\n<\/p>\n
Whether you know\u00a0Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles\u00a0for its giant, wild-caught prawns and rich soup or its notoriously sharp-tongued hawker auntie, regulars of the longtime Pek Kio Market And Food Centre stall might have noticed something unusual \u2013 its shutters have remained down since February.<\/p>\n
But after a three-month closure that sparked speculation about whether the\u00a0elderly hawkers have retired for good, second-generation owners Lau Fook Wah, 84, and Tham Lay Mon, 81, told\u00a08days\u00a0that their Michelin-recognised stall is expected to reopen in June.<\/p>\n
Set up in 1951 by Lau\u2019s parents, Wah Kee has spent over seven decades building a loyal following for its rich, umami broth topped with fragrant prawn oil and wild-caught sea prawns. The family once expanded the business to outlets at Esplanade and Beach Road, though only the original Cambridge Road stall remains today.<\/p>\n
The famed stall has also become almost equally well-known for Tham\u2019s blunt manner, with reviews over the years describing the veteran hawker as \u201cfierce\u201d, \u201cgrumpy\u201d and \u201crude\u201d, especially towards customers ordering the cheaper bowls.<\/p>\n
Yet, during\u00a08days\u2019 interview with Tham over the phone, the hawker aunty many netizens fear getting scolded by turned out to be surprisingly warm and chatty. Perhaps the break did her good.<\/p>\n
Tham told\u00a08days\u00a0that the stall\u2019s closure became longer than expected after she underwent cataract surgery. Doctors had advised her to avoid steam for at least a month while recovering.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the surgery, I cannot be near hot water or steam due to cooking the noodles, so we had to wait,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Her husband and main cook Lau, 84, also recently underwent medical check-ups. \u201cIt also depends on my husband\u2019s health,\u201d she added. \u201cWe will see how he feels.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elderly couple run the stall on their own with Lau serving as the main cook, while Tham assists with both cooking and ordering duties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Whether you know\u00a0Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles\u00a0for its giant, wild-caught prawns and rich soup or its notoriously sharp-tongued hawker auntie, regulars of the longtime Pek…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--MFos6DVo--\/c_crop,h_900,w_1600,x_0,y_1\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/05\/28\/wah-kee-prawn-me.png?itok=n7FDnnEA","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23667,577,743,1296,1736,9193,12690,7463],"class_list":["post-56166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-3month","tag-big","tag-closure","tag-kee","tag-noodles","tag-prawn","tag-reopening","tag-wah","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}