Gordon Ramsay brought her out of retirement a decade ago. Now she’s 74 years old — and she’s here to stay.

By all accounts, Foo is an accomplished woman.

She started cooking some 40 years ago, selling food from a tiny stall at a hawker center — or open-air food court — with her husband from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., six days a week. She sells chicken rice, Singapore’s de facto national dish, which comprises steamed or roasted pieces of chicken, seasoned rice, and sambal, a spicy chili sauce.

The stall, Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice — which means “every day” or “day by day” in Chinese — was founded at Maxwell Food Center in Singapore’s Chinatown. Foo took over the business from her brother, an accomplished chicken rice chef, in 1986. When she was starting out, she prepared 15 to 20 chickens every morning — this was enough to feed her small customer base for the day.

Today, Foo’s business has expanded, but it still runs from that same stall at the same place.

“It was difficult in the beginning. There were times when it would rain and flood, but I never wanted to waste food, so I was out selling until every plate was sold,” Foo told me in Chinese.

Foo Kui Lian, the founder of Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Marielle Descalsota/Business Insider
She charges $1 more than the average price

I met Foo, now 74, at her stall at Maxwell Food Center in November.

Standing in her petite frame and wearing a mustard blouse and simple trousers, Foo greeted me with her warm eyes and soft smile. Her manager, William, helped interpret the interview. He joked that Foo “got dolled up” that day, knowing that I was going to be photographing her.

Foo’s food isn’t cheap by Singapore hawker food standards — the smallest plate of chicken rice costs 5 Singapore dollars, or $3.70. The average plate of chicken rice in the city-state costs $2.70.

But the premium price tag doesn’t deter locals and tourists from spending up to an hour lining up at her stall. Foo told me that her team prepares some 200 whole chickens each day, whipping up thousands of dishes a week for hungry diners.

William told me that they count how many whole chickens the stall sells in a day instead of the number of plates. According to the local food critic KF Seetoh, one whole chicken can be divided into 10 to 15 portions of meat. According to those portions, the stall could sell between 2,000 to 3,000 plates of chicken rice a day. Tian Tian did not confirm this estimate.

While the stall officially operates from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday, it closes early once the meat runs out.

“I worked hard and I was sincere about the business, that’s why it eventually picked up,” Foo said.

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When I visited the stall on a weekday at lunchtime, dozens of people were waiting in a line that snaked around the two small stalls from where the eatery operates.

With over 100 food stalls, the hawker center buzzed with energy. Tourists photographed their lunch at the orange tables, cooks shouted out orders, and flaming woks and simmering broths created a fragrant aroma. Despite the wide selection of food on offer, Foo’s chicken rice was selling like hotcakes.

Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay both visited Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Marielle Descalsota/Business Insider
Bourdain brought her fame

Foo skyrocketed to fame after her version of chicken rice was featured on the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s famed television show “No Reservations” in 2008. She said she initially had no idea who Bourdain was — but her stall blew up.

“I thought it was just a bunch of people taking a video,” Foo said, adding that Bourdain spent the whole day at the hawker center.

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Foo said Bourdain was “low-key,” humble, and “very down to Earth” — and acted like an ordinary diner trying out local food.

“I didn’t get to talk to him, but he did say this,” Foo continued, pointing to the sticker on her stall.

“Chicken rice is so fragrant and delicious that it can be eaten on its own,” the sticker, designed with a speech bubble and portrait of Bourdain, read.

Two years later, in 2010, she retired.

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Foo Kui Lian meeting Gordon Ramsay at her hawker stall in Maxwell.
Nicky Loh/Getty Images
Ramsay brought her out of retirement

But Foo decided she wasn’t done cooking. In 2013, Foo competed against Gordon Ramsay on who could make better chicken rice in Singapore — she ended up beating Ramsay.

The challenge — called “Hawker Heroes Challenge” — had Ramsay compete against three famed hawker chefs: Foo, noodle shop 328 Katong Laksa’s Ryan Koh, and popular crab eatery Jumbo Seafood Restaurant’s Ang Kiam Meng.

“I had the impression that Gordon was very strict, very fierce, and very vulgar,” Foo said. “But he turned out to be a really nice guy.”

Foo described Ramsay as “extremely hard-working,” and that he was already at the competition venue — another hawker center in central Singapore — at 12 a.m., prepping