Nik T.
Yelp
the life of a hawker must be a thankless job.
if your food is good, many people will flood your stall then they will curse as they have to wait long long.
if you rush to meet their insatiable demands, your standards might drop and the queue vanishes.
so......to be or not to be........
here at chey sua, they are the king or queen.
i might be the duke and baron but wait i still must.
btw you only get to wait if they are not closed.
at liberty they open when they want, here they close as and when they want.
so don't check in until you climb up those stairs and double confirmed that they are indeed open!
even if they are indeed open, do not check in until you know for sure that they have not run out of carrot cake.
even if they indeed have not run out of carrot cake, do not check in until you know the estimated waiting time!
deceptively, there might not be a queue standing in line but trust me, it is a trap.
everyone seating around the stall is in the queue ahead of you!!!
so, if you so happen to still insist on checking in here be prepared to wait in excess of 45 mins on a weekend or holiday.
your best bet for a check in and dukedom might well be an early weekday morning.
and please do not approach the aunty or uncle frying!!!
hawkers at work must not be disturbed.
go to the right hand side of the stall where the ordering takes place.
first words that always comes out of their mouth: MUST WAIT HOR!
normal response would be: how long?
Booooooom comes the answer: VERY LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok, how long is very long?
MORE THAN #@$@#@%%@^&!&!()!!!!!!!
ok can.
if you survive that, please do not ask or order the black version!!!
there is no black version here!!!!
never was and never will be.
an uncle tried to be funny and ordered black and insisted that they do sell the black version!????
kenna he did from them!
black and black face thereafter.
of course i absorbed all these whilst waiting for my one order for takeaway.
and mind you, that is after i finished my come daily hokkien mee for breakfast.
so why is the queue so long?
the process is complicated.
the 'cake' has to be fried just right to be crispy on the outside and melt on the inside.
the prep starts at the rear of the stall where another cuts the 'cake' into small cubes.
a quick fry in tonnes of oil and the hot 'cake' is scooped into a bowl of well beaten eggs to coat with cholesterol before being returned to the pan for more torture.
in goes the chye por and the crisping process starts.
once crisped, it is dished or packed and the token chopped spring onions adorned.
oh wait, that is not mine!
sigh.......
the uncle ahead ordered gazillion packets to go!!!!!
sob............
i sat quietly waiting, as many who ventured forward to ask about their order were shot.
so after a 45 mins wait........i rushed home in a cab with my bounty as i was running late.
you see, i actually ran to chey sua.
anyways, the bottom line is it is crisp.
even though mine was a takeaway packet.
they do indeed put in a lot of hard work to make it so.
and yes, it is a thankless job of splattering hot oil and intense heat.