Overview & Critical Review
Sun Kee Drinks is a third-generation hawker stall tucked within the bustling Kovan Market & Food Centre (Blk 209 Hougang Street 21), operating Tuesday through Sunday from 6am to 2pm. The stall’s most remarkable attribute is its pricing: drinks are sold at SGD $0.30 (small) and SGD $0.50 (large) — a pricing structure unchanged since 1985, making it a living artefact of Singapore’s hawker heritage.
Husband-and-wife proprietors Goh Kai Suah (61) and Chua Choon Huay (59) have stewarded the business for over two decades, carrying forward a legacy originally established by Mr Goh’s father, who operated as a street hawker along Kangkar (Upper Serangoon Road) in the pre-hawker-centre era. What distinguishes Sun Kee is not merely its pricing but the operational philosophy underlying it: a deliberate, principled commitment to accessibility in the face of rising ingredient costs, inflation, and competitive market pressures.
The couple employs what Mdm Chua describes as a ‘high sales, low profit’ model — a strategy that prioritises volume and community service over margin maximisation. This is not naivety but a conscious cultural statement rooted in the values of an older Singapore.
Ambience & Atmosphere
Kovan Market & Food Centre exemplifies the quintessential Singapore hawker centre: open-air, fluorescent-lit, humid, and alive with the clatter of trays and the mingling aromas of dozens of concurrent cooking operations. The environment is functional, not aesthetic — the architectural language of utility rather than design.
Sun Kee’s stall is compact and unadorned. There is no signage beyond the functional, no Instagram-optimised plating, no ambient lighting curated for atmosphere. The stall operates under the standard overhead lighting of the hawker centre, and the couple work behind a modest counter stacked with urns, ladles, and the quiet machinery of decades-old routine.
Yet there is a distinct warmth to the space. A steady queue forms naturally, and the atmosphere is one of familiar ritual — regulars barely need to speak their order. The morning bustle (the couple begins preparation at approximately 5:30am daily) lends the stall a sense of purposeful momentum. Drinks often sell out before the 2pm closing, lending each visit a subtle urgency.
Ambience Rating: 4/5 — Authentically hawker; unpretentious and communal.
In-Depth Dish Analysis
- Soya Bean Drink (Dou Jiang / 豆浆)
The soya bean drink at Sun Kee is sourced from a supplier rather than freshly pressed on-site, yet its quality exceeds many freshly made counterparts available in the city. The drink is notably gao — thick and full-bodied — a descriptor that signals proper soy solids concentration rather than the diluted, watery product that has become depressingly common at higher-priced establishments.
Served hot, the drink carries a naturally sweet, leguminous depth. Mr Goh’s practice of tempering the hot drink with a measure of cold soya bean for in-house consumption reveals a hospitality instinct that is both practical and quietly thoughtful — an unremarkable gesture that nonetheless distinguishes the experience from transactional hawker service.
Cold servings are offered without ice, preserving concentration and flavour integrity throughout the drinking experience — a detail that speaks to an understanding of the product’s character. - Grass Jelly Drink (Xian Cao / 仙草)
The grass jelly drink is a classic of Southeast Asian hawker culture, prepared from Platostoma palustre (formerly Mesona chinensis), a herb in the mint family. At Sun Kee, the grass jelly component is sourced externally and combined with sweetened liquid. The result is conventional but reliable — a cooling, mildly bitter foil to the sweetness of the surrounding syrup.
The drink functions as much as a cultural touchstone as a beverage: grass jelly drinks occupy a nostalgic register in the Singaporean food consciousness, evoking childhood, neighbourhood kopitiam visits, and the specific thermal relief of a cold drink in equatorial heat. - Bird’s Nest Drink (Yan Wo / 燕窝)
The bird’s nest offering is the most elaborate of the three. Served in a large cup, it presents as a clear, lightly sweetened liquid threaded with small gelatinous fragments engineered to evoke the texture of genuine bird’s nest — the protein-rich salivary secretions of swiftlets (genus Aerodramus) that form the basis of one of Chinese gastronomy’s most prized ingredients.
At SGD $0.50 for a large, this is obviously not authentic bird’s nest — a single bowl of genuine bird’s nest soup commands anywhere from SGD $30 to over $100 in dedicated establishments. The drink is instead a flavoured approximation with jelly inclusions, but it is executed with care: the sweetness is calibrated, the pandan fragrance present but not overwhelming, and the overall profile is pleasant and refreshing.
Texture & Sensory Analysis
Textural Profiles
Soya Bean (Hot): Viscous and coating, with a smooth, slightly unctuous mouthfeel attributable to soy protein emulsification. No grittiness; well-processed. Finish is clean with a faint beany lingering note.
Soya Bean (Cold): Slightly thinner than the hot variant due to temperature-dependent viscosity reduction, but still above average in concentration. No ice dilution; texture remains consistent to the last sip.
Grass Jelly: The liquid component is thin and watery with moderate sweetness. The jelly pieces — when present — offer a soft, yielding resistance; they cleave cleanly under minimal pressure and dissolve rapidly, leaving a faint herbal bitterness on the palate.
Bird’s Nest Drink: The base liquid is syrupy and slightly thicker than water, with a gentle viscosity imparted by dissolved sugars. The jelly fragments are gossamer-thin and gelatinous, offering a delicate textural counterpoint — reminiscent of aloe vera gel pieces in consistency, though finer and more translucent.
Chromatic & Visual Profiles
Soya Bean Drink: A warm, creamy ivory — analogous to diluted whole milk or unbleached parchment. When hot, a thin skin forms rapidly at the surface, signalling protein denaturation and indicating acceptable solid content. The colour is uniform with no separation.
Grass Jelly Drink: Deep obsidian-black jelly pieces suspended in or alongside a pale amber liquid. The contrast is stark and visually arresting. The jelly’s matte surface absorbs rather than reflects light, lending it a dense, opaque quality.
Bird’s Nest Drink: Pale champagne to light gold in hue, with suspended jelly fragments that are near-colourless and semi-transparent. When backlit, the drink exhibits a faint luminosity. The overall presentation is delicate and understated — visually the most refined of the three offerings.
Recipes & Preparation Methodology
Traditional Soya Bean Drink — Home Recipe
Yield: approximately 1 litre. This recipe approximates the gao (thick) style preferred at Sun Kee and traditional hawker contexts.
Ingredients: 200g dried soybeans (yellow variety preferred), 1.2 litres cold water (for blending), 300ml additional water (for cooking), 3–4 tablespoons white sugar (adjust to taste), 1–2 pandan leaves (optional; knotted).
Method: Rinse the soybeans thoroughly under cold water, then soak in sufficient cold water for a minimum of 8 hours (overnight preferred). Drain and rinse again. Working in batches, blend the soaked soybeans with approximately 1.2 litres cold water until a smooth, white slurry is achieved. Strain the slurry through a fine-mesh cheesecloth or muslin, wringing firmly to extract maximum liquid; the resultant okara (soy pulp) may be reserved for baking applications. Transfer the raw soy milk to a heavy-bottomed pot, add pandan leaves if using, and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Skim any foam that rises. Simmer for 15–20 minutes. Add sugar to taste, stir to dissolve, and remove pandan. Serve immediately for hot preparation; cool to room temperature before refrigerating for cold service. Do not serve with ice if texture integrity is a priority.
Grass Jelly (Xiancao) — Home Recipe
Yield: approximately 500g jelly. Dried grass jelly herb (xiancao; Platostoma palustre) is available at Chinese medicinal herb shops and wet markets.
Ingredients: 50g dried grass jelly herb, 1.5 litres water, 3 tablespoons tapioca starch or sweet potato starch, sugar syrup to serve.
Method: Rinse dried herb briefly. Combine with 1.2 litres water in a pot and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes until the liquid is deeply coloured and carries a pronounced herbal aroma. Strain and discard solids. Return liquid to heat. Mix starch with 300ml cold water until fully dissolved and lump-free; add gradually to the hot herb liquid while whisking constantly. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring, for 5–8 minutes until the mixture thickens noticeably. Pour into a shallow tray and allow to set at room temperature (approximately 2 hours), then refrigerate. Once set, cut into cubes and serve in chilled sweetened water or sugar syrup.
Bird’s Nest Jelly Drink — Approximation Recipe
This recipe replicates the texture and aesthetic of a bird’s nest drink without the prohibitive cost of genuine bird’s nest.
Ingredients: 10g agar-agar powder, 800ml water, 3 tablespoons rock sugar, 2 pandan leaves, 200ml additional cold water (for mixing), additional rock sugar syrup for serving.
Method: Dissolve agar-agar in 800ml cold water in a saucepan. Add pandan leaves and rock sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring, then reduce and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove pandan. Pour into a shallow tray to set; the layer should be thin (approximately 3–5mm). Refrigerate until firm. Once set, use a fork or coarse grater to scrape the jelly into fine, irregular strands — this approximates the fibrous character of bird’s nest. Serve in chilled lightly sweetened water. A few drops of pandan essence may be added to the serving liquid for fragrance.
Final Verdict
Sun Kee Drinks operates in a register that contemporary food culture has largely abandoned: the unassuming, service-oriented, community-embedded hawker stall. The drinks are, by any technical measure, good — well-sourced, properly prepared, and served with a care and attentiveness that exceeds the transactional baseline. The pricing is extraordinary not as a gimmick but as a statement of values.
What Sun Kee represents academically is a case study in use value versus exchange value in urban food culture. As Singapore’s hawker ecosystem faces mounting pressure from rising costs, generational succession challenges, and the aestheticisation of food culture, Sun Kee is a point of resistance — small, deliberate, and deeply human.
One visits not merely for the drink, but for the encounter with a philosophy.
Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Value for Money | Cultural Significance | Authentic Singapore Heritage
Blk 209 Hougang Street 21, #01-65, Kovan Market & Food Centre, Singapore 530209
Tue–Sun, 6:00am – 2:00pm (or until sold out) | Not halal-certified