“I was hoping to win over some Italians, but I didn’t expect this many,” Yip, who holds a degree from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Bra, told Atlas Obscura. “It’s the worst place in the world for non-Italian food.”
However, Yip’s business is far from an overnight success.
For starters, his food truck happens to be the antithesis of Italian food culture, which “isn’t exactly begging for alternative eating formats,” according to Atlas Obscura.
“They’re very arrogant about foreign food,” Malaysian-born customer Hasan Rosman told the outlet. “They’re used to simple ingredients, so when they try something more colorful and vivid, they worry they’ll have stomach problems.”
“When you arrive late and these beautiful people are waiting for you to open up shop 😍 #quantosietebelli #satesake.” — Justin Yip. Image via Facebook / Sate & Sake
Yip must also abide by “unrealistic” food truck regulations, at least in the beginning, which required him to relocate every hour.
Setting up and packing up took him 15 minutes each, which meant that he had only 30 minutes to work from each location.
To make things worse, he is barred from operating within 200 meters (656 feet) of a school or 100 meters (328 feet) of a church.
He quickly realized, however, that authorities would leave him alone under a pedestrian bridge between two buildings — and that’s become his usual spot since.
“A customer getting creative with presentation by sticking his sticks of satay into the rice. Also stops them from rolling out of the cup.” — Justin Yip. Image via Facebook / Sate & Sake
While locals form the backbone of his patrons, Yip denies adjusting his recipe only to appeal to the Italian palate.
“I don’t char the satay on purpose to make it more palatable to Italians. Actually that’s real satay, Italians often think it’s burnt,” he told Mashable Southeast Asia.
However, Yip discovered that his satay goes well with beer — hence the birth of Sate & Sake.
Featured Images via Facebook / Sate & Sake (Left, Center and Right)
Many people might not know this, but NextShark is a small media startup that runs on no outside funding or loans, and with no paywalls or subscription fees, we rely on help from our community and readers like you.
Everything you see today is built by Asians, for Asians to help amplify our voices globally and support each other. However, we still face many difficulties in our industry because of our commitment to accessible and informational Asian news coverage.
We hope you consider making a contribution to NextShark so we can continue to provide you quality journalism that informs, educates, and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for supporting NextShark and our community.