February 2026 visit: I really wanted to try a Laksa and this was a very good first bowl. I loved the creamy soup base and the noodles. Several people in line when I arrived at the stall - everyone ordered at least 1 bowl of the $5 Laksa. So I did as well (lemming). Medium sized bowl for the $5. It was a good size to share between 2 adults with other food. I paid cash, but others paid by some digital payment with the QR code at the counter.

Apr 2026. Worked late today. It was my first time dining at Maxwell food centre at 8pm. I was surprised to see a crowd and many stalls still opened at this hour. I tried Old Nonya's Chicken Rendang Nasi Lemak at $8. It was ok 👍. The thigh was big and it came with an egg and potato, a char, ikan bilis and peanuts. The chilli was really good.

Store is located in the same lane as where the famous chicken rice is, closer to the main road. Delicious traditional laksa - will be back! Ordered a large and extra cockles - cuz why not. We thoroughly enjoyed it, sorry no pic of food tho cuz we inhaled in.

Old Nyonya (老娘惹) is one of the more colourful and intriguing stalls at Maxwell Food Centre. While many people associate Maxwell primarily with Hainanese chicken rice, this small stall at #01-04 represents another important part of Singapore’s cultural history: the Peranakan or Straits Chinese tradition. I have photographed and recorded the stall, although I have not yet tasted its laksa. From the frontage, it presents itself confidently as a specialist in Nyonya food. The signboard carries the name Old Nyonya (老娘惹) together with the claim “Famous Since 1960”, while large photographs advertise laksa, chicken rendang, curry chicken and more elaborate seafood versions of its signature dish. The stall does not look minimalist or corporate. Its food photographs, menu notices, delivery information and promotional material crowd together across the frontage. Like many working hawker businesses, it uses nearly every available surface to explain what it sells. The rich orange-red colour of the laksa displayed in the photographs is especially effective: even before tasting it, one can imagine coconut milk, chilli, dried prawns and spices warming together in the pot. Yet the history behind the stall is more complicated than its “Since 1960” sign initially suggests. Who founded Old Nyonya? Many online food guides repeat that Old Nyonya has been operating since 1960, probably because this date is prominently displayed on its signboard. Recent guides consequently describe it as a long-established Peranakan stall with more than six decades of history. (sengkangtopunggol.sg) However, a more personal account supplied by the owners’ daughter gives a different history. In a 2021 social-media feature submitted by Shirley Chen, she explained that the people running Old Nyonya are her parents, then in their sixties, and that they began selling Nyonya laksa in 2016, after her father retired. The stall’s Facebook page similarly states that Shirley manages its online presence on behalf of her parents, who own the hawker business. (Instagram) 1960 appears to be the heritage date claimed by the brand, while 2016 appears to be the beginning of the present parents’ hawker operation. What I can observe is a stall with a strong visual identity and an interesting tension between heritage and modern enterprise. The name Old Nyonya (老娘惹), the “Famous Since 1960” sign, the richly coloured food photographs and the family-operated character all suggest inherited tradition. Yet the more verifiable story tells us that Shirley’s parents began selling Nyonya laksa in 2016 after her father retired, with their daughter helping to build the online presence. This does not make the stall less interesting. In fact, it makes the story more human. It is a later-life family enterprise built around food associated with an older generation. The parents bring their cooking and labour; the daughter brings digital communication and delivery organisation. Together, they turn a traditional bowl into a contemporary hawker business. The laksa itself appears different from many common versions because it avoids cockles and focuses instead on a creamy coconut-and-dried-shrimp gravy, prawns, fish cake, tofu puffs, egg and laksa leaves. The premium seafood bowls add visual drama without abandoning the basic flavour structure of Nyonya laksa. One day, I should order the standard bowl first rather than begin with the lobster or Royal Laksa. The simplest version would reveal the stall most clearly: whether the rempah has been fried deeply enough, whether the coconut remains balanced rather than overwhelming, whether the dried-prawn flavour is pronounced, and whether the laksa leaves give the final fragrant lift. Only after understanding that foundation would it make sense to explore the more elaborate seafood versions. For now, Old Nyonya remains an attractive record of how Singapore food heritage continues to operate—not as a museum object, but as a living family business adapting an old culinary language to today’s Maxwell Food Centre.

Just had a beautiful royal Laksa at Old Nyonya's (01-04}. It was rich, with great flavours and depth, and a small amount of heat as you expect. The royal comes with half a (quite small) lobster, a crab claw, and some scallops and cockles too. Excellent Laksa.