A day in the life of White House Teochew Porridge’s second-gen boss and his fight to preserve the family legacy

By Evan Mua January 28, 2025
A day in the life of White House Teochew Porridge’s second-gen boss and his fight to preserve the family legacy
We get a look at what goes into running a successful Teochew porridge stall. Photos: Abdul Rahim Anwar and Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere
  • We follow a father-son duo for a morning and see what goes behind running a successful Teochew porridge stall, from the wet market to the kitchen.
  • Second-gen boss Darryl gives us some insight on how it has been working with his father, who founded the business in 1996, and his journey of modernising the business.

It’s another early-morning trip to the wet market. We find ourselves at Serangoon Central at 5:30am and having trouble locating our rendezvous spot.

After a few twists, turns and text messages, we inadvertently find ourselves soaked in the scent of vegetables and fish as we bumble our way to our destination — more an under-HDB collective of stalls than sprawling wet market complex.

Our necks gyrate and our eyes dart, attempting to locate our protagonist for the day, before a blonde young man catches our attention with his animated waving 

It’s Darryl Peh, the 29-year-old second-gen boss of White House Teochew Porridge, a family-business with almost 30 years of history and known for its fresh ingredients. 

We head over to the fish stall where Darryl stands, where he introduces us to his father and the man who built White House Teochew Porridge brick by brick, 67-year-old Peh Li Soon.

Visit for fresh produce and old ties

white house teochew porridge
The experienced hawker enjoys daily early-morning wet market visits. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

According to Darryl, the family patriarch has made it a daily morning ritual to visit Serangoon Central, where he feels he can procure the best and freshest produce for White House Teochew Porridge.

We observe as he swiftly picks up each fish, gently pressing and inspecting the gills and eyes, then moving onto the next. That repeats until he has all the fish he needs for the day, before he moves on to another stall, a few units down.

“What I do is simple: You just press the fish and look at whether the gills and eyes are clear to judge whether it’s fresh,” Li Soon replies, when we ask how he picks his fish. 

white house teochew porridge
He looks carefully to find the freshest fish. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

At the next stall, he continues the fish-fondling ritual, before moving on to a vegetable stall right door, where he patiently rummages through all manners of greens and alliums.

Eventually, he has everything he needs and ushers us to a coffee shop at an adjacent block for a quick break, where he fills up on his morning kopi. 

One thing we notice is the warm welcomes and chatter that follows him everywhere he goes, even at this coffee shop.

It all makes sense a few moments later, when he points to a space right beside the coffee shop and remarks: “That’s where my old stall used to be.”

white house teochew porridge
After he’s done with fish, he also looks through the veggies. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

Darryl chimes in: “I remember when I was young, a long queue would form before he even opened his stall and it would snake to the next block.”

This spot at 262 Serangoon Central was the original home of Soon Soon Teochew Porridge, where Li Soon started his hawker life to support his family as the sole breadwinner in 1996.

That was over twenty years ago as Li Soon eventually moved his business to Kovan in 2007, before he sold it with the intention to retire.

The hardened hawker couldn’t get used to retirement life, though, and made a swift comeback after the sale in the latter half of 2018 — that gave birth to the White House Teochew Porridge we know today.

white house teochew porridge
This little enclave at Serangoon Central is familiar territory for Li Soon. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

That explains the genial folks — Li Soon has clearly forged many ties here. So, is that nostalgia why he continues patronising this particular market? 

Not entirely, he explains: “Nowadays, you can’t really get this kind of fresh produce by depending on suppliers and we’ve had mixed results relying on them.”

Li Soon adds: “I’ve built a lot of trust with the people here, so I prefer coming back for my ingredients.”

Passion for food, love of family

white house teochew porridge
The youngster joined the business for the sake of family. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

After everything is in order, we get in Darryl’s car to head over to White House Teochew Porridge, about 10 minutes away by car, for the morning prep.

Naturally, we ask Darryl about his motivation for joining the family business.

“One thing I care a lot about is letting more young people know about Teochew porridge. Nowadays, not a lot of people know about it and once the older generation is gone, it’s gone forever,” he says.

This comes from a place of passion as Darryl himself is a huge foodie and likes to hunt down the best eats in town. 

At one point, he pointed out a chicken rice stall to our right and told us it’s one of the few places left to get a good, old-school plate of hor fun.

white house teochew porridge
The father and son duo have different responsibilities, but there’s synergy. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

But the other — perhaps more important reason — is family.

The second-gen boss confesses: “My dad has worked hard all his life to support our family and, at his age, I just want him to be able to relax and finally have the opportunity to go overseas when he wants to.”

While his dad is the type of old-school hawker who still feels the need to do everything themselves, Darryl says he has set up a system with SOP (standard operating practices) in place so anyone can go on leave, if they need to.

He has also observed his dad mellowing out and loosening his iron grip over operations in recent times.

While his father is still there frequently, Darryl notes that the hardened hawker now takes breaks, often going home to play with the family dog — a huge contrast to the past, when he would take power naps at his stall, sometimes even just lying on some cardboard on the floor.

Preserving White House Teochew Porridge’s legacy

white house teochew porridge
6:30am at White House Teochew Porridge. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

10 minutes later, we arrive at White House Teochew Porridge, which occupies the corner unit of a row of shophouses, just a few minutes away from Boon Keng MRT station.

Getting out of their vehicles, the father and son proceeded to roll up the shutters and unload all of the morning’s wet-market bounty.

Li Soon quickly goes to work at the back of the kitchen, prepping all their ingredients for cooking, which usually happens later in the day, around 10am.

Darryl leaves his dad to his own devices and comes to chat with us, since the patriarch can be stubborn when it comes to matters of the kitchen, meaning chances for conflict are ever-present.

white house teochew porridge
Prep is already underway at 7am. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

“I came in more often at the start to learn the ropes. But nowadays, I tend to not come in when my dad is here. There were times we argued in the past, since both of us can be prone to micromanaging,” he says.

Darryl adds the decision was made from a place of respect: “I don’t ever cuss at him and I raised my voice a bit, at most. But he’s still my dad and I respect him, so I will apologise.”

It all stems from Darryl’s unwavering trust in his father’s culinary skills. 

He humbly admits that White House Teochew Porridge would never be successful without his dad’s delicious food.

white house teochew porridge
Li Soon is strict, but he is undoubtedly happy to have his son by his side. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

In fact, it’s been a crucial factor in pulling him into the family business.

In 2021, his dad was recovering from a leg surgery and was on the cusp of abandoning his hawker legacy, due to constant pain.

Darryl was preparing for a real estate certification, but the thought of forever losing the taste of White House Teochew Porridge and his dad’s nostalgic cooking was something that terrified him.

After encouragement from a friend who told him “not to be stupid”, he abandoned his real estate plan and decided to step in and help in 2022.

That turned out to be the best decision, as Li Soon says, beaming: “He has his perspective and I have mine. But, of course, I am happy that he joined the business!”

Building a well-oiled machine

white house teochew porridge
Darryl has constructed a system to ensure smooth operations and alleviate the strain on his ageing father. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

As a second-generation hawker though, Darryl saw the need for longer-term planning — and that’s when he devised methods to modernise the business and streamline processes, so Li Soon’s days were less strenuous.

That included kickstarting a more robust online marketing strategy, which included canvassing sales on Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic, and also finding a new crop of cooks to help in the kitchen.

At 7am, these aforementioned cooks start coming in to help Li Soon with the ingredient prep. They look like they were in their mid-20’s to early 30’s.

Besides the prep, they also go about setting up the kitchen for the 10am cook, arranging prepped items, taking out the necessary condiments and tidying up the cooking area.

white house teochew porridge
The cooks work their woks skillfully. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

Eventually, everything is in place. As 10am rolls around, without missing a beat, two of the cooks take up station in the kitchen to heat up their woks.

Then it begins: One of them throws in a splash of beaten eggs, tops it with a motley of cai poh (preserved radish), and proceeds to skillfully swirl and flip, creating fluffy sheets of omelette.

The other starts with a heap of alliums, cooking them till soft and fragrant, before throwing in morsels of chicken and vigorously tosses them about, until nicely coated in sauce and tender.

white house teochew porridge
They were specially trained to uphold the traditional White House taste. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

All this time, Darryl and Li Soon are occupied with other aspects of the opening and don’t see the need to intervene.

But like a well-oiled machine, tray after tray of food piles up and by 11am — White House Teochew Porridge’s official opening time — the food display is mostly filled up, and customers start trickling in.

This efficiency and autonomy is something Darryl is very proud of. “When I was hiring, I searched for people around my age who didn’t have that much culinary experience and trained them up,” he recalls.

white house teochew porridge
It’s time for service. Photo: Evan Mua/HungryGoWhere

“I realised that my dad’s flavours would eventually be eroded if I hired a chef with a lot of experience. But I’m running the business to preserve them, so I rather spend extra time and effort to make sure of that,” he adds.

And it seems that Darryl’s strategy of keeping a crop of young and motivated cooks in order to preserve the iconic White House Teochew Porridge taste is working, so far.

Even the strict Li Soon (somewhat) approves: “You still have to keep tabs to make sure standards are kept. But though it can’t be 100% the same, I’m glad to see that many of our customers still believe in our food.”

White House Teochew Porridge’s food

white house teochew porridge
A tasty, homely spread. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

After a morning of shadowing and observing White House Teochew Porridge’s team at work, it was time to have a taste.

Li Soon explains what he thinks makes good Teochew porridge: “There aren’t any secrets. It just has to be fresh and not too salty or oily.”

white house teochew porridge
You can’t go wrong with cai poh egg. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

We started first with the fried egg with preserved radish (S$3), a bona fide Teochew porridge classic. 

The one here gets everything right — soft, fluffy omelette, sharp and umami cai poh (preserved radish), all in perfect balance.

In particular, we enjoyed how the cai poh is flavourful, but not overwhelming and is a stunningly comforting pairing with the porridge.

white house teochew porridge
Steamed fish has to be one of the most iconic Teochew dishes. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

Then we move on to the steamed fish (S$20), another equally iconic Teochew staple

As with most Teochew-style steamed fish, this one is lightly seasoned with soy sauce and ginger, which lets the fish take centrestage.

White House Teochew Porridge uses red grouper and it is as fresh as it gets, with the flesh cooked till nicely tender, while still sporting a pleasant firmness.

white house teochew porridge
Oh-so-succulent braised pork belly. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

Braised pork lovers will also find plenty of satisfaction in the braised pork belly (S$6), which is done spectacularly.

The braise sauce imparts richness and a moderate dose of herbaceous fragrance, but it still tastes immensely clean. 

More importantly, the texture is on point. The leaner parts are succulent while the fattier parts are soft, silky and not at all jelak. 

white house teochew porridge
The taste of home. Photo: Abdul Rahim Anwar/HungryGoWhere

Oh and naturally, the porridge (S$0.70) is solid. Not soggy, clean, and most definitely the kind of creature comfort that will undoubtedly perk you up on sick days.

If you’re still a stranger to traditional Teochew porridge, it might be worth a trip down.

White House Teochew Porridge is just what you want in this style of restaurant — simple, unpretentious and warms the heart with the taste of home.

It all goes back to something bossman Li Soon said: “Working in this line, the satisfaction you can get is when customers support you and become friends.”

“In these twenty-odd years, I’ve even had the chance to see three generations of a family visiting us!”

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on how to make addictive Taiwanese-style pineapple tarts and the interesting new Korean concept specialising in Korean samgyetang

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to White House Teochew Porridge at Serangoon.

White House Teochew Porridge

1096 Serangoon Road
Nearest MRT: Boon Keng
Open: Monday to Sunday (11am to 11pm)

1096 Serangoon Road
Nearest MRT: Boon Keng
Open: Monday to Sunday (11am to 11pm)


Evan Mua

Author

Evan started off writing about food on Instagram, before joining outlets such as Buro and Confirm Good to pursue his passion. His best work usually comes after his first whisky shot in the morning.

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