GEORGE TOWN, Sept 3 — The aroma of eggs, taugeh, chai por and thick rice cakes being fried in a large pan is just intoxicating.

The end result is a fragrant mix of soft rice cakes beautifully flavoured with a mix of sauces that contrast with the sweet juicy taugeh. Everything is brought together by the salty chai por.

This is char koay kak.

Every morning, three sisters will push a cart to set up their char koay kak stall in front of the Seow Fong Lye Coffee Shop on Macalister Lane.

They have been doing this for decades; the stall was started by their father at another coffee shop at the corner of Burmah Road and Macalister Lane before the 1980s.

Eoh Joo Seng started selling char koay kak back in 1963 at the old coffee shop until it closed down and was replaced by a bank in 1988.

The stall then shifted to the roadside a few hundred metres from the corner coffee shop and has stayed at this spot in front of another coffee shop since then.

Today, Eoh’s daughters Guat Hong, Guat Lan and Guat Hoon operate the stall together. "There are nine of us, seven sisters and two brothers, and all of us had to help out at the stall as we were growing up,” said Guat Lan, 63.

She said the sisters had to help out more as their parents were very poor and could not afford to pay for all of their schooling.

The three Eoh sisters, from left, Guat Lan, Guat Hoon and Guat Hong

"They used whatever money they had to ensure our brothers finished school while us girls, we got to go to school for about six years before we had to drop out to help with the stall,” she said.

Previously, their father used to sell char koay kak in two sessions: 6am to 2pm and then later, from 5pm to midnight.

"During those days, there were a lot more people in town... there were the cinemas like Capitol, Majestic, Cathay and Wembley where patrons will come here for supper after watching the movies. Then we have a lot of factory workers stopping by for supper and workers coming over for dinner after work,” she said.

At that time, Joon Seng steamed his own rice cakes for the char koay kak and over the years, the sisters took over doing this.

"My eldest sister used to make it while we handled the stall but now she’s too old so our relatives are helping to make the rice cakes for us,” Guat Lan said.

Even now, she said their other sisters make other traditional food such as otak-otak, dumplings, chai kuih, yam cake and curry puffs at home to sell alongside their char koay kak stall.

At the stall, Guat Hoon, 53, will be frying the rice cakes while Guat Lan prepares the ingredients and Guat Hong, 67, serves customers.

When asked if any of their children, nephews or nieces are interested in taking over the stall in future, they said it will be up to the young.

"Most of them have their own jobs but if any of them want to learn and take over in future, they can but for now, none of them have shown any interest,” Guat Lan said.

"Those days, our family was so poor we couldn’t afford new clothes so usually, a set of clothing will be handed down among us sisters and if it is torn, our mother will repair it and we will continue wearing it,” she said.

She said all the sisters were not educated enough to get better jobs.

The char koay kak is fried on a round pan

"This is why we are hawkers, we don’t have a choice and we need to survive and this is all we know,” she said.

For now, they are glad that business continues to be brisk even though they are only open for breakfast up till 1pm daily.

It will be many more years before they call it a day and till then, the Eoh sisters will continue to fry up delicious char koay kak.

Eoh Sisters Char Koay Kak

Seow Fong Lye Coffee Shop

94C, Macalister Lane,

George Town, Penang.

Time: 7.30am-1pm