Sometimes being referred as Fujian or Chaozhou-style Spring Roll, Popiah is originated from Fujian province in southern China. It is also called as runbing (潤餅) or baobing (薄饼) in Mandarin. In fact, Popiah is a Hokkien dialect that literally means 'thin wafer'. In China, Popiah is usually eaten in spring or during QingMing (Tomb Sweeping) festival when vegetables are growing in abundance. While in Malaysia, Singapore or Taiwan, Popiah is a popular snack or dish available all year round.

Fresh spring roll or Popiah is a Chinese crepe that holds perfectly some cooked filling. Consists of stir-fried jicama, french beans, carrot, steamed bean sprouts, fresh lettuce leaves, each crepe is prepared on a round thin wheat wrapper. After spreading some sweet sauce onto this thin wrapper, followed by a layer of fresh lettuce and filling, it is secured on both ends and roll almost like a cylinder.

After Popiah migrated to South East Asia and landed in the states of Malacca Straits like Penang, Malacca and Singapore, it had been localized with additional Peranakan ingredients like shredded eggs, fried shallots, peanuts powder and shrimp paste/chili sauce. Depending from vendor to vendor, if you are lucky sometimes you can even have fresh spring roll with minced pork, squibs or even crab meats!

In Penang, Padang Brown Hawker Center at the intersection of Jalan Anson and Jalan Perak is one of the spots that offers Popiah with crab meats. Trust me, if you wish to try the Padang Seafood Popiah, make the order as soon as you arrive. Padang Seafood Popiah is known for a long wait list especially on the weekends or public holidays.

What I like most about Padang's Popiah is its authentic flavor. The cooked filling is aromatic, flavorful and simply perfect after topping with hot gravy. Owing to the pleasant spices, awesome mixture of ingredients and well fried shallots, the Popiah here is always on the top of my list every time I thought of light snacks on weekends in Penang.

Direction:
MPPP Hawker Center is located at the intersection of Jalan Anson and Jalan Perak.

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