FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
We hope we're able to pre-empt your questions here!
General Enquires
How many skins does 1 kg of popiah skin consist of?
I’m allergic to wheat! Can I still eat your popiah?
I’m allergic to prawns! Can I still eat your popiah?
Popiah Care
How do I care for my popiah skin?
How do I keep my DIY Set for dinner if it is delivered in the afternoon?
How can I keep any leftover popiah skin?
How can I keep any leftover Kueh Pie Tee cups?
How can I keep any leftover condiments?
Ordering
What is the minimum purchase when ordering online?
How do I enjoy eligible promotions or add a promo code to my order?
How do I order DIY Sets online for Chinese New Year?
What is the difference between DIY Sets for Chinese New Year and regular DIY Sets?
How can I get your popiah skins during Chinese New Year?
Why is there a 5% Online Service Fee when I order online?
Can I buy DIY Sets directly from the shop instead of online?
Getting Our Popiah To You
How soon can I get my popiah if I order online now?
How do I self-collect my online orders?
How do I arrange delivery of my online orders?
What are your delivery charges?
When does the additional peak period delivery surcharge apply?
What if I need to change my self-collection or delivery date/time?
What happens if nobody is home to collect the delivery?
How can I get away with free delivery?
But if we missed any, simply pop us an email at people@joochiatpopiah.com and we’ll find you your answer in a jiffy.
General Enquires
Are you guys halal certified?
We certainly are! We wouldn’t want our muslim friends miss out on our popiah, would we? If you require concrete proof, shoot us an email and we’ll send you a scanned copy of our valid Halal certificate.
How many skins does 1 kg of popiah skin consist of?
One kg of popiah skin consist of about 30 pieces of skin. Do note that sale of popiah skin is only available for walk-in customers.
Can I customise my DIY Sets?
The wonderful thing about popiah is that it can be made to suit your tastes exactly. If you build a popiah from scratch using our DIY set, you can totally build it your own way. In addition to the primary ingredients provided in the standard set, many of our customers will also add their own ingredients into the mix. So if you’re feeling particularly rich, you can totally mix abalone or salmon into your popiah to make it gold tier.
How do I wrap my popiah?
First, let’s put it out there that there is no ‘right’ way to wrap a popiah roll. However, experience have taught us that there IS a tried and tested method of wrapping a roll without it exploding in your hands. Being nice people, we’re here to share the secret. Check out our real-time demonstration video below!
I’m allergic to wheat! Can I still eat your popiah?
Unfortunately, we use wheat flour to make the dough for our popiah skin so no, you can’t eat our popiah. However, you can buy the main popiah filling along with other ingredients separately and still have a sumptuous feast that is similar to our popiah party, in taste if not theory : )
I’m allergic to prawns! Can I still eat your popiah?
Unfortunately, although there are no 'solid' prawns in our DIY Sets, the standard main filling for both popiah and kueh pie tee are stewed with seafood gravy which includes prawn as one of it's ingredients. However, you can get our Vegetarian Set and still enjoy your popiah party with a healthier twist.
Popiah Care
How do I prepare my DIY Set?
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Green Lettuce - Wash the green lettuce in tap water
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Main Veggie Filling -Warm up the veggie filling in a rice cooker or pot until it is ready to be consumed
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Chilli - Store chilli in the fridge until it is ready to be consumed
How do I care for my popiah skin?
During purchase, your popiah skins are packed in white paper. To maintain the quality of the skin, do not unwrap the paper until you are ready to use it.
During the popiah event, place a damp cloth over the stack of popiah skins to keep it from turning dry in the open air. Hot popiah skins tend to stick together in a stack when freshly-made, so you might want to consider separating the skins individually first (then placing them into another stack) beforehand to ensure that a popiah wrapping session proceeds fluidly.
How do I keep my DIY Set for dinner if it is delivered in the afternoon?
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Take out the green lettuce, shredded cucumber and fresh chilli from the delivery box and store them in the chiller section of your fridge. Take them out of the fridge 15min before dinner so it warms up to room temperature for consumption.
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Everything else can be left in the delivery box until dinner time.
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The main filling is in a container wrapped in aluminium foil and will keep warm for three hours. If the filling is not sufficiently warm at dinnertime, simply heat it up in a thermal cooker/steamer or microwave oven after taking out the aluminum foil.
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The popiah skin is wrapped in white paper to maintain moisture. When ready for dinner, unwrap the white paper and place the stack of skins on a damp cloth atop a plate. You can cover the skin stack with the same damp cloth during dinner and uncover it only when you are removing a skin from the stack.
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Enjoy your DIY Popiah Set!
How can I keep any leftover popiah skin?
Generally, our popiah skin is only 'fresh' for one day. That's why we make our skins every morning and advise customers to buy on the very day that they will be eating it. Popiah skins become dry quickly when kept for more than a day and will break easily if you use it to wrap a popiah roll after that.
That said, popiah skins can be put inside the freezer and be edible for up to one week. As the skins are no longer fresh after the first day, it is advisable to use the skins for fried food such as fried spring rolls, samosa and popiah goreng instead.
How can I keep any leftover Kueh Pie Tee cups?
Kueh Pie Tee cups can be kept crispy in their tub for no more than 10 days.
How can I keep any leftover condiments?
We always advise our customers to finish up all condiments during an event as keeping them for a later date would compromise their quality. However, we understand that having leftovers are sometimes unavoidable. Thus, here’s a quick guide to some of our storage recommendations.
Black Sweet Sauce
Always pour out the amount you need for an event - do not pour any balance back into the bottle as this will contaminate the contents in the bottle. Putting the bottle in the fridge will harden the sweet sauce, so store it at room temperature for a shelf life of no more than one month.
Crispy Fritters
Store at room temperature for a shelf life of no more than one week.
Chilli
Always pour out the amount you need for an event - do not pour any balance back into the tub as this will contaminate the contents in the tub. Store it in a fridge for a shelf life of no more than two weeks.
All Other Condiments
As most of our condiments come in small quantities that can be easily used up in one event, we highly recommend that any leftover condiments be used and consumed via cooking or additional seasoning/dressings in regular meals instead of storage.
Ordering
How do I order online?
You only need a credit card to order online. However, you will be required to sign up for an account on our shopping cart during the check-out process. Yeah, we know that’s a hassle too.. but we’re making this as painless as we can. Look on the bright side, once you sign up with us, we’ll have your records stored in our magic vault and you’ll never have to enter your information on this site again!
What is the minimum purchase when ordering online?
The minimum purchase for ordering online is $68.
How do I enjoy eligible promotions or apply a promo code to my order?
If your order is valid for a promotional rate, you are our VIP! To make things a little easier, we have prepared a quick guide for you below.
What is the difference between DIY Sets for Chinese New Year and regular DIY Sets?
There is no difference between the two categories except for the price. Sorry : ( but we hope for your understanding that prices for DIY Sets are higher during Chinese New Year because costs of raw ingredients tend to rise during the festive period.
How do I order popiah skins?
Simply walk in to our shop (click here for directions) and order your desired quantity on any day that isn't a Monday. If you come in the morning, you might even catch your popiah skin being made by one of our masters at work!
Expect no waiting time on weekdays and perhaps a short queue on weekends. Note that queues will be significantly longer during festive seasons, in which case you will be given a queue number by the staff upon entering the shop.
Can I pre-order popiah skins?
Pre-ordering of popiah skins is now available via the Popiah Skin Online Pre-order Form here. We are embarking on this initiative tentatively so there are a few conditions to using this service -
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Popiah skin orders of 500g (about 15 pieces) or more only
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Self pick-up at our shop only
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Payment via Paynow only
Do remember to send a screenshot of your Paynow transaction to people@joochiatpopiah.com so your pre-order can be confirmed!
Alternatively, if you're ordering a DIY Set online and wish to add on additional skin, you can just choose your desired quantity in the ADD-ON options at the bottom of the pop-up window after selecting a DIY Set.
We make sufficient popiah skins in the shop every morning so walk-in customers should have no problems buying their desired quantity of skins. In the rare event that we don’t have enough stock for a walk-in customer, we will be making popiah skins on the spot and you need only wait while we churn out dozens of piping hot skins before your very eyes!
How can I get your popiah skins during Chinese New Year?
Our shop is open from 9am to 2pm every day during CNY. Simply walk in to our shop along Joo Chiat Place (click here for directions) and order your desired quantity of skin on the spot.
We actually start making our skins before dawn on the first three days of Chinese New Year, so you’re encouraged to come as early as possible to avoid the crowd, which will usually swell after 8am. If there is a queue present, you will be given a queue number by the staff upon entering the shop to wait in line.
Why is there a 5% Online Service Fee when I order online?
In order to keep our operational costs feasible, we were no longer able to fully absorb the impact of online transaction fees. The 5% online service fee on the totaled amount during checkout is a subsidized charge payable by the customer to our various online partners for the convenience of ordering online.
Can I buy DIY Sets directly from the shop instead of online?
Yes you can! However, there will be a $5 surcharge for walk-in orders of DIY Sets because the chef will need to prepare the required ingredients at a moment’s notice for sets which are not pre-ordered.
How do I cancel my order?
Why would you want to do that : ( However, if you really need to, you can cancel a confirmed order by sending us an email at people@joochiatpopiah.com. Please note that there will be no refund given for cancelling your order. However, we will gladly hold your order for you until a happier time when you crave the taste of our popiah again.
Getting Our Popiah To You
How soon can I get my popiah if I order online now?
Our lead time for online orders on regular days is 18 hours, for both self-collection and delivery.
However, during the peak Chinese New Year period from 29th to 6th Feb 2022, our lead time extends to 2 days for both self collection and delivery options.
How do I self-collect my online orders?
Our shop is open for self collection of online orders from 9am to 2pm on every day that isn't a Monday, including public holidays.
How do I arrange delivery of my online orders?
Click on the delivery tab and enter the date of delivery at 'Change dates and time' before adding your order items for checkout.
What are your delivery hours?
Note that delivery hours will be restricted to only 9.30 - 10.30 am and 12.30 - 1.30 pm during peak CNY period.
What are your delivery charges?
Our regular delivery charge is $24 per trip (with a minimum purchase of $68). However, deliveries during peak periods (e.g. Public Holidays) as well as weekends (Friday ,Saturday and Sunday) carry additional surcharges imposed by our delivery partners. The Peak Period Surcharge is $3 while the Weekend Surcharge is $2. Also, an additional $15 surcharge may be added for deliveries into certain Restricted Areas (e.g. military installations).
When does the additional peak period delivery surcharge apply?
The additional peak period surcharge applies when delivery drivers are in short supply and our delivery partners require it as an incentive. As a general guide, the dates of the surcharge are provided to us as follows -
What if I need to change my self-collection or delivery date/time?
Please ensure that your self-collection or delivery date/time is correct in the confirmation email that was sent to you. If there is an error, drop us an email at least eight hours before the scheduled delivery time and we will try our best to assist you in updating your order in the system.
We regret to inform you that if the delivery driver assigned to your order have already arrived at our shop, there will be no refund of the order and/or delivery charge that was already paid online.
What happens if nobody is home to collect the delivery?
Please ensure that there IS someone at the delivery address at the stated time to collect your delivery. If there is no one at the house and our delivery guy is unable to contact you, he will be waiting there indefinitely, happily earning $5 per 10 minutes from you. Yes, you would have to pay for his downtime at your doorstep!
How can I get away with free delivery?
Delivery charges are waived for online orders that total up to $400 or more in a single receipt.