Handmade Heritage · Fresh Spring Roll

Popiah

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A long-running family shop in Joo Chiat still hand-slaps its wheat-flour popiah skins onto a hot iron plate one paper-thin sheet at a time — a technique still done entirely by hand because no machine reproduces the same texture.

A thin wheat-flour crepe is wrapped around a filling of braised turnip, bean sprouts, egg, and prawn, brushed with sweet sauce and chili, then rolled and sliced — sold fresh off the skillet at long-running shops around Joo Chiat.

Why it's made this way: Popiah traces to China's Fujian province and became popular among both Hokkien and Teochew communities; one of Joo Chiat's oldest popiah-skin makers was founded in 1938 by a Fujian immigrant, and his family has kept the hand-made technique alive as one of the neighborhood's most enduring food trades.