Delish $1.80 Popiah & Overflowing Kueh Pie Tee By Vietnam-Born Hawker At Toa Payoh Stall - 8days Skip to main content

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Delish $1.80 Popiah & Overflowing Kueh Pie Tee By Vietnam-Born Hawker At Toa Payoh Stall

Despite the affordable price, the hawker says some elderly customers cannot afford her popiah: “They tell me they only have $1, and I will sell it to them at that price. I just want them to eat something.”
Delish $1.80 Popiah & Overflowing Kueh Pie Tee By Vietnam-Born Hawker At Toa Payoh Stall

Much has been said about rising food costs and hawker food inflation, but you can still find cheap and tasty eats if you know where to look

One little-known gem is Toa Payoh popiah stall Popiah Affection where the no-frills rolls are priced at a very wallet-friendly $1.80. Located in the same coffeeshop as the popular Toa Payoh Lucky Pisang Raja, the six-year-old joint also offers muah chee and kueh pie tee.

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Popiah with a “Vietnamese touch”

Popiah Affection is owned and run by Ho Chi Minh City-born hawker Klim, 50. She moved to Singapore in 2006 when she married her Singaporean husband, who is a cook at a bak kut teh hawker stall. The couple have a 12-year-old daughter.

Before starting her own biz, Klim, now a Singaporean, worked at a friend’s popiah stall in Yishun. She moved to the Toa Payoh outlet a couple of years later and when the boss decided to give up the business in 2018, Klim took over the unit and ran it by herself.

She switched to her family’s popiah recipe, which, she says, has a “Vietnamese touch”. And by that, she means that besides the standard stewed bang kuang (jicama) filling, it’s also loaded with fresh raw veggies, kinda like Vietnamese summer rolls. It’s also more savoury than the sweetish local version.

Klim makes her own bang kuang filling, sweet sauce, and chilli. “My husband is vegetarian, so we do not use pork, lard, or MSG. He is the one who cooks at home and he came up with the recipes,” the friendly hawker tells 8days.sg in Mandarin.

$1 popiah for the needy despite slim profits

Despite raising prices twice in the past six years, Klim has always kept her food affordable to cater to the elderly residents in the neighbourhood. When she started her stall in 2018, her popiah was only $1.50 each. “Then it became $1.70, and later increased to $1.80 in 2022,” she shares.

“I raise prices by only 10 or 20 cents each time, but even then, some of the elderly customers cannot afford it. There are times when they tell me they only have $1, and I will sell it to them at that price. I just want them to eat something,” adds Klim.

The discount isn’t just for regulars, but anyone who approaches her for it. While profits are slim, she says it’s enough for her to get by.

It’s not easy running my own business, but I earn slightly more compared to working for others. As long as I make money every month, it’s okay. Just take it one day at a time,” she says.

It helps that the rent for her tiny stall – she shares the space with a drinks stall – is “very affordable”. 

“Business here is quite good. Sometimes I’m so busy that I cannot manage,” Klim says modestly. “I can sell around 200 popiah a day. It’s a lot already.”

Popiah, $1.80

Klim wasn’t exaggerating when she says she piles her popiah with veg. Our vegetarian roll, though a little on the petite side, is so stuffed that it unravels when we attempt to pick it up with our chopsticks. Klim uses smaller supplier-made popiah skins, but she overlaps two sheets to make the rolls bigger. This also makes it sturdier for the generous fillings. The result is a nicely moist popiah, though we wish the skin was softer.

Besides stewed turnip, the popiah fillings include lettuce, cucumber strips, blanched bean sprouts, a small wedge of hard-boiled egg, ground peanuts and crispy batter bits.

When we bite into it, we could taste the freshness of the crunchy raw veggies and hit from the garlic paste and piquant chilli. The savoury bang kuang filling is lighter on the palate but still flavourful and balances well with the homemade sweet sauce. Klim tells us that the filling is lightly seasoned with rock sugar and salt and infused with pandan leaf for fragrance. The icing on the cake is the salted deep-fried batter bits, which add texture and taste to the dish.

Kueh Pie Tee, $3.20 for five pcs

The kueh pie tees come with the same fillings but packed into crispy pastry shells. The cups are so chock full of ingredients that Klim lays them on their side instead of upright when plating. And just when we thought she was done filing them, she piles more fresh veggies on top of it all and finishes off with a dollop of chilli on the side. “I don’t place the kueh pie tee standing up ’cos I’m afraid they will topple when customers carry the plate to their table,” she reasons.

Despite heaping the juicy ingredients on the shells, they remain crispy when we tuck into them. We find ourselves enjoying this more than the popiah ’cos of the crunchy textures.

Peanut Muah Chee, $2.20

Like her popiah and kueh pie tee, Klim’s muah chee is also on the healthier side. The dough is made using glutinous flour and water, no oil is added. Piled with finely ground sugared nuts from a supplier, the muah chee is soft and chewy, but we would have preferred it a bit more gooey.

Popiah Affection is at Epic Haus Coffeeshop, 177 Toa Payoh Central, 01-176, S310177. Open daily except Wed, 10am to 8pm.

Photos: 8days.sg

All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

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