Sin Chew Satay Bee Hoon - 3rd Gen Peanut Gravy Since 1956

At Bukit Timah Food Centre, Sin Chew Satay Bee Hoon has been serving one of Singapore’s most distinctive noodle dishes since 1956.

The stall is now run by its third generation, and its menu has stayed deliberately narrow: just two dishes, both built around a rich, hand-blended peanut satay gravy poured over freshly cooked rice vermicelli. Satay bee hoon is a Teochew creation, born from combining Malay-style satay seasoning with thin rice noodles, and Sin Chew remains one of the few stalls in Singapore still committed to making it well. Here is a closer look at what sets their two signature preparations apart.

Sin Chew’s history traces back to a family stall that originally sold fishball noodles. According to the family, the switch to satay bee hoon came about almost by accident, after a family member brought home satay one day and had sauce left over. Rather than let it go to waste, the family mixed the leftover satay sauce with bee hoon, and the combination worked well enough to become the stall’s new focus. Nearly seven decades on, that same peanut gravy recipe remains the foundation of the dish, now carried on by the third generation of the family.

The stall’s namesake dish layers thin rice vermicelli with a thick, smooth peanut satay sauce that leans slightly sweet rather than heavily spiced, a style that has become closely associated with Sin Chew. The gravy is made from finely ground peanuts blended with a mix of spices, giving it a nutty depth without overwhelming heat.

Each plate is topped with a generous mix of ingredients, including pork slices, prawns, cockles, cuttlefish, and tau pok, all blanched fresh rather than pre-marinated, so the sauce itself carries the dish’s flavour. Portions scale up from $5 to $7 depending on size, with the larger servings suited to sharing between two or three diners.

The second half of Sin Chew’s menu swaps the noodle base for a lighter pairing of cuttlefish and kang kong, or water spinach, tossed in the same peanut gravy used for the bee hoon. It can be ordered with noodles or without, with the noodle-free version priced from $6. The cuttlefish is cooked to a firm, springy bite, and the kang kong retains its crunch rather than turning soft in the gravy, making this a good complement to the bee hoon for diners who want a mix of textures on the table.

Part of what keeps customers returning is the stall’s insistence on cooking ingredients fresh rather than preparing them in advance. Prawns, cockles, pork slices, and cuttlefish are blanched close to serving time, and the noodles are cooked to order rather than held in a warmer. This means the queue can move slower during peak lunch and dinner hours, but it also keeps the texture of each component distinct instead of softened by prolonged contact with the gravy.

Sin Chew’s narrow menu reflects a stall that has chosen to do two dishes very well rather than expand for the sake of variety. With a recipe passed down across three generations and ingredients prepared fresh throughout service, it remains one of the more consistent stops for satay bee hoon in Singapore.

2A Jalan Seh Chuan, #01-037, Bukit Timah Food Centre, Singapore 599213
Opening Hours: Wed & Thu, Sat & Sun, 11:00am – 2:30pm, 5:00pm – 8:30pm. Closed Mon, Tue, Fri.
Tel: +65 9826 0782