Bak Kut Teh | Ziggy

Bak Kut Teh or pork rib tea, is a local dish of Singapore and Malaysian origin. Each has its own version, the Maysian version is more herbal and contains dark sauce, understood to be of Fujian origin, and made popular in Klang with various claims to be its origin. The Singaporean version is light in colour, and of Teochew origin, they tend to be more peppery, but do come in a range of pepper intensity.

Despite its name, tea is not an ingredient of the soup but various chinese herbs. Tea is usually served alongside the soup, and usually a breakfast or lunch dish. The soup is usually herbal and savoury, palatable and easy to like. Dark sauce, cut chilli and minced garlic are usual condiments.

In Singapore, only different types of ribs are offered, with a difference in tenderness of the meat. In Malaysian, almost every part of the pig are available, so you get a very good range of tenderness, fat content, and flavour. Pork offals are on offer almost everywhere!

There are 2-3 very established names in Singapore, although they are indeed very good and deserve their reputation, I try to list some "cult favourites" here first, as the more popular ones have recommendations all over.

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BKT

Mar 2023

Friendly and accommodating staff, wonderful BKT recipe!

The atmosphere around this place, despite its spartan and old set up, is very relaxed and comfortable, a really nice place to relax, have a nice bowl of bak kut teh, and enjoy some Chinese tea.

Despite the name, Lau Ah Tee does not only serve BKT. They serve fish and crab too. Steamed fish and roe crab, and I heard they are pretty decent too. Besides these, they serve pig innards, and bean curd skin etc. This then allows me to bring my friends here, a couple who’s husband loves pork but the wife doesn’t eat four legged meat! Bingo!

I ordered pig intestines and a beancurd skin with my BKT pork. At first sight, I thought I over ordered, being alone, there was too much. One try of the intestines, and I knew I’d finish that, as well the bean curd skin. The small intestines were nice and fresh, pieces were quite big as well! Just like the bean curd skin, taste was intense and tasty. Wonderful!

I also opted for the cheaper pork meat instead of the pork ribs, as the nice lady boss, who laughed at me when I had to keep moving forward to see their entire menu on the wall. I wanted a tenderer cut of meat and she recommended me the pork meat instead of the more expensive ribs. I liked this place already! Meat was nice, fresh and tender; however, the soup was excellent. A clear umami and intense broth, not peperry not too herbal, it just hits you with its freshness and intensity. Soup is free flow.

The pork ribs, which I tried another day, was not bad either, it was just slightly tougher than the meat. Fresh and well cooked, it is pretty tender too.

Pork Rib $12

Meat on Bone $8

A sign below the structure holding each simmering kettle says that to have BKT without a good tea would be a pity, so I had a Tie Guan Yin with my BKT. Well… after a sip, I get what the sign means, there was a calm and peaceful feel.

The TGY continued to yield good strong brews even after I was done, so I asked if I could have something to take away some tea. They had nothing specifically for that but gladly provided me with a plastic bag to hold my takeaway TGY, my relaxed mood continued with my Grab shift and then at home, with a lovely bag of tea!

Immediately texted my friends about this place and the first question asked was “do you mind coming back again with us this Thursday…?” bros, its Tuesday already! No I didn’t….

If you want to have BKT at an "independent" place rather than the big names and chain stores, Lau Ah Tee would be a good option. The self service kettles for tea was reminiscent of the traditional practice of having pork ribs soup with Chinese tea, which is what Bak Kut Teh stands for... pork ribs with tea!

Lau Ah Tee Bak Kut Teh

34 Whampoa West, #01-67, s330034

Daily 7am – 9pm, closes at 3pm on Wed

https://www.facebook.com/lauahteebakkutteh/

Bak Kut Teh

Review: Dec 2020

Good quality herbal bak kut teh, the dry version is the one to go for here

There are 2 different types of Bak Kut Teh (BKT), the Malaysian style or the Singapore style. I understand that it’s actually Teochew style vs Hokkien style. The Singapore or Teochew version is peppery, while the Malaysian or Hokkien (Fujian) version is herbal. The style is the same throughout Malaysia, and those from the port city of Klang has the reputation of being the best, and Leong Kee claims to be from there. In fact, they make sure you know they’re from Klang, with “Klang” prominently featured in their signboards and official name.

Leong Kee

I have only eaten BKT in Klang once, at a random shop, and it wasn’t very memorable, and I’m very happy with those I get from my hometown in KL, and I have to say, the random shops I visited in Penang offers very good BKT too!

As far as I know, this is about the only place in Singapore that sells the Malaysian style BKT, this one is probably the main branch, they used to have a branch along Beach Road, which moved to the Rail Mall, it’s only this one now.

Besides BKT, they serve other items, but being a BKT place, I will just concentrate on the pork ribs. First, the traditional way to eat BKT is that they’ll serve you these pork rib soup, and a choice of tea, served in a small tea pot, to be poured into small tea cups. There would be boiling water in kettles placed around the shop, which you help yourself to refill your tea pot. In most places, you can ask for your pork rib soup to be replenished. We asked for it once here at Leong Kee, and the soup came only after many reminders, and after our second order arrived, so it felt like this is not the practice, or maybe it was an overly busy evening. In most places, one member of the staff would go around with a pot of soup to fill up empty bowls, not here…

There is a soup and dried version of BKT. The soup is herbal, obviously, and the ones at Leong Kee has got a good strong and thick herbal taste. If I am honest, it is not as good as many I have tried in Malaysia but it will do here in Singapore. I always scoff at dry BKT, when you come for BKT, or it’s the soup that matters. I would gulp the soup down, fill my bowl of rice with soup, so it’s soup soup and more soup.

To my surprise, the dried BKT here at Leong Kee is brilliant! In fact, I’d say it’s better than the soup version! Swimming in a dark sauce that is slightly spicy, just enough of a kick to use the word “spicy”, it is tasty and delicious, in fact, it is more sweet than spicy. It also has some “twisted octopus” bits, twirls of dried octopus that is delicious.

The pork ribs served on both the soup and dried versions and nice, tender and delicious. Meat came of the bones easily and very good.

Other items that you usually order with a BKT would be peanuts, fried fritters, salted vegetables, and maybe some small intestines. These are usually similar in all places, the small intestines here were a little bit on the tough side, served in thicker soup or sauce.

Every individual was served a small dish of condiments or sauce, which had dark sauce, chilli and some garlic in it. I think some people would kill for these, it was nice and tasty. Curiously, if you dipped your intestines into this, it was a lot more palatable.

In terms of BKT soup, this was definitely not the best I’ve tasted, in fact, I think it was not even as good as some of the peppery ones, but if you have a craving for the Malaysian style BKT in Singapore, this would have to do. The dried BKT, however, is very good and worth coming for a taste of it.

This place can be crowded during peak hours, from 6pm to 730pm. I have been here at around 7pm when there was a Q but the wait is decent, less than 10 minutes, even when it looked like there was a long Q.

As a side note, one of the things I like about having BKT in Malaysia is that you have a choice of pork parts, the rib, the belly or the soft joints etc. This is not so in Singapore, but the BKT in Singapore makes up for it by serving better parts of the rib which is tender, unlike the ones in KL where for soft tender meat you have to opt for the other parts.

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh

251 Geylang Road, s389309

Daily 11am – 130am

https://www.facebook.com/Leong-Kee-Bak-Kut-Teh-SG-geylang-111714140489344/

Leon Kee

Bak kut teh

Sep 2022

Good quality bak kut teh and lurou rice in its 45th year of business

It’s a trip down nostalgia coming to Alexandra Hawker, a place we used to gather in my school days as our group of friends stay around that area.

I remember eating at mostly 2 stalls here at the car park corner, and I’m very glad to see both are still around! Leon Kee is one, for old times sake, I gave it a go, and was prepared to be disappointed. Teenagers aren’t really too oarticular about tastes and that was what I was when I last enjoyed the Bak kut teh…

Turned out it was more than decent! I have good taste all along…

The lurou combo is nice and tasty, with a good intense taste, nice and tender meat and intestines.

The bak kut teh is the herbal variety instead of the peppery ones. The biggest complinent I can give Leon Kee is that uncle Leon (probably not his real name…) will hold his own even if he hawks his bkt in KL…

The soup is tasty with a strong Intense umami from the pork stock, with a hint of herb, the way I, and I’d say most people like it. The pork ribs are nice and fall of the bone tenderness.

Uncle Leon sticks with this tried and tested recipe through the years, he has been here since 1979 as he fondly recalls. Well… I'd fondly recall that I haven’t been here since 1989 but the food remains as excellent.

Leon Kee Claypot Pork Rib Soup

120 Bukit merah Lane 1, #01-18, S150120

830am - 8pm closed on Wed