June 03, 2021, 02:26 PM
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Pan Ji Cooked Food is probably one of the few places in Singapore where you can purchase handmade traditional Chinese snacks.
Tucked away in the green zone on the second level of Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Poon Sun Hay, 65, has been operating his hawker stall since 1983.
A customer, Cil Wong, recently shared about the hawker stall in the Hawkers United - Dabao 2020 Facebook group, encouraging netizens to support him.
Handmade sachima and other traditional Chinese snacks
Pan Ji's signature offering is the sachima, also known as honey crackers on its menu.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COc6bfADike/
Often compared to the American Rice Krispies Treats, sachima is a Chinese sweet snack made of fried batter bound together with a stiff sugar syrup.
Image by Cil Wong.
Image by Chinatown Complex Food Centre on Facebook.
While commonly found in China, the snack can be difficult to find in Singapore, especially handmade ones.
The sachima at Pan Ji comes in three sizes:
- S$2.80 for small
- S$5.50 for medium
- S$6.50 for big
They also sell "dan san" or honey twists (S$1.80) that are knotted deep fried egg dough coated with sugar syrup.
Image by Chinatown Complex Food Centre on Facebook.
Literally translates to "laughing dates" in Chinese, the sesame egg split (S$4.50) or "xiao kou zao" are deep fried sesame dough balls that are crunchy.
Their menu also includes "youtiao" or dough fritters (S$0.80).
Image by Sylvia Chua on Google Maps.
Business slowed down
When we first tried to reach Poon via phone at around 4:06pm on June 2, he said he was busy with closing up for the day.
He later returned the call at around 4:33pm to respond to our queries.
Poon told Mothership that he was unaware of the Facebook post as he did not have any social media and only heard about it from his friend.
Image by 馮柳月 on Facebook.
While his regular customers continue to patronise him, business has slowed down these days, he disclosed.
When asked about business after the Facebook post, Poon reiterated that most of his customers today were regulars with "a few curious young people".
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByO9qaxnCZ5/
According to a comment left on the Facebook post, the stall's business was "good" at around 2pm on the same day.
If you are there to take away some mains, you can drop by Pan Ji to bring some snacks back home too.
Pan Ji Cooked Food
Image by Cil Wong.
Address: Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-078, Singapore 050335
Opening hours: 8am to 3pm, daily
Top images by Cil Wong and Chinatown Complex Food Centre on Facebook.
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