Ang Sar Lee Satay Bee Hoon

Satay sauce, promoted from dip to gravy. A Singapore oddity worth knowing about.

Make Ang Sar Lee your second or third stop at Chomp Chomp, not your first: satay bee hoon is rich enough to crowd out the stingray and wings if everyone orders a bowl. It suits a rainy night or the tail end of a long supper, when you want something saucy that isn't another plate of fried noodles. Share one between two if you're grazing; keep it to yourself if you're not.

The dish is a Singapore oddity worth knowing. Satay bee hoon takes the peanut sauce you would normally dip satay into and turns it into a gravy for rice vermicelli. Here that means pork slices, a prawn, kang kong, cockles, tau pok and cuttlefish, all under a thick, reddish satay gravy. Squeeze the lime over it; a gravy this rich needs something sharp.

The stall at #01-17 has been at this for more than 40 years. It used to trade on Upper Serangoon Crescent and is now run by the third generation. Its old name, Satay Bee Hoon & Hainan Beef Noodle, gives away the other half of the menu: Hainan beef noodles, pork or chicken noodles and Hainan noodle soup. The beef version is thick rice noodles with beef slices, preserved vegetables and peanuts in a thick, starchy gravy, a sturdy alternative if someone at the table has already done the satay route.

One small warning: don't confuse it with Ang Sa Lee, a separate oyster omelette stall at #01-33. Same-sounding name, completely different plate (and an easy mistake after a jug of sugarcane juice). Check the unit number and you'll be fine.

How to do it well: Chomp Chomp's shutters only start going up after 4pm, so this is a dinner-and-supper stop. Order the satay bee hoon to share, add the lime, and keep a cold sugarcane juice close. In a centre full of rich, heaty dishes it is the only thing on the table doing any cooling, and it goes with peanut gravy better than it has any right to.

Good to know #01-17 Chomp Chomp Food Centre; evenings only. We haven't confirmed this year's hours or prices with the stall, so check before a special trip.

Ang Sar Lee Satay Bee Hoon | #01-17 Chomp Chomp Food Centre, 20 Kensington Park Road, Singapore 557269