Tai Weng Hainanese Chicken Rice closes temporarily, owner underwent 2 surgeries

In the armada of over 250 stalls at Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, there are bound to be some overlaps. Tai Weng Hainanese Chicken Rice may not be the only stall of its kind but it’s unmistakably one of the oldest. Long-time fans of this aged stall will be saddened to hear that it has shuttered temporarily.

We first caught wind of this on 8 Nov via a Facebook post on the Hawkers United – DaBao 2020 group. The post revealed that the stallowner had undergone 2 hernia surgeries and would be closing the store temporarily till the end of the year. “As much as we would like to serve your tastebuds, it’s best to put his health as priority.”

Comments from netizens on the latest post have been supportive, most leaving best wishes to the owner for a speedy recovery.

The owner’s son had also shared news of the stall’s previous closure in 2022 when the owner underwent surgery knee for a knee problem from 23 Feb to 22 Mar.

Tai Weng Hainanese Chicken Rice was started as a street vendor by Lee Cheong Chee’s father in the 1960s, shifting in 1983 to a hawker stall in Chinatown Complex. Since the age of 8, this second-generation hawker has committed himself to tirelessly manning the stall with no successor in sight.

If you’d like to show your support when they eventually reopen at the end of the year, be sure to head down for a taste of old-school eats of the Steamed or Roasted Chicken Rice (S$3/S$4) kind. A more interesting pick can be their “Tai Ye” Chicken Rice w/ Secret Sauce Recipe (S$4).

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