles, including at iFly Singapore (now AltitudeX) and The Working Capitol, before returning to Sentosa Development Corp. Across these roles, she says the one constant was managing people.

Her years in operations taught her the importance of systems, safety and experience flow.

She began with three hires. That grew to five within her management team before opening. Today, Jiak 99 has 15 employees.

Starting out was not easy. She funded the venture herself after failing to secure a grant. She had to explain repeatedly that Jiak 99 was neither a conventional restaurant nor a typical attraction.

“In the early days, people often didn’t know exactly what Jiak 99 was.” Travel agents assumed it was simply an expensive F&B concept; locals were puzzled by the mix of interactive exhibits and hawker food.

Jiak 99’s Classic Hawker Experience (S$35 an adult, S$25 a child) runs for 45 to 60 minutes and guides guests through the four food cultures with interactive exhibits and tastings served in a customised tingkat. Visitors can buy the tiffin carrier for S$15. Tours are conducted hourly, with a maximum of 20 visitors a group.

For a more hands-on activity, the Classic Hawker Experience + Chef’s Table workshop (S$50) includes making local favourites such as muah chee or teh tarik.

She hopes to recover her initial investment by the end of the three-year lease term, “with some luck”.

But do not refer to her as the venture’s founder or owner. “I prefer being called an employee of my own company,” she says.

The mindset, she explains, helps her stay practical: “I treat myself as an employee in a new role who has been given a task to make this concept work.” She adds: “I believe self-doubt is also part of being an entrepreneur.”

While Jiak 99 is finding its footing, she hopes to one day invite local hawkers to hold pop-ups there.

Ultimately, success for her is not measured just by ticket sales. If visitors leave with a deeper appreciation of the labour behind a plate of chicken rice or nasi lemak, she considers that meaningful.

“It’s about staying true to my passion and making sure I don’t let anyone down – the artisans, the team and the guests who come through our doors.” – The Straits Times/ANN

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