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128 Circle
128 CIRCLE tells the stories of hawkers at a Food Centre in Singapore that has been at the heart of the community’s lives for almost four decades. These are the people – the human faces – behind the familiar food staples we have grown up with, and grow old with, in our neighbourhood. And these are stories of the ups and downs, the inspiration and the perspiration, of the challenges and the joys of being at the beating heart of a cultural heritage that has endured from the early days of Singapore’s history.
128 Circle Food Centre becomes the centre of national attention when a news crew does a fortieth anniversary piece on it. Underneath the happy veneer, however, is a dark cloud – the hawker centre is facing permanent closure.
Larry and his stall become the target of unrelenting harrassment from a gangster, Ah Seng, who wants to collect a forty-year-old debt on behalf of his dead father. Unable to cope with the untimely death of her husband, Aishah closes her mee rebus stall.
Dominic starts a petition to stop 128 Circle Food Centre from closing down. But not everyone is on his side. Audrey receives a marriage proposal she can’t refuse… except she does. Chandra has to return to India suddenly to visit a sick relative.
Aishah and Nurul discover that working together is a whole different ball game. Audrey and Yi Kai go out for a different kind of dessert but end up fleeing the stall together when Audrey insults thugs. Rani frets when Chandra doesn’t call her after arriving in India; could he have gone missing?
Larry and Ah Gek juggle the running of their stall with looking after their granddaughter, Michelle. Rani and Arun are visited by a mysterious stranger, Prakash, who claims to be Chandra’s son. And Yi Kai is visited at his stall by a familiar stranger… Julian, Audrey’s ex-fiancé.
Mr Owyang, a wealthy business mogul, visits 128 Circle Food Centre, sparking rumours that he might be buying it over. Dominic and Sherry are involved in an altercation at their stall that will have far-reaching consequences for 128 Circle.
Prakash helps out at the food stall and wins over customers and stallholders alike, except for one - Arun, who resents the presence of his unexpected stepbrother. Michelle has a dangerous encounter with an old enemy of Larry's, Ah Seng. Nurul tries to persuade Aishah to franchise her mee rebus stall.
Sherry is heartbroken when she finds out the truth behind why Dominic asked her to run the hot dog stall with him. A hawker-centre-wide search is launched when Michelle goes missing at 128 Circle. Did Ah Seng's men kidnap her?
Chandra returns home, but the atmosphere is tense. When Sherry refuses to show up at work, Dominic is forced to hire help in the form of Mrs. Gan, a senior citizen. Nurul's new 'boyfriend' Aaron disappears, along with the money Aishah and Nurul gave him to start the mee rebus franchise.
Rani and Arun confront Chandra about his betrayal of the family, as tension mounts at the Indian food stall. Meanwhile, Audrey confronts Yi Kai about the money he received from Julian to leave her alone. Aishah and Nurul's friendship reaches breaking point, and Nurul quits the stall.
To Aishah's chagrin, Nurul sets up her own mee rebus stall... on the same row as hers. Rani discovers a revelation about Chandra's relationship in India that shatters her. Meanwhile, Larry - desperate for money to help Mei Zhen in her custody battle - goes back to old bad habits.
Dominic struggles to run his hot dog stall after Sherry quits to work for a café. To make matters worse, his altercation with a customer has gone viral and he has become the public enemy of 128 Circle. Chandra encounters a major setback of his own when Prakash is taken away by the authorities.
Audrey gives Yi Kai a makeover and tries to make him fit in at a company function. Chandra's problems with the stall are compounded when his stall is shut down by the management for closing without permission. The police, tipped off about illegal betting activities at the hawker centre, conduct a raid.
A case of food poisoning at 128 Circle puts both Aishah and Nurul's mee rebus stalls under scrutiny. Unable to bear the brunt of the upheavals, Chandra lands himself in hospital. The dessert stall closes down as Yi Kai contemplates a move to JB, leaving Audrey behind.
Larry and Ah Gek prepare to close their stall for the first time in forty years, as the other hawkers – Dominic, Aishah, Nurul as well as Chandra and his family – contemplate life-changing decisions of their own. Is the end of the journey for 128 Circle Food Centre?
