SINGAPORE \u2013 On a quiet Saturday afternoon at a Yishun HDB void deck, small talk bounced among a handful of youth lounging around picnic mats and mahjong tables. Most were strangers who hoped to connect, but the ice was taking time to break.<\/p>\n
Then a bubbling cheese pizza was whisked from an oven in a makeshift kitchen at their gathering spot, and the awkwardness melted away. People rose with smiles and chatter, converging over the one thing they now had in common: good food.<\/p>\n
Behind the kitchen counter was 31-year-old Ngoh Shian Bang, who had organised this pizza party on Sept 19 with The Chop Community, a space for youth at Chong Pang Zone 7 Residents\u2019 Network at 287 Yishun Avenue 6.<\/p>\n
The event was the sixth community gathering that Ngoh had organised since May, under a project known as Kampung Soup Kitchen. The concept is simple: Cook and serve free food, so people can gather over a meal, recreating the kampung spirit of old.<\/p>\n Young and old alike turned up at the first Kampung Soup Kitchen on May 30, where Ngoh served two kinds of soups.<\/p>\n PHOTO: TOV.IE\/INSTAGRAM<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Most of the food and preparation costs are borne by Ngoh, who is also a full-time Lianhe Zaobao photojournalist. He has spent about $2,800 of his savings on the cause.<\/p>\n The young man sports a bandana beneath a head of curls and a spunky attitude. He told The Straits Times: \u201cI like seeing people happy, and maybe I can make the world a little less lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n He never expected his first event on May 30 to go viral online. He whipped up clear chicken broth and spiced pumpkin and carrot soup, and served them for free to about 50 strangers at the void deck underneath his Tampines flat.<\/p>\n What started as one man\u2019s idea has since grown into a monthly community project, with various Residents\u2019 Networks in Tampines and Yishun providing him with free venues, and volunteers helping with cooking and service. The menu has also evolved beyond soup to include ice cream, pizza, barbecued meat and satay.<\/p>\n Volunteer Solomon Kang, 47, grates cheese for a participant at the sixth edition of Kampung Soup Kitchen, a pizza party at The Chop Community held at 287 Yishun Ave 6.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: GIN TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Ngoh reckoned that people resonated with the events because \u201cit speaks to something deeper for them \u2013 the sense of yearning for neighbourhood\u201d.<\/p>\n Modern society is more interconnected with social media and technology, but ironically, people feel lonelier, said Ngoh. He described feeling detached in Singapore as communal events seemed to dwindle over time.<\/p>\n He was drawn to how food can bridge social divides, pointing out that even people who routinely disagree can still concur on the quality of a chicken rice stall.<\/p>\n So, he chose this way of pushing against the tide.<\/p>\n Ngoh preparing a truffle cream, mushroom and crispy kale pizza at The Chop Community on Sept 19.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: GIN TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Food at his events is no amateur fare. Ngoh graduated from hospitality school\u00a0Shatec in 2015, before pursuing his other passion in photography.<\/p>\n In his own words, he is \u201cno stranger to strangers\u201d. He has hosted couch-surfers from far-flung lands and creative professionals alike around the dining table of his five-room flat, where he lives with his parents.<\/p>\n The idea of cooking for the wider community came in 2025 after he joined a Telegram group for people to socialise in Singapore. He sought private spaces that could fit about 50 people, but found that they cost about $800 for four hours.<\/p>\n Then he heard that someone had hosted a potluck at a Housing Board void deck. \u201cThat was a eureka moment for me,\u201d he said. \u201cWe use it for funerals. We use it for weddings. So, why not beyond (these purposes)?\u201d<\/p>\n Ngoh wrote to his town council and got approval to rent the space for $50. It came with electrical and water points. He brought chairs and foldable tables from his flat to create a living room of sorts. The total cost, including ingredients, came to $89.<\/p>\n Youth converged around mahjong tables and card games at a community space within a Yishun HDB void deck on Sept 19, hoping to connect with someone new.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: GIN TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n He recalled the amazement of seeing people from all walks of life organically strike up conversations while cradling bowls of soup.<\/p>\n Initially, he was worried about neighbours\u2019 complaints. But the response was overwhelmingly positive, with the only concerns being about food hygiene. He has since acquired a food-safety certificate to allay those fears.<\/p>\n What does he get out of doing this?<\/p>\n \u201cHappiness, lah<\/i>. Pure joy in seeing people being well-fed,\u201d he said without missing a beat.<\/p>\n Preparing food for these events usually takes several days. Ngoh creates the menu, buys the ingredients and cooks from scratch. For the Sept 19 pizza party, he split the food costs with The Chop Community.<\/p>\n On that day, Ngoh and a group of volunteers laboured over pizza dough and bowls of chopped toppings. They fed about 90 people that day with seven kinds of Neapolitan pizza, including cheese and hot honey; truffle cream, mushroom and crispy kale; and sweet pistachio, brie and honey.<\/p>\n Abel Fam (left), community manager of The Chop Community, and Ngoh share a lighthearted moment at the pizza party they organised together. They served seven kinds of Neapolitan pizza that day.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: GIN TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Among those at the event was Kong Shihui, 35, a product designer at a start-up, who enjoyed how people started spontaneous conversations as the food and drinks flowed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of curiosity and openness is quite refreshing. I haven\u2019t experienced that in a while,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n (From left) Volunteers including Shaun Ng, The Chop Community’s community manager Abel Fam, founder of ground-up initiative Food for Soul, Solomon Kang, and Ngoh fed about 90 people at the pizza party on Sept 19.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: GIN TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The initiative has drawn the attention of grassroots leaders. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo, who is also an MP for Tampines GRC, mingled with residents at Ngoh\u2019s barbecue party at Sun Plaza Park on Aug 30.<\/p>\n Government agencies have told Ngoh he can apply for funding. Though he is open to the idea, he is hesitant about tying his project to grant proposals and key performance indicators.<\/p>\n Besides, he believes taxpayers should not pay for his personal \u201chobby\u201d while he still has the means to fund it. \u201cI\u2019m in a privileged position to do this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His goal is to bring Kampung Soup Kitchen to every Residents\u2019 Network in Singapore. People have also asked him if they can replicate the idea in their neighbourhoods, and he readily shares tips with them.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to think that I still am a nobody,\u201d said Ngoh. \u201cAnyone can do this if they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 On a quiet Saturday afternoon at a Yishun HDB void deck, small talk bounced among a handful of youth lounging around picnic mats…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88305","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=88305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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Cooking chops<\/h2>\n
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Position of privilege<\/h2>\n
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