After an almost two-year break, famous satay joint Ah Pui Satay is back in business, this time at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh. The lauded satay brand, which is famous among foodies, is co-owned by street hawker Ah Pui (whose real name is Ang Boon Ee), 66, and his disciple, Ang Thiam Seng, 57. Previously located in Chinatown as a casual air-conditioned eatery, it shut down in November 2022 due to Ah Pui’s poor health. 

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Ah Pui’s larger-than-usual Hainanese-style charcoal-grilled satay boasts a good meat-to-fat ratio - apt for a stall named ‘Ah Pui Satay’. It’s also a cheeky nod to the hawker’s ‘pui’ (chubby) build. But compared to when we last saw him almost two years ago, we must say that Ah Pui looks a lot less pui now. 

His satay comes with peanut sauce topped with freshly-grated pineapple. 

Ah Pui two years ago

The ex-street hawker started his career back in the ’80s, when he (illegally) hawked from a wooden pushcart at Tiong Bahru. After getting fined four times, the once-elusive hawker ended up selling his sought-after skewers at a cafe called 195 Pearl Hill Cafe in Chinatown in 2021, set up by a former regular customer. His satays were so in demand back then that it had a six-month waiting list. But shortly after that, Ah Pui and his disciple, Seng, who worked as a kitchen assistant at Pearl Hill, left to open their own restaurant at Smith Street. Sadly, it operated for just over a year — with no longer any waitlist required for the satay — before shutting down. 

After his nearly two-year break to recuperate, Seng tells 8days.sg that “now, Ah Pui is well rested and ready to make a comeback”. 

Though he declines to reveal the exact numbers, Seng shares that they used to pay a “five-figure rental” back in Chinatown, and are now paying “less than half” the rental cost at their new stall in Toa Payoh. They had initially considered reopening in Chinatown, but Seng says “finding a stall in Chinatown that met all our criteria proved to be a challenge”. So they expanded their search to the heartlands, ultimately landing on Toa Payoh. 

Satay now cheaper than at his Chinatown eatery

Instead of opening a restaurant again, the duo set up a hawker stall to save on rental costs. “Now that we’re located in a hawker centre, our operational costs are more affordable, allowing us to lower the prices of our satay despite the inflation”, Seng says. He adds: “We just wish to share this delicious dish with as many people as possible without charging anything more than it should cost”.

Thanks to their lower rental fees, Ah Pui and Seng’s pork satay now cost $1 per stick (with a minimum order of 10 sticks) versus $1.20 in the past, though their BBQ Prawns have remained at $2.50 per stick (with a minimum order of three sticks). 

Even then, he says “people still find it expensive, because now [other hawkers] sell it at 80 cents or 90 cents per stick”. However, he adds that “Ah Pui’s satay size is almost double” that of other hawkers’. 

Update: According to netizens, Ah Pui Satay reopened to snaking long queues, and sold out at 7.30pm yesterday.

Ah Pui Satay is at #01-13 Blk 75 Lor 5 Toa Payoh Food Centre, 75 Lor 5 Toa Payoh, S310075. Tel: 8393 1669. More info via their Facebook and Instagram.

Photos: Ah Pui Satay, Facebook/Benny Soh

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