Singapore's decades-old Lao Liang Pork Trotter Jelly & Shark Meat stall to shut down this month

The stall, located at the Berseh Food Centre, will shut on Oct. 31, Mothership reported, citing a local Chinese-language newspaper.

The couple who operate the business, 75-year-old Yu Zhongrong and Lin Cailuan, told the newspaper that they plan to retire without passing it on to their children.

The Lao Liang Pork Trotter Jelly & Shark Meat hawker stall in Singapore. Photo from Google Maps

They said they have been starting their workday preparing ingredients and cooking at 3 a.m. before opening at 10 a.m. Lin said making pork trotter jelly is labor-intensive and time-consuming.

"I've been doing this for 45 years... Now very few people make pig's feet jelly because it's too hard work, the cost is high, and you don't make much money," Lin told Lianhe Zaobao.

Nonetheless, the couple are concerned for their regulars, many of whom are elderly and might be disappointed about the closure.

The stall's signature pork trotter jelly is priced from S$5 (US$3.91) a serving while a set of Teochew-style kway chap costs S$4, according to AsiaOne.

The business dates back to Yu's grandfather, who ran a Teochew restaurant in China and brought the traditional pork trotter jelly dish with him when he later migrated to Singapore.

Yu began helping his father and grandfather at their roadside stall, which sold pork trotter jelly and shark meat along Theatre Street, when he was 10 years old in the 1960s.

He and his wife later took over in 1987, when the business relocated to the Hill Street Food Centre. The stall moved to its current location in 1998.