Now You Know Why People’s Park Food Centre is Hot. Literally Hot.
If you’ve ever pondered over the purpose of those exhaust fans in a hawker centre, well, it’s time to put your curiosity to rest. The newly renovated People’s Park Food Centre has been serving up a hot plate of complaints, with the main ingredient being a broken exhaust fan that’s been out of service for a week. Over ten stalls have been affected, and the majority of these are the ones dishing out zi char dishes, mala hotpot, and the like. The result? A hawker centre enveloped in a cloud of cooking fumes, turning the already tropical working conditions into a sauna for the hawkers.
Let’s dive into the wok of this hot mess, shall we?
The Makeover and Grand Reopening of People’s Park Food Centre
In case you’ve been living under a rock, or perhaps too engrossed in your Netflix binge, the hawker centre was under renovation from 1 April to 30 June.
It only threw open its doors for business last Saturday (1 July). But it seems like the exhaust fan decided to extend its vacation and hasn’t been functioning properly since the reopening.
Shin Min Daily News took a trip down to the hawker centre last night (7 July 2023), right in the middle of the dinner rush.
The hawkers were seen sweating it out, cooking up a storm. But with the exhaust fan on strike, the smoke had nowhere to go and decided to join the diners for a meal. The food centre was a smoky haze, with the spicy aroma of chilli adding a pungent twist. It was like a 4D dining experience (or 5D, since there’s the smell, too) that no one signed up for.
A Cai Png of Problems at People’s Park Food Centre
It’s understood that over ten stalls have been affected, with the majority being those that serve zi car dishes, mala hotpot, Sichuan grilled fish, and so on.
One of the stallholders, armed with a thermometer, tested the temperature at his zi char stall during the interview with Shin Min Daily News. The thermometer read “high temperature”. He quipped, “My stall doesn’t need to use fire, and it’s already very hot, let alone those chefs.”
I bet he was feeling the heat while saying that, too.
The Heat is On in People’s Park Food Centre
Another stall worker pointed out that it was so hot inside the stall that even the spoon for stir-frying felt like it was fresh off the stove.
Despite having four small fans installed inside the stall, it was like trying to put out a forest fire with a water gun. Another affected stallholder even claimed that he’s developed a rash from the heat. Talk about a heated situation.
The Ripple Effect on Business
In the hawker centre equation, unhappy business equals closed stalls, which in turn equals no customers. Some stalls couldn’t stand the heat on the first day of reopening after renovation, and decided to call it a day after half a day, followed by two days of closure.
A worker at a zi char stall revealed that on the first day of reopening after renovation, they had to wrap up early after discovering that the exhaust fan was on a break.
He said that they didn’t operate for the next two days, but the exhaust fan was still not repaired. “There’s no way, the boss needs to do business, and we employees need to earn a living, so we have to endure the high temperature and thick smoke to cook and take turns to come out to breathe.”
A regular patron, who visited the centre for the first time after the renovation, said she didn’t expect the place to be filled with cooking fumes, which was very pungent. “I can’t stand it anymore, I’m going to switch to a place with air conditioning.”
Can’t blame her, who wants to dine in a sauna?
The president of the Singapore People’s Park Centre Merchants’ Association confirmed in an interview that she had received complaints from three or four stall owners.
She explained that the previous renovation project was a major one, requiring cooperation from all parties, and the entire ventilation system cleaning work was not as simple as everyone imagined.
The main exhaust system has been cleaned, and then individual stalls need to be cleaned, but some stallholders were not in Singapore during the renovation period and could not open their stalls for workers to enter and clean.
“We believe that part of the ventilation system is blocked, leading to the current situation.”
She added that she has expedited the arrangement for technicians to repair it, and believes it will be repaired in the next few days.
Well, let’s hope the exhaust fan gets back from its vacation soon. After all, when we said we want the wok hei feels, we don’t mean char kway teow with a side of smoke, right?
