Bak Kee Teochew Satay Bee Hoon - 60 Years of Peanut Sauce Mastery

Satay bee hoon is one of Singapore’s fading hawker specialities, with only a handful of stalls left that still make it the traditional way. At Redhill Market and Food Centre, Bak Kee Teochew Satay Bee Hoon has been preparing the dish since the 1960s, when the stall was started by the late Mr Lee Sar Bak.

The dish itself reflects Singapore’s multicultural food history, combining rice vermicelli with a peanut-based satay sauce adapted from Malay and Indonesian satay traditions, layered with Teochew ingredients such as cuttlefish, pork liver, and cockles. What keeps customers queuing at Bak Kee, often for fifteen to twenty minutes or more, is the depth of its sauce and the way each component is prepared individually before being brought together on the plate.

Bak Kee’s satay sauce recipe has remained largely unchanged since the stall first opened in the 1960s. The stall is now run by Samuel Lee, who continues the preparation methods passed down through the family, including the practice of cooking each ingredient separately rather than stewing everything together. This attention to individual preparation, rather than a single uniform cooking process, is part of what has allowed the stall to maintain consistency in texture and flavour over decades of service.

The dish begins with a base of rice vermicelli, blanched until soft but with a slight bite still intact, then topped with tender slices of pork, pork liver, rehydrated cuttlefish, tau pok, kang kong, and blood cockles. Each ingredient is cooked separately and to a precise degree of doneness before assembly, so that the cuttlefish remains tender, the liver stays soft without turning rubbery, and the kang kong keeps its crunch.

The defining element is the satay sauce, made with a long list of ingredients that can run to around forty components, including onion, garlic, chilli, ginger, dried shrimp, and crushed peanuts. The peanuts are left coarsely crushed rather than ground fine, which gives the sauce a distinct texture and bite running through its otherwise smooth, thick consistency. The sauce carries a savoury sweetness balanced against a mild nuttiness and a gentle heat, and is ladled generously over the noodles so that every strand is coated.

A side serving of Cuttle Fish Kang Kong and a combined Cuttle Fish Kang Kong Bee Hoon are also available for those who want the dish’s seafood and vegetable components served on their own.

A short queue is common at most hours of the day at Bak Kee, a reflection of how few stalls in Singapore continue to prepare satay bee hoon in this traditional way. For those curious about a dish that represents a genuine piece of Singapore’s hawker heritage, this Redhill stall remains one of the most reliable places to try it.

Address: 85 Redhill Lane, #01-40, Redhill Market and Food Centre, Singapore 150085
Opening Hours: Tue – Fri 7:30am – 7:30pm, Sat 7:30am – 6pm, Sun 7:30am – 3pm, Closed Mon