Hi Anne Sy satay is quite similar to BBQ "baboy" selling on Philippine street minus the peanut sauce and Pipino or cucumber. In Singapore the Satay Club is long gone it was around for as long as I can remember, which is
back to the mid seventies, and probably long before then. A large, roughly square area off one of the main roads on the outskirts of the city centre, the place looked unprepossessing during the day, but came alive when the sun went down. Dimly lit by strings of warn or daylight low watt plain bulbs, with a few hurricane lamps as well, the place consisted of lots of tables, large and small, in a central area, even though it was shut down ostensibly for failing hygiene regulations, it still quite vivid in my memory lane the place was surrounded by lots of individual vendors selling food and drink. It was possible to get normal chinese-type food there, but the raison d' etre was, as the name points out, Satay. Lamb, beef, chicken, or a combination, chunks strung onto wooden skewers and grilled. Peanut sauce and chilli sauce in big bowls to dip the satays. Drinks in big chilled bottles. Now, what happened (this is almost unique, I think) was that, say, four of you would arrive, and be seated round a table. Drinks would arrive. You would order sometimes 50 to 100 satays, with satay sauce (peanut) and nippy sauce (chilli). This sounds a lot. However, off you would go, fill your boots and chill beers. If you ran out of satays, or sauce, more would arrive. Another 50, for instance. At the end of the meal, you would be charged only for the satays eaten. So you would get a bill for 135 satays, or whatever. The various different sorts were different prices. It actually ended up quite expensive, because you always ate far more than you would normally do.The place were be crowded with all walk of lifes but share the same common passion for satay that grilled on the spot. However, in Philippine I yet to encounter a restaurant selling satay yets , I heard it they a restaurant in greenbelt selling Singapore and Malaysia food if you have information do drop me an email, hope to visit it one day.
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