Satay Night Fever

Not all of the action happens inside the Hawker Centres. One of the most well known centres is Lau Pa Sat. An excellent Hawker Centre by day, tucked in the middle of the business district. Surrounded by high rise office blocks and well known financial institutions. Busy during the day, but at 7pm each night a speedy transformation takes place.

The road to one side of the centre is closed to traffic and eight Satay stalls open. There is a furious rush to set out tables and stools, fire up barbecues, and get cooking. As with most Hawker stalls, look for the popular ones, the ones with the most people sat near them is normally a good sign of quality.

Most vendors offer set amounts of satay sticks - chicken, beef, mutton and prawn. Depending on your party size, or hunger, go for 20, 40, 100 and so on. Random people will try and sell you other items, roti or naan to go with, not needed unless you are very hungry! A cold Tiger beer was well received though.

I can’t vouch for the quality or providence of the meat, but after being marinated and cooked over coals it was very tasty. Biggest surprise was how good the mutton was - a decent amount of fat, strong rich lamb flavour, and dipped in the satay sauce - perfect.

Don’t expect anything to clean your hands either - that will get sold to you separately!