‘I am an bizarre individual. I can not be extra bizarre’: Ex-actor Huang Yiliang now a fishmonger, hawker, Life-style Information

SINGAPORE – By 7am, six days every week, former actor Huang Yiliang is at MacPherson Market and Food Centre, scaling and cleansing fish at his moist market stall.

At 11am, he walks to Circuit Road Hawker Centre, about 400m away. There, he mans the range at his new stall Old Fisherman, stir-frying crab dishes and steaming seafood for the lunch crowd as much as 2pm.

That is adopted by a brief nap at house earlier than he resumes meals preparation for the dinner crowd from 5 to 8pm.

In a plot twist, the 64-year-old, who initially supposed to import and distribute crabs, has develop into a fishmonger and hawker in his third act.

He was a preferred face on native tv. He joined Mediacorp (then often known as Singapore Broadcasting Corporation) in 1985 as a 24-year-old, the place he went on to win Best Supporting Actor on the annual Star Awards thrice – in 2002, 2003 and 2006.

After 23 years with the broadcaster, he left in 2008 to run a plumbing enterprise and begin a film manufacturing firm. Wanting to strive his hand at producing and directing, he launched his first movie, Autumn In March, in 2009. The film, made on a $1 million finances, was rejected by three film distributors and launched on DVD.

His plumbing firm as soon as employed as much as eight staff. The enterprise continues to be energetic, however as an alternative of full-timers, he hires native plumbers on an ad-hoc foundation.

In current years, Huang has been dogged by authorized troubles. In 2021, he was sentenced to 10 months’ jail for assaulting a Bangladeshi employee he had employed. In 2024, he was fined $3,000 and banned from driving for 5 years after colliding with a bike owner, leaving the sufferer with a fractured elbow.

He doesn’t flinch when requested about his time behind bars.

“Yes, I went to Changi University,” he says in Mandarin sheepishly, referring to his time in jail, including that he was launched after 5 months for good behaviour.

Asked if he feels awkward being a hawker after 20 years on tv, particularly when so many purchasers recognise him, he waves it off.

“I don’t care how people view me. I can put my pride down,” he says. “Being a hawker is a retirement job for me. I want to do something I truly love. I am an active person. I cannot sit still.”

From display to seafood

Even as an actor, he had a facet hustle as an insurance coverage agent, making chilly calls at industrial estates and approaching strangers at MRT stations between filming. At his peak, he led a crew of 19 brokers and earned about $10,000 a month.

Before performing, he was a licensed plumber in his late father’s plumbing, landscaping and development enterprise. A yr into performing, he joined mates to begin a tropical fish farm in Lim Chu Kang, wading into knee-high mud to dig ponds. The enterprise incurred a loss, leaving him $20,000 out of pocket.

“It was a learning experience. I can take hardship,” says the previous star, who married actress Lin Meijiao, 62, in 1991.

The couple divorced in 1997, when their daughter, actress Chantalle Ng, was just a few months outdated. He is estranged from Ng, now aged 30. He has since remarried and has a son, 21, an undergraduate.

Huang says the concept to enterprise into seafood got here throughout his time in jail.

“I was in a cell with seven people,” he says. “We spent a lot of time chatting. Some of them had experience in the food business. They gave me the idea to sell crab.”

He has at all times favored the hard-shelled crustacean. “I wanted to sell durian or crab,” he says.

Intending to import and distribute crabs, he secured a moist market stall at MacPherson Market and Food Centre in May 2023.

He started by supplying Indonesian crabs to stalls at moist markets in locations comparable to Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh, delivering orders in a van till he misplaced his driving licence.

When he bumped into provider points, he started promoting fish, studying to scale them correctly. In the start, he usually minimize himself with the knife.

He additionally tried calling crab suppliers in Sri Lanka. When they didn’t reply, he travelled there himself. In 2024, he made 4 journeys, going it alone and strolling by way of wholesale markets to strategy suppliers.

Eventually, he discovered a vendor prepared to work with him. But rising prices of late have led him to supply from native suppliers right here too.

Hawker enterprise

In February 2026, he opened Old Fisherman. His goal: to supply restaurant-quality dishes at inexpensive costs.

His bestseller is Crab Mee Hoon. Crabs price $40 every (500g to 600g), with prospects selecting how they’re cooked. Options embrace Chilli Crab, Black Pepper Crab and Salted Egg Crab.

Other standard dishes embrace Steamed Flower Grouper ($12), that includes his housemade steamed fish sauce. 

The self-taught house cook dinner says he refined his Crab Mee Hoon over a decade.

“I learnt from over 20 chefs by asking them for tips. I would go to their restaurant kitchens or even their homes to watch how they cooked the dish,” he says. “I pieced together my recipe from what I learnt from them.”

He spent $20,000 to arrange his stall inside a month. His background in plumbing got here in helpful. He designed the stall himself, ordering the chrome steel counter, fridge, business steamer and gasoline range from Chinese on-line platform Taobao.

“When starting a new business, it is better to be cost-conscious. I save where possible, including washing the dishes myself,” he says. But he maintains he doesn’t skimp on high quality elements, selecting to make use of naturally fermented premium Shaoxing wine for his dishes.  

But operating a hawker stall has been difficult.

“The commercial gas stove is a lot more powerful than what I am used to at home. On my first day, I burned a lot of dishes,” he says ruefully.

He additionally struggled to listen to prospects above the roar of the range. Fellow hawkers stepped in to assist, with one even frying a dish for him. By the third day, he had adjusted.

He continues to hunt recommendation from them, together with tips about cooking rice so it retains longer. “It is a learning process. I am constantly seeing how I can improve,” he says.

He juggles his market and hawker stalls, waking at 6am and ending previous 9pm, reaching house solely about 10pm.

At first, he labored alone. “I thought I could be an octopus,” he says. This led to workflow points, with him turning away prospects or making them wait as much as 45 minutes.

The warmth of the kitchen was additionally troublesome to deal with. “I ate five bowls of ice kacang daily during my first week,” he recollects, chuckling.

He has since employed a part-time assistant, although coaching takes time.

He reckons it could take him one other 5 months to interrupt even.

“There is no harm in trying,” he says. “If I cannot make it, I can close the stall in two years. It is like movie-making. I want to test my limits and see how far I can go.”

He has no qualms interacting with individuals from all walks of life. Some former cellmates have visited his stall to help him. “I am an ordinary person,” he says. “I cannot be more ordinary.”

He additionally attracts curious stares from passers-by who recognise him. Long-time followers generally present up with meals and drinks.

He accepts them graciously with thanks.

“It is very easy to poison me,” he says with amusing.

Old Fisherman is at 01-29 Circuit Road Hawker Centre, 79 Circuit Road. It is open from 11am to 2pm and 5 to 8pm (Tuesdays to Sundays), and closed on Mondays

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This article was first revealed in The Straits Times. Permission required for copy.