End of an era as Qantas pilots’ favourite restaurant closes after 100 years

Every family has them. Recipes that are a carefully guarded secret, lovingly handed down from one generation to the next. Their value to a family is immeasurable. Which is why it requires a very special relationship to share them with an outsider, let alone an entire airline.

When Wing Seong Fatty’s closed its doors for the final time this week after more than 100 years, the small Singaporean restaurant bequeathed to Qantas the secret recipes for two of its hallowed dishes, speaking volumes about the connection they shared.

The closure of Fatty’s is a significant moment for thousands of Qantas crew, who had dined there during a working layover. The relationship between the unassuming eatery and the representatives of a global airline was born during World War II, when the owner and his son would smuggle food parcels to Australian and British Prisoners of War.

Many of those POWs became commercial pilots, and thanked Fatty’s with their loyal patronage post-war. Eating at Fatty’s became a pilgrimage forged into company folklore with every subsequent crew passing through Singapore for decades to follow.

This loyalty in many ways contributed to the restaurant’s end. The ongoing success of the business meant third-generation owners, brothers Skinny and Kelvin, were able to send their children to university, where they developed careers away from the red-awninged establishment, wedged between an electronics shop and a convenience store. Now in their 70s, Skinny and Kelvin decided it was time for Fatty’s to close.

The decision was no doubt an emotional one for the family, but almost as much so for Qantas staff. Since the announcement, wave after wave have visited to dine either on layovers, or on personal leave, just to say thank you and goodbye.

Among them, were some extra special visitors. Members of the airline’s flight operations team including chief pilot Captain Dick Tobiano, travelled to Singapore to make a farewell presentation to Skinny and Kelvin, thanking them and their families for what they have provided to the countless Qantas crew who have sat at their tables over the past 80 years.

It may have bemused the brothers, who were always known better for their food than any friendly interest in their customers. But then, the return gesture: two of their most coveted and closely held recipes were handed over. One was for the Fatty’s spring rolls which are chunky, bursting with delicious fillings and are worth travelling the world for. The other was for a swirling clay hotpot drooling pilots dubbed nuclear chicken.

For a limited period, Qantas fir