Nosh of the Day: mobile Tiong Bahru satay

My first place of residence in Singapore was the now deeply trendy Tiong Bahru district. And one of my favourite SE Asian foods of all time is the Satay. So it was with some interest that I once or twice during my stay caught glimpses of a Satay-man, wheeling his mobile BBQ cart around Tiong Bahru. But I'd never seen him serving food; let alone managed to find him to buy any. The mobile roadside vendor is the old way of eating Satay. And often you'll get the tastiest food there. But this type of vendor is becoming increasingly rare.

For those who have not already tried it, Satay is the term used to describe skewers of marinated meat (usually chicken or beef) and a little fat, deliciously grilled over a flame, and served with a unique sweet/spicy peanut sauce. It can also come with chunks of cucumber and/or onion and, in Malaysia at least, cubes of compressed rice known as 'ketupat'. You basically dip everything in the sauce and it's really, really yum. However, while you'll probably find Satay on many menus in SE Asia, it is incredibly rare to find the real thing. Hotels even in Kuala Lumpur will offer up strange 'healthy' Western style chunks of meat alongside an insipid paste posing as spicy peanut sauce, and probably try to charge you $1 per stick (outrageous!). Popular Hawker Centres might offer something a step up, but still charge stupid prices. The best vendors are nearly always the little guys - whether they are mobile or not. They'll have delicious secret recipes, charge a good price and you'll need a trusted local to find you one.

Satay is originally Indonesian. But you can find damn good ones in Malaysia too. Despite searching, I'd yet to find anything decent in Singapore.

Searching the (empty) back-streets...

So this weekend a friend and I decided to go on a hunt for the Tiong Bahru Satay-man. And after a wander about the likely back-streets of the area - we found him!! I could hardly believe it! It had taken nearly two years to locate this elusive Satay-man!

Spotted!!!

Of course, there was already a queue there, so we had to wait a while for our order. These Satays were different, however. They were pork Satay (Malaysia / Indonesia are predominantly Muslim so pork is never used; but this vendor was Chinese) and this sauce was a mix of a peanut sauce and pureed pineapple (normal for pork Satay I'm told). There were no ketupat on the side, only cucumber chunks.

The verdict: they were really, really good. Different from the Malay version I know and love, but just as tasty in a different way. There was quite a generous portion of chargrilled meat on each stick, and the sauce for this style was more fruity-sweet than spicy. But that worked with the pork. All in all, a very successful Sunday outing!

 







PS If you want to try to find Satay-man, today he was by one of the walkways, right between Tiong Bahru market and the main bus-stop heading West/towards Delta. We started looking at 5pm and found him at maybe 5.45pm (ie early for dinner). Good luck!