GEORGE TOWN, Feb. 25 -- Tai Buan Porridge on Muntri Street here is used to serving busy lunchtime crowds but the throngs of people who have descended on the shop after news of the shop's imminent closure spread over social media has been phenomenal.

Owner Ong Tai Buan was throwing up his hands in apology while yelling out, "Sorry, sorry, please be patient" when we stopped by.

For the past two days, the 75-year-old has been kept busy from the moment the shop opens at 11am until it closes at about 3pm.

He was methodically dishing out and chopping the meat for side dishes, while his daughter and wife served customers as a long queue snaked from his shop down to Leith Street.

By 2pm most of the side dishes had already run out, leaving onl...