Chinatown Braised Duck Legend Mei Jie 牛车水之传奇妹姐 • 何五妹 • 润记熟食

Chinatown_Braised_Duck_Mei_Jie_牛车水之传奇妹姐 • 何五妹 • 润记熟食

Old Chinatown residents know about the legendary braised duck stall Run Ji Cooked Food 润记熟食 ran by Mdm Hor Ng Mei 何五妹, better known as Mei Jie 妹姐. Run Ji was The Braised Duck stall of Chinatown and one of the best in Singapore.

Mei Jie's father came to Singapore from Guangdong (China) and started a braised duck and pork offal stall in People's Park. Mei Jie helped out at her father's stall since she was 13 years old. The Japanese came in 1942, and during the Japanese Occupation (1942 - 1945), men were banned from running hawker stalls. Mei Jie was thus forced to singlehandedly run her father's stall at the tender age of 15.

After her marriage, Mei Jie ran her braised duck stall together with her husband Ah Fatt. After Ah Fatt passed on, Mei Jie continued till she retired in 2015 for age and health reasons. She was still working 12 hour days till her well deserved retirement. Mei Jie passed on in 2019. (Image of People's Park in 1955 courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.)

Run Ji stall was later located at Smith Street (the original "gluttons street") in the 1960s. Mei Jie did her cooking at a shop lot along Sago Lane and sold her ducks at her Smith Street stall. (Image of Smith Street in 1980 courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.)

She lived in a shop lot unit at Keong Saik Street. (Image of Keong Saik street in 1964 courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.)

When the Chinatown Complex was ready in 1983, Mei Jie's Run Ji stall was relocated into the food centre on level 2.

Run Ji Cooked Food stall is still there but now run by Mei Jie's former worker whom she passed the stall to. When Mei Jie retired in 2015, her 3 children did not wish to take over her business nor continue her legacy. So, Mei Jie taught her worker and a regular customer her decades old recipe. The worker remained at the old Run Ji stall in Chinatown while the other disciple opened her stall in Commonwealth Crescent Market and Food Centre.

The stall at Commonwealth Crescent is named Chinatown Ah Po Braised Duck.

During Mei Jie's time, Run Ji was known for their tender braised duck which were infused with robust savoury flavours with subtle spice (cinnamon, etc) notes. The main flavour was savouriness and natural sweetness from the thousands of ducks that went through Mei Jie's decades old master braising stock. Mei Jie used premium soy sauce from Chuen Cheong located at Smith Street at that time. Old Chinatown known as Kreta Ayer then was like a village or kampung - there was a kampung spirit with neighbours helping one another.

What are your memories of Mei Jie or Run Ji braised duck? Please share in the comments.

Besides her braised duck, Mei Jie was also known for her duck congee. The Cantonese style congee was smooth and flavoured with conpoy and juices from braised ducks. This was already very flavourful and some customers further gave their congee an optional

splash of savoury braising stock. As Chinatown at that time had many lower income residents, Mei Jie's congee sans duck was a popular meal. Duck or meat in general was a luxury at that time.

Today at Run Ji, the Cantonese style congee is replaced by a "Hainanese style" porridge with visible partially dissolved rice grains in the gruel. It's not quite the same anymore but still a delicious savoury sweet porridge.

Mei Jie was known as a generous businesswoman who took care of her neighbours. One of Run Ji's signatures was their hae bee hiam or stir fried spiced dried prawns. Mei Jie would sell the umami savoury slightly spicy relish in little condiment dishes for a princely 50 cents each in the 1970s. Customers would pour the hae bee hiam as toppings over the congee to give the savoury sweet gruel a nice umami spicy kick.

But, hae bee hiam really had nothing to do with braised duck in any recipe, Teochew, Hokkien, whatever (Mei Jie's version is said to be Cantonese). Mei Jie was just helping her neighbour Yue Jie to make a little money for her family. Mei Jie would get a pot of hae bee hiam prepared by Yue Jie everyday and sell it as an option to her braised duck customers. The hae bee hiam added an extra layer of flavour to enrich Mei Jie's braised duck - the flavour of human relationships 人情味. To me, 人情味 is the best flavour.

Yue Jie is the lady on the left in the above picture taken in 2022. Clearly Yue Jie is younger than Mei Jie. Mei Jie looked out for her younger neighbours like an elder sister.

What are your memories of Mei Jie or Run Ji braised duck? Please share in the comments.

Mei Jie had a generous spirit. Every year, she would organise makan (eating) parties and outings for the families of people who helped her in her business like the cleaners and suppliers. It was like a sort of Run Ji annual company dinner and dance. She even had lucky draws with a Titoni watch as the top price.

The children of Mei Jie's helpers who are themselves in their 60s today still remember her parties. One of the parties was at Ponggol Seafood for crabs and Mei Jie arranged a lorry to bring everyone there. It's a life well lived to leave a beautiful legacy. (Image of Ponggol Restaurant courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.)

Regulars still miss Mei Jie's braised duck and congee. Mei Jie's disciples' braised ducks are not quite the same level as their legendary master's yet but they still have their sifu's DNA and are still among the best in Singapore today.