Seow Lai Hao, 58, runs Chai Ho Satay, a hawker stall selling grilled chicken and pork satay sticks.

BBC: Can Singapore's hawker food heritage survive?

Yet although she enjoys being her own boss, she also thinks that working in a hawker stall is not a job for young people.

BBC: Can Singapore's hawker food heritage survive?

As a schoolboy, he sold balloons for pocket money and, later, during World War II, started a little business peddling snacks from a hawker's stall.

CNN: Mahathir Mohamad

Whatever hawker centre you visit, to enjoy the best food find the stall with the longest queue - and join it.

BBC: The perfect trip: Singapore and Malaysia

But, according to local consensus, one in particular is a must-visit: an unpretentious stall called Tian Tian, in the very workingclass Maxwell Road Hawker Centre on the outskirts of Chinatown.

BBC: The perfect trip: Singapore and Malaysia