Satay feast outside Lau Pasat. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com and can be found on @callmecreation on Instagram

Having a taste of satay grilled along Boon Tat Road between Lau Pasat and Sofitel five years ago has changed the way I look at that quintessential Singaporean/Malaysian street food. It’s skewered meat of every kind: chicken, beef, pork, mutton, rabbit, lamb, and even prawns. It can be eaten as is, or for extra oomph, you can dip it in peanut sauce.

The meat (of whatever kind) is tender and savory and not sickly sweet like how some of our Pinoy barbeque tend to be. Hindi sya nakakaumay. The meat size is cut just right so it’s not much of struggle when you bite it off the skewer.

Every night (around 7 pm-ish) they close off a section of Boon Tat so satay vendors can roll out the tables and chairs for al fresco diners.

There are senior citizens who go around selling wet wipes or tissue for SGD 1 a pop. If you’re feeling charitable, go ahead buy some because you will need that after stuffing your face. Otherwise, save your 40 pesos (roughly SGD 1) and use your own handkerchief to wipe the peanut sauce off your mouth.

I never fail to have one dinner there with coworkers or other Singapore-based friends like @barbaruuu there.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUeWZtygJAu/?igshid=1tcl7g63dziso

Satay is best paired with beer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUZjdNDAiFr/?igshid=k6c0bahlft8w

And more beer

Beer and satay outside Lau Pasat. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com and can be found on @callmecreation on Instagram

After that eye-popping moment five years ago when I discovered how the real satay tasted like, I can confidently declare that the ones served by Shangri-la Makati and Shangri-la EDSA are complete garbage.