National Day is a very good day to have a BBQ in Singapore.
It is also a public holiday.
Those two facts tend to collide around dinner time.
For this 9 August BBQ, the menu was heavily built around seafood.
Garlic Butter Crayfish.
Around 2kg of Argentinian Prawn Skewers.
Around 2kg of Sambal Stingray.
Chicken Satay.
Honey BBQ Chicken Midwings.
Garlic Pepper Chicken Skewers.
Roasted Smashed Potatoes.
Smoky Pork Jowl.
White Clams.
And a three-hour BBQ chef service, with the public-holiday surcharge that comes with having someone work the grill on National Day.
Because while everyone else is celebrating:
Somebody still has to cook the stingray.
Public Holiday BBQs Need a Little More Planning
Having a BBQ on a public holiday sounds simple.
Everybody is free.
Nobody has work.
Perfect.
But suppliers, drivers and chefs are also dealing with a public holiday.
That means availability matters.
For National Day BBQ catering in Singapore, or really any major public holiday, it helps to organise things earlier rather than assuming everything will work exactly like an ordinary Saturday.
Food has to be prepared.
Deliveries have to be scheduled.
And if you want a BBQ chef, that person has to be booked too.
This Menu Was Basically a Seafood BBQ With Extras
The seafood side was substantial.
Garlic Butter Crayfish.
Prawns.
Sambal Stingray.
White Clams.
Put those together and there is already enough variety for a proper seafood BBQ.
Then Chicken Satay, wings, skewers and Pork Jowl make sure the meal doesn’t become seafood-only.
That balance works well for groups because not everyone wants the same thing.
Some people will spend most of the evening around the prawns.
Some want Pork Jowl.
Some will eat ten satay sticks before the first piece of crayfish even reaches the table.
That is completely normal.
Crayfish Immediately Looks Like an Occasion
We’ve done several BBQs where crayfish was part of the order.
It always changes the visual impression of the grill.
Large shellfish has presence.
It takes up space.
The shell colour changes as it cooks.
And the moment a tray of Garlic Butter Crayfish appears, people notice.
That makes it particularly suitable for a celebration BBQ.
It still feels like casual outdoor food.
But it also feels like someone made an effort.
Sambal Stingray Keeps the BBQ Very Singapore
There are plenty of foods you could serve on National Day.
But Sambal Stingray beside a BBQ pit feels particularly appropriate.
Hot foil.
Fish cooking in its juices.
Sambal.
Smoke.
The smell when the packet opens.
It is familiar Singapore BBQ food without needing to deliberately turn the menu red and white.
And with around 2kg on the order, there was enough of it to properly become part of the meal rather than one small token dish.
Then There Are Prawns and Clams
Prawns behave completely differently from stingray.
They cook quickly.
They need attention.
The visual cue is much easier to read.
Clams are different again.
So although we call all of this “seafood”, the BBQ chef is still dealing with several cooking methods and timings.
That is before the Pork Jowl, wings, skewers and satay enter the picture.
A mixed seafood BBQ can actually keep the grill very busy.
Why Hire a BBQ Chef on a Public Holiday?
Probably for the same reason you would hire one on any other day.
Because the host wants to enjoy the event.
If you’re inviting people over on National Day, it is quite nice to actually spend National Day with them.
Not spend three hours staring at a BBQ pit.
There is nothing wrong with cooking your own food.
Some people love doing it.
But if you’d rather eat, talk, watch the celebrations and occasionally walk over to see what is ready, that is where BBQ chef service makes sense.
The difference on a public holiday is simply that somebody else has agreed to work while you don’t.
Public Holiday Surcharges Aren’t Very Exciting, But They Are Real
Nobody enjoys talking about surcharges.
We certainly don’t expect them to be anyone’s favourite part of an order.
But for a chef working on a Singapore public holiday, there is an additional cost.
We would rather be clear about that than quietly hide it somewhere else in the price.
The important part is knowing it before the event.
Then the customer can decide whether having the chef there is worth it.
For some people, it absolutely is.
Especially if the alternative is spending National Day cooking several kilograms of seafood.
The Best Public Holiday Catering Should Make the Holiday Feel Like a Holiday
That is probably the simplest way we think about it.
Food catering is there to remove work from the people hosting.
BBQ chef service does the same thing.
The customer chooses the food.
We handle the cooking.
People eat.
And if everything goes properly, the host gets to experience the gathering like everybody else.
Which on 9 August seems particularly reasonable.
National Day is supposed to be a holiday.
Even if the stingray still needs cooking.
