Good news: Ah Pui Satay has reopened at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh after a two-year hiatus.

Bad news: His satays are so popular, they get sold out in about three hours on most days.

This leaves many people disappointed.

Announcing sold out timings

To satiate as many people's cravings as possible and give hope to those who have yet to try the grilled skewers, Ah Pui Satay is taking to social media these days to announce when the stall is done for the day.

This is in response to many customers popping by the stall only to find no satays left.

The stall opens daily at 3pm except on Mondays, when it is closed.

It theoretically should stay open till 10pm, but it ends way earlier than expected on most days.

On one Saturday, the stall announced it was sold out before 4:40pm.

On a recent random Tuesday, it was done before 5:50pm.

Popular as ever

The overwhelming response is perhaps expected.

The price per stick of satay is S$1, when it was S$1.20 previously when it was sold in Chinatown.

Moreover, the serving size of each satay is visibly bigger than other stalls.

History of Ah Pui Satay

Before this move to Toa Payoh, the business was out of action for two years.

Ah Pui, whose real name is Ang Boon Ee, 66, and his business partner, Ang Thiam Seng, 57, were operating an air-conditioned eatery in Chinatown selling the famed Hainanese-style satay.

It shut down in November 2022 due to Ah Pui’s poor health.

When it was gone, no other satay seller could replicate Ah Pui’s larger-than-usual charcoal-grilled satay with a golden meat-to-fat ratio.

Street hawker beginnings

Ah Pui, a former itinerant street hawker, illegally sold his food in the 1980s from a wooden pushcart in Tiong Bahru.

He got fined four times but the crowd loved him and his food each time he made an appearance in the estate.

And the brand recognition has always been there.

In 2021, years after his street hawker stint, Ah Pui started selling his satays at 195 Pearl Hill Cafe in Chinatown to give him a more permanent operating space.

Seng worked as Ah Pui's assistant then.

With a fixed location, came the waiting list for orders that extended to six months.

It was following this stint that Ah Pui and Seng set up the air-conditioned eatery in Chinatown with no waiting list.

But the shop closed down to give Ah Pui time to recover and recuperate.

What to expect

Currently, the waiting time for orders is about one hour, as Ah Pui Satay announced.

Ah Pui " 阿肥 " Satay

Address: Block 75 Lorong 5 #01-13 Toa Payoh Food Centre

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sundays, 3pm to 10pm

Top photos via Ah Pui Satay