"Satay Celup"

"Satay Celup" is a unique dish that is only available in Malacca City as far as I know. "Satay" many says it is from the Hokkien word meaning three pieces of goodies on a stick roasted and "celup" is Malay for dip or something like that. Japanese also have goodies on a stick like "yakitori" which is also roasted and "satay" in Malaysia is a commonly known dish of roasted meat on a stick. "Satay celup" well there is no roasting at all but lots of boiling, some even refer to it as a volcanic meal due to the likeness of the boiling gravy to boiling lava.

My first taste of "satay celup" was when I was in secondary school and they were located just behind the Cathay cinema build across the Malacca River. The one that I can remember very well is Kingtu. Eating there was an experience itself with the stinking river underneath you. It was really a very popular place for a snack after a movie and it was quite pack on weekends. I was not a real fan of "satay celup" then because "satay celup" was always almost equals to diarrhea for. Some basic requirement was required to eat "satay celup" at that time, a sharp eye and highly sensitive sense to smell so as to avoid stale food or a stomach of steel. I had neither and had to gain experience the hard way.

If my memory does not fail me I think there were two way of eating "satay celup", express and leisurely. Express was stand up at the counter and dip into a common pot of sauce and leisurely was to sit down like nowadays but the sauce was never changed.

Recently I had been enjoying "satay celup" on a few occasions in the most popular shop which is Capitol Satay. A new pot of sauce is provided for every new customers and the food is not stale because I did not suffer any consequences......hehe!! There are a couple more of these "satay celup" shops and I was told that they were OK too. "Satay Celup" anyone?