Bean Curd & Satay at Old Airport Road

One of the simple pleasures of life in Singapore is having a good nutritious meal in a humble hawker centre for less than $10. I had a thoroughly enjoyable meal of bean curd and satay at Old Airport Road Food Centre recently. The meal, which provided lots of proteins, some carbohydrates and vegetables, was delectable and all for the grand total price of $8.60.

Chuan Kee Satay

Chuan Kee Satay at Old Airport Road is one the many gems to be found in the popular hawker centre situated between the Dakota MRT station and the Mountbatten MRT station. It is considered by quite a few to be one of best places in Singapore for pork satay. Chuan Kee Satay is definitely on our list for the must-try stalls of Old Airport Road Food Centre.

Chuan Kee Satay at Old Airport Road is a Hainanese satay stall run by an elderly Chinese couple. They sell pork satay, chicken satay, mutton satay and rice or ketupat. Their ketupat is rather large and probably is made of the equivalent of one full bowl of rice.

The very nice stall holders will take your order and ask for your table number. The satay will be served to you. Be prepared to wait a while if you want to try Chuan Kee Satay. During meal times, the wait can easily exceed 30 minutes.

I ordered 5 sticks of chicken satay and 5 sticks of pork satay ($0.60 per stick) and a ketupat ($0.60). The satay was served with slices of onion and cucumber and a small bowl of satay sauce.

The satay was well marinated and grilled. Each stick of satay had a mixture of lean meat and fat and some charred bits. The meat was very tender and was coated with a sweet syrup with hint of herbs. The fat portion made the satay juicy and the charred bits added smokiness and a crisp texture. The satay was delicious on its own. Eaten with the sauce made of peanuts and grated pineapple, the delight would be on another level. The pork satay of Chuan Kee Satay at Old Airport Road is one the best that I have ever tried.

Lao Ban Soya Beancurd 老伴豆花

Another of the must try stalls in Old Airport Road Food Centre is Lao Ban Soya Beancurd 老伴豆花. Lao Ban Soya Beancurd is the original stall that started chilled soya bean curd craze a few years back. Unlike most other tau huay stalls, Lao Ban’s version of bean curd is served exclusively chilled – no hot tau huay available. The sugar is also cooked with the bean curd instead of bean curd topped with syrup. It does sell soya milk though as well as herbal jelly. The plain original bean curd is $1.60 per bowl and the almond bean curd is $2.

I ordered the almond bean curd. It was really delicate and smooth and was more like a light pudding or custard. Neither the taste of soya bean nor the taste of almond was overpowering. The chilled bean curd was not too sweet and was refreshing. It was a very enjoyable dessert for $2.