Kway Guan Huat: Late president S R Nathan’s favourite popiah?

If you are a popiah lover, then you really have no excuse for not having tried Kway Guan Huat. Not only is this eatery a part of the Singapore food heritage, the popiah here was simply shiok!

In fact, it was rumoured that late President S R Nathan’s domestic helper came regularly to tapau (take away) popiah home.

The skin is nice and translucent, yet is chock-full of filling without breaking. The sauce doesn’t ooze out either, which can make it messy to eat. The texture is chewy and left that wonderful sweet aftertaste upon chewing. The turnip filling had that savoury-sweet taste.

It’s no surprise since they have added deshelled Sri Lankan crabmeat into the filling. You can’t really see the meat, but you can definitely appreciate the crustaceans’ natural sweetness.

Lastly, homemade crispy bits made from fish paste added a nice crunch to the popiah. Put them all together and you get a wonderful marriage of flavours and textures — chewy (skin), crunchy (crispy fish bits) and juicy (turnip). This is the beauty of an expertly rolled and firmly packed popiah.