As I sat in front of Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake stall, watching the fritters sizzle and brown, a woman walked up to me, clearly curious about the goodies on offer. In a hushed voice, she asked: "Oh, the oyster cake is quite brown. Is it nice? I see the usual auntie isn't around."She said this while looking at Mr Deitrich Mohan, the man working the wok. The missing "auntie" in question was 69-year-old Hoon Poh Hwa.
Madam Hoon Poh Hwa, 69, second-generation hawker of Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake, preparing Fuzhou oyster cakes at Maxwell Food Centre on Aug 5, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Alyssa Tan)
Madam Hoon had ended her shift at 3pm, leaving the stall in her son's good hands for the rest of the day.
Few patrons know that the two are related, especially since the Chinese-Indian man at the wok, known to regulars as Moe, looks little like his mother.It has led to some patrons questioning his presence at the stall, he told me."People look at me first before they look at the oyster cakes," the 43-year-old said.He recalled some baffling moments he has encountered ever since he made the leap to being a hawker in October 2024: "Sometimes, they will walk past, like they clearly want to buy something."But then they look at me and they walk away. What does it mean?"Mr Mohan's maternal grandmother started the hawker business on Tras Street in Tanjong Pagar in 1962. The stall then moved to Maxwell Food Centre in 1986 and is now recognised by the Michelin Guide, a global restaurant and food-rating authority.The stall is known for its round, crisp fritter filled with minced pork, oysters, prawns and coriander.
