Sunday, May 24, 2009

Popiah from Qi Ji, Singapore

Popiah

Popiah is a local burrito of sorts (or even a meatless mu shu pork) that I usually try to avoid due to the raw garlic that is smeared on the inside of the skin. All the same, that raw garlic is precisely what makes this peanut, egg, and cooked turnip-filled thing taste pretty good. We were near Shaw Towers today and noticed that Makansutra gave this shop (100 Beach Road #01-01) a full three chopstick rating, so we stopped on in to give it a try.

It was fine; as expected, it was loaded with garlic and chili sauce, which made it easy to eat. But I wasn't a huge fan of that pink drink in the background. Called bandung, it was basically a rose-flavored milk, which I really only got because I had never tried it before. The rose scent didn't sit well with me; it was like drinking an old lady's perfume. Now, these weren't the only things available here (indeed, I was surprised to find them selling kaya toast and nasi lemak). But at least I now know what bandung is.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude-you've lived in Spore this long and have never had a bandung? wow!

Kathy said...

Hate the garlic inside too. The chilli sauce sometimes has a big dose of garlic so it kinda makes it a double whammy. If you wrap your own though, you could always vary the ingredients.

There's this DIY popiah place
Blk 149 Silat Ave #01-58. You order a little pot of the filling and you could wrap your own. There's tze char dishes like fried mee sua (pretty difficult to make well but they do an ok job).

I read some bad reviews about the place recently and it's been a long time since I went there.
Overall, the food isn't mind blowing but it does bring back childhood memories.


There are other places in Joo Chiat which does takeaway sets for "popiah parties" at home.

emy said...

If you want to try good popiah, you can go to glory, diagonally opposite Katong Mall traffic junction.

It's very good.

Unknown said...

Frankly speaking, Makansutra's choice are too "John" most of the time.

If you really want nice, yet authentic Popiah, go to a hawker centre in some neighborhood. You'll find much better, cheaper taster stuff there.

we are never full said...

whoa... i love learning about new things - esp. authentic "sandwiches" i'd never heard of. this looks amazing. raw garlic or no raw garlic. i can imagine that this isn't your traditional business lunch meal.

Pete said...

I TOTALLY agree with you regarding the raw garlic thingy. I love popiah from Malaysia precisely because they don't use raw garlic there, but crisp golden-brown fried garlic/onion bits.

As for Bandung, I think it's a local Malaysian/Singaporean Malay drink. Don't think I encountered anything like that in Bandung, Indonesia.

AndryBewe said...

Seems delicious... :) but i never tried before...It's looked like Indonesian food, we call it "Kroket" or "Lumpia"