Teochew Satay Bee Hoon is not a pretty dish but it is uniquely Singapore and sadly is part of our disappearing Nanyang food heritage. One of the oldest Teochew satay bee hoon stalls still operate at Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre.
Sprightly and cheerful Mdm Lee who is in her 80s now started her street side stall in the 1960s around today's Jalan Kukoh. She moved to Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre when she was offered a stall here in 1977 and has been here ever since.
He son Mr. Lim helps her at the stall. Since the 1960s, the stall is still simply named Teochew Satay Bee Hoon 潮洲沙爹米粉, the dish it is serving (so in a way, it is a 无招牌 "no signboard" stall).
The signature thick brown blanket of satay sauce which smothers everything - bee hoon / yellow noodles, bean sprouts, kang kong (vegetable), (rehydrated) dried cuttlefish, pork liver, lean meat, blood cockles etc.
The brown blanket makes satay bee hoon an unInstagrammable dish (unless you re-plate it with everything on top for the camera but it is never served that way). Mdm Lee's satay sauce is made with over 20 ingredients using a recipe passed on to her by her master some 50 years ago. It has exotic ingredients like luo han guo 羅漢果 and nutmeg 荳蔻.
Everything - bee hoon and yellow noodle, bean sprouts, kang kong, cuttlefish, pork liver, lean meat, blood cockles were fresh and cooked to the right doneness, so I can taste all their natural flavours with no off smells or tastes at all.
The satay sauce tasted mainly savoury nutty with a blend of subtle underlying sweetish tartness from the secret ingredients in Mdm Lee's concoction. Despite the visible chili oil, I didn't detect much spicy heat in the sauce. Truth be told, it needs a bit of getting used to to acquire a taste for her unique sauce, so her clientele are mostly long time loyal fans.
Of course, Teochew satay bee hoon is the fusion of Chinese bee hoon / yellow noodle with Malay / Indonesian peanut and spice satay sauce but no one now knows who created it, where and exactly when. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that satay bee hoon is a Teochew creation, while credit for Chinese pork satay is given to Hainanese.
Everything - bee hoon and yellow noodle, bean sprouts, kang kong, cuttlefish, pork liver, lean meat, blood cockles were fresh and cooked to the right doneness, so I can taste all their natural flavours with no off smells or tastes at all.
The satay sauce tasted mainly savoury nutty with a blend of subtle underlying sweetish tartness from the secret ingredients in Mdm Lee's concoction. Despite the visible chili oil, I didn't detect much spicy heat in the sauce. Truth be told, it needs a bit of getting used to to acquire a taste for her unique sauce, so her clientele are mostly long time loyal fans.
Remember not to fold and toss the bee hoon and ingredients in the satay sauce as you eat. That will turn the sauce and the whole dish soggy. The satay sauce is already smothering the ingredients, so just let the bee hoon and ingredients pick up some sauce as you lift them up to your mouth.
Perhaps, the oldest Teochew satay bee hoon stall in Singapore (ain't that many such stalls left anyway). If you are in the Tanjong Pagar area, do pop by to check out one of the last of this uniquely Singapore heritage street food dish.
Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre is located beside and connected by a footbridge to Tanjong Pagar Plaza. The food centre is located on level 2 and Teochew Satay Bee Hoon is one of about 50 hawker stalls here.
What other food do you recommend in Tanjong Pagar?
Restaurant: Teochew Satay Bee Hoon 潮洲沙爹米粉
Address: 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #02-46 Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre, Singapore 081006
GPS: 1°16'35.5"N 103°50'34.4"E 🌐 1.276537, 103.842900
Hours: 8:00am - 5:00pm (alternate Sunday off)
Non Halal
Date visited: 2 Nov 2019 | Updated 9 Aug 2021
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