SINGAPORE – After months of being shuttered when one owner suffered an aneurysm, western food stall Wow Wow West reopened on Jan 16 at ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre.

However, the festive welcome back the stall was hoping for was dampened by the lasting effects of the mandatory tuberculosis (TB) screening in Jalan Bukit Merah, which has turned many customers away from the food centre.

More than 2,000 people signed up for TB screening in Jalan Bukit Merah, after 10 new cases were detected there.

Screening was mandatory for residents and workers at Blocks 1 and 3 in Jalan Bukit Merah, ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre, and Thong Kheng Seniors Activity Centre @ Queenstown as their potential risk of exposure was higher.

While it was once hard to even get a seat among the sea of people at the popular food centre, there are now many empty tables during lunch and dinner.

Ms Chris Lim, a chef at Wow Wow West, told The Straits Times that a queue would usually form outside the store at 2pm, with wait times lasting 30 to 45 minutes.

After news of the TB screening broke, business dropped by 30 per cent to 40 per cent, and 90 per cent of orders on the day of its long-awaited reopening were for takeaway.

Mr Lachron Chan, at char siew rice stall Fatty Cheong, said queues of more than 20 people have shrunk to only three or four at a time. The shop’s daily sale of 80kg to 100kg of char siew by 6pm has dropped to 40kg to 50kg.

Ms Lim and Mr Chan are worried the dip in business, which started on Jan 5 when news of the TB screening broke, will stretch past January. Mr Chan hopes the situation will improve by Chinese New Year, when customers usually order large quantities of char siew and roast duck for their celebrations.

While this is not the first time the hawkers have faced a dip in business, this has been the toughest, they said.

Several owners and employees said their business is now worse than during the pandemic.

Madam Lina Tan Soo Eng, who has run ABC Deji Fish Head Bee Hoon with her husband for almost 50 years, said the stall would get orders for takeaway during Covid-19, but even these are now scarce.

In 2022, TB screening was done at nearby Block 2 Jalan Bukit Merah after seven people were diagnosed with the airborne disease.

Madam Tan and her niece, Mrs Halina, who works at the stall, said they were not as badly affected then as the 2022 reports did not mention their centre.

But the hawkers have their loyal supporters. When ST visited the food centre on Jan 17, most diners there either worked or lived nearby, and were not deterred by the TB screening or the risk of infection.

A diner who wanted to be known only as Ms In, 48, said she has been eating at the hawker centre almost daily for eight months because she works nearby and likes a “one-stop” place where she can enjoy a variety of food.

She noted that the cleaners’ and hawkers’ good hygiene and wearing of masks assured her that it was safe to eat there.

Mr Tan, who is in his forties and works in finance, also believes that the TB situation is under control.

He said: “The fact that the authorities actually caught (the active TB cases) and got the people to go for screening – that already introduces a level of safety.”

The mass screening exercise from Jan 11 to 15 was a precautionary response to 10 active TB cases detected between February 2022 and July 2023.

All 10 detected cases have been treated and are no longer infectious, the authorities said.

TB is typically spread through close, prolonged day-to-day contact of days to weeks – rather than minutes to hours – with an infectious individual, said the Ministry of Health.

It can spread when a person with active TB coughs, sneezes or speaks. One cannot get TB from shaking hands or sharing cups, utensils or food with an infectious individual.

This means that a person who visits ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre occasionally – less than 12 hours a month – is not at high risk of catching TB.

Mr Philip Ng, 68, and his wife, Madam Diana Chan, 65, have been going to the food centre from their Simei home once every two weeks since February 2023.

They found out about the place after Madam Chan retired and began looking for food recommendations on Google and Facebook, where she discovered the original Ah Er Soup at ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre and wanted to try it for herself.

It has since become a favourite for the couple. Pointing to their empty bowls that had held lotus root soup with peanuts and pork ribs, they told ST that Ah Er Soup gives plenty of ingredients in each bowl – more than the soup even, but customers can get free soup refills – and the bones are so soft they can be eaten with the meat.

The dishes are also affordable. Ah Er Soup received the Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2017, an award that recognises great food at affordable prices. A serving of soup and pumpkin rice cost Mr Ng and Madam Chan less than $6.

Ms Syiffa Amron, a 38-year-old PUB officer, and her family like the food at nasi ayam penyet stall Project Penyek so much that they make the trip from Bukit Panjang.

But their patronage is not enough to stop its business decline.

Mr Zainul Hassan Ashari, who works at Project Penyek, said his customers particularly enjoy his fresh homemade sambal – which is “spicy enough but not too spicy” – and soy sauce.

To adapt to the decline in business, Mr Ashari has reduced his daily order of 50 chickens to 30 in order to cut down on food waste, while ensuring all the meat is fresh and served on the day itself to preserve its texture.

Wow Wow West also prides itself on its high standards. For instance, instead of ordering boneless chicken legs for its chicken chop, the stall orders whole chicken legs and manually debones and fries them, which helps preserve the meat’s texture, said Ms Lim.

Chicken bones are also used in a soup, which is cooked for six hours with carrots, onions and celery, and eventually used to make its brown pepper sauce.

Despite the large portions and all the labour required to make each dish, prices at Wow Wow West are less than $10 per dish.

Other stalls, like ABC Deji Fish Head Bee Hoon, are taking more days off when they expect lower traffic, such as on weekends, to cut their losses.

Mr Chan of Fatty Cheong hopes its two stalls at ABC Brickworks will not have to close temporarily as it is his family’s business, which was founded around 30 years ago by his father, Mr Chan Tuck Cheong.

Among the many things that make Fatty Cheong so popular is its famous “bu jian tian” char siew – a special tender cut – which has a good meat-to-fat ratio and is cooked over an intense traditional charcoal fire.

He is hopeful that things will get better.

“If we can get through Covid-19, we can get through TB,” he said.

• Additional reporting by Leow Wen Xuan