PETALING JAYA, Jan 26 — If you pass by Melaka’s Lee Wah fruit store in Ujong Pasir early in the morning, you will spot an elderly lady and her stall located opposite it. 

She sells chicken rice, mee sua and tang hoon (glass noodles) ranging from RM2 to RM3.50 from as early as 7.30am.

By 9.30am, her packets of food are already sold out.

Yeo Poh Gek, 71, told Malay Mail that she had been selling the packed food for the past two months to pay for their extra expenses.

Her husband cooks the food. 

"My husband worked as a chef in a restaurant in Bukit Cina but the restaurant closed down two years ago as business was bad which resulted in him losing his job while I was a housewife at that time.

"The both of us also realised that we were also bored at home, especially with the government’s reintroduction of the movement control order.

"So, we decided to cook and sell our home-cooked food — all made by my husband who has a knack for cooking.”

Yeo added that her husband wakes up at 4am to do the cooking while she gets up slightly later and packs the food. 

"My husband loves to cook and it was his idea to sell the chicken rice topped with fried chicken instead of the usual steamed chicken.

"I am also very lucky that my husband and I still have the willpower and stamina to work at this age,” she said.

The 71-year-old added that whenever she has unsold packets she would give them to an old folk’s home and to a children’s home in Ujong Pasir.

Her stall is located right opposite Lee Wah fruit shop in Ujong Pasir and she operates from 7.30am to 9.30am every day except on Mondays and Wednesdays.