diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 5279ff3..326a298 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@ function connect_dev() {
 			heartbeat: 10 * 1000
 		}),
 
-		async (req, res, next) => {
-			asset_cache = await watcher.ready;
-			next();
+		(req, res, next) => {
+			watcher.ready.then(cache => {
+				asset_cache = cache;
+				next();
+			});
 		},
 
 		set_req_pathname,
@@ -126,7 +128,7 @@ function get_asset_handler(opts) {
 }
 
 function get_route_handler(fn) {
-	return async function handle_route(req, res, next) {
+	return function handle_route(req, res, next) {
 		const url = req.pathname;
 
 		const { client, server } = fn();
@@ -136,57 +138,66 @@ function get_route_handler(fn) {
 			'Content-Type': 'text/html'
 		});
 
-		try {
-			for (const route of route_manager.routes) {
-				if (route.test(url)) {
-					req.params = route.exec(url);
-
-					const mod = require(server.entry)[route.id];
-
-					if (route.type === 'page') {
-						// preload main.js and current route
-						// TODO detect other stuff we can preload? images, CSS, fonts?
-						res.set('Link', `<${client.main_file}>;rel="preload";as="script", <${client.routes[route.id]}>;rel="preload";as="script"`);
-
-						const data = { params: req.params, query: req.query };
-
-						if (mod.preload) {
-							const promise = Promise.resolve(mod.preload(req)).then(preloaded => {
-								Object.assign(data, preloaded);
-								return mod.render(data);
-							});
-
-							await templates.stream(res, 200, {
-								main: client.main_file,
-								html: promise.then(rendered => rendered.html),
-								head: promise.then(({ head }) => `<noscript id='sapper-head-start'></noscript>${head}<noscript id='sapper-head-end'></noscript>`),
-								styles: promise.then(({ css }) => (css && css.code ? `<style>${css.code}</style>` : ''))
-							});
-						} else {
-							const { html, head, css } = mod.render(data);
-
-							const page = templates.render(200, {
-								main: client.main_file,
-								html,
-								head: `<noscript id='sapper-head-start'></noscript>${head}<noscript id='sapper-head-end'></noscript>`,
-								styles: (css && css.code ? `<style>${css.code}</style>` : '')
-							});
-
-							res.end(page);
-						}
-					}
-
-					else {
-						const handler = mod[req.method.toLowerCase()];
-						if (handler) handler(req, res, next);
-					}
-
-					return;
-				}
+		let i = 0;
+		function handle_route_inner() {
+			if (i === route_manager.routes.length) {
+				next();
+				return;
 			}
 
-			next();
-		} catch(err) {
+			const route = route_manager.routes[i];
+
+			if (route.test(url)) {
+				req.params = route.exec(url);
+
+				const mod = require(server.entry)[route.id];
+
+				if (route.type === 'page') {
+					// preload main.js and current route
+					// TODO detect other stuff we can preload? images, CSS, fonts?
+					res.set('Link', `<${client.main_file}>;rel="preload";as="script", <${client.routes[route.id]}>;rel="preload";as="script"`);
+
+					const data = { params: req.params, query: req.query };
+
+					if (mod.preload) {
+						const promise = Promise.resolve(mod.preload(req)).then(preloaded => {
+							Object.assign(data, preloaded);
+							return mod.render(data);
+						});
+
+						return templates.stream(res, 200, {
+							main: client.main_file,
+							html: promise.then(rendered => rendered.html),
+							head: promise.then(({ head }) => `<noscript id='sapper-head-start'></noscript>${head}<noscript id='sapper-head-end'></noscript>`),
+							styles: promise.then(({ css }) => (css && css.code ? `<style>${css.code}</style>` : ''))
+						});
+					} else {
+						const { html, head, css } = mod.render(data);
+
+						const page = templates.render(200, {
+							main: client.main_file,
+							html,
+							head: `<noscript id='sapper-head-start'></noscript>${head}<noscript id='sapper-head-end'></noscript>`,
+							styles: (css && css.code ? `<style>${css.code}</style>` : '')
+						});
+
+						res.end(page);
+					}
+				}
+
+				else {
+					const handler = mod[req.method.toLowerCase()];
+					if (handler) handler(req, res, next);
+				}
+
+				return;
+			}
+
+			++i;
+			return handle_route_inner();
+		}
+
+		return Promise.resolve().then(handle_route_inner).catch(err => {
 			res.status(500);
 			res.end(templates.render(500, {
 				title: (err && err.name) || 'Internal server error',
@@ -194,7 +205,7 @@ function get_route_handler(fn) {
 				error: escape_html(err && (err.details || err.message || err) || 'Unknown error'),
 				stack: err && err.stack.split('\n').slice(1).join('\n')
 			}));
-		}
+		});
 	};
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/templates.js b/lib/templates.js
index 34360d1..8260aa8 100644
--- a/lib/templates.js
+++ b/lib/templates.js
@@ -31,10 +31,14 @@ function create_templates() {
 						return key in data ? data[key] : '';
 					});
 				},
-				stream: async (res, data) => {
+				stream: (res, data) => {
 					let i = 0;
 
-					do {
+					function stream_inner() {
+						if (i >= template.length) {
+							return;
+						}
+
 						const start = template.indexOf('%sapper', i);
 
 						if (start === -1) {
@@ -53,9 +57,14 @@ function create_templates() {
 						const match = /sapper\.(\w+)/.exec(tag);
 						if (!match || !(match[1] in data)) throw new Error(`Bad template`); // TODO ditto
 
-						res.write(await data[match[1]]);
-						i = end + 1;
-					} while (i < template.length);
+						return Promise.resolve(data[match[1]]).then(datamatch => {
+							res.write(datamatch);
+							i = end + 1;
+							return stream_inner();
+						});
+					}
+
+					return Promise.resolve().then(stream_inner);
 				}
 			};
 		})