Ponggol Seafood founder dies, aged 90

Mr Ting experimented with sauces and created the restaurant's chilli crab and mee goreng.
Mr Ting experimented with sauces and created the restaurant's chilli crab and mee goreng.

The founder of the iconic Ponggol Seafood restaurant, Mr Ting Choon Teng, 90, died on Sunday of lung cancer.

Mr Ting opened the restaurant at the end of Punggol Road in 1969 when he saw that it was available for rent while driving by one day.

He went into the new business in order to support his family, according to media reports.

But the foreman of a sauce factory had a unique weapon. Experimenting with sauces, Mr Ting created the recipes for the restaurant's famous chilli crab and mee goreng, said his son, Mr Anthony Ting, 56, the restaurant's director.

People came from all over the island for those dishes.

Ponggol Hock Kee Seafood Restaurant survived uncertain times, including government acquisition of the land in 1994.

It had to move at least four times before returning in 2014 to the Punggol Point area.

Mr Ting leaves behind eight children, seven of whom help out with the business.

Felicia Choo

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 23, 2016, with the headline Ponggol Seafood founder dies, aged 90. Subscribe