Did you notice that the once ubiquitous spittoons found under almost every marbled coffee shop table have all but disappeared?

Gone also are the kopitiam Ah Ko assistants sauntering about the coffee shop in thin pyjama shorts and translucent Flying Wheel brand tee shirts, soliciting your orders of kopi-o and kaya roti while scratching his behind.

And of course, you also don’t find street food vendors plying their stuff by any busy roadside in Singapore. You find them in our truly unique hawker centres.

Meet the bloke responsible for all the above, the man entasked with creating the our infamous hawker centres and introducing the hygienic practices that come with it, Mr Daniel Wang.

He was the Head of Engineering Department in the Environment Ministry way back in 1973 when the idea of re-housing all the street food vendors in Singapore was mooted. He remembered that “ there were about 20,000 street food hawkers operating all over and we had to license each and every one of them, to be fair”. Also, he had to ensure that unhygienic practices and habits were banished. “ The spittoons were my pet peeve. I was so irked by it and it was my first mission. The sight, smell, viruses and bacteria were horrible. I banned it!”

Later, he was confirmed to the position of Public Health Commissioner at a tender age of 36 and there was no letting up in his crusade against unhygienic practices and habits. He revealed, “Did you know why the old kopitiam boys had to wear these thin, tight, pocketless and almost obscene pajamas shorts?”, I shrugged and he enlightened, ” it’s because the towkays don’t want them to pocket and squirrel any money when collecting payment from customers. It was a security system.” But what irritated him was the unkempt look and habits “they would scratch at the crotch and handle food then after.” He banned it too and introduced courses on food handling.

After registering and licensing all the street food vendors, he had to diligently build hawker centres “with proper water supply, electricity and sanitation provisions” and re-house them around where they were located. The last street food hawker was relocated in 1981 and today there are about 115 public hawker centre around Singapore, each housing an average of 80 stalls.

“Some of these hawkers made me promise that no one will occupy the street side places the had vacated and I gave them my word.”. Mr Wang did not receive any complains from them and the best compliment came in the form of a very interesting comment. “ When we relocated the Chinatown hawkers, which used to operate in the streets under dark, dank and dinghy makeshift canvassed sheet roofs, they said they could finally see sunlight there. They meant to say, thank you.”.

But not all the hawkers were saints. Some of them in the Bukit Timah area, when re-housed in a breezy new food centre surrounded by trees, complained that droplets of rain came in when it poured. To which Mr Wang replied with black humour “ Your marriage to your wife comes with the mother-in-law, it’s a natural package deal, just like the wind, sun and rain. We can’t choose.”

Last year, at age 61, he retired as the Director General of Public Health at the National Environment Agency, but not before he personally supervised his pet swansong project, the new Lagoon Food Centre at East Coast Parkway. He wanted to inject soul on “the only public hawker center in Singapore with a beachfront.” His instructions had keywords like resort like, cabanas, feet on sand, canvass umbrellas, breezy, Bali style washrooms, timber tables etc…But his team responded with words like why, difficult, food buried in sand and graffiti on tables, unusual etc..

So he put his foot down and today, the Lagoon Food Center is one of m personal fave street food eateries here. Good and cheap makan abound and the place is breezy with a resort feel and is very charming, especially if you sit near the beach.

He is now an advisor to the Prima Group which produces food products and pre-mixes and a work to live and live to eat foodie.

(His fave Wanton mee recommendation)

Hong Ji Mian Shi Jia Wanton Mee

Address 01-05 Blk 79 Telok Blangah Drive

Opening Hours 5am to 9pm Closed on Fridays

Mr Wang says “ the first thing that struck me was the texture of the noodle. It is soft yet resilient. My boss Primus asked me to get the cooks secret to his noodle technique. I told him there was no way he would just tell you a family secret.”