My First Visit to Sze Hwa 世华 Bak Kut Teh in Kulai, Johor

Sze Hwa 世华 bak kut teh restaurants are found in many places in Johor Bahru. A couple are franchisees and the others are actually copycats with no relations to the original Sze Hwa bak kut teh.

What is it about Sze Hwa bak kut teh then, that it is so widely copied? The only way to answer this question properly is to visit the original Sze Hwa bak kut teh in Kulai, Johor.

The famous Sze Hwa is an ordinary looking shop located along a row of shophouses facing the main road, Jalan Besar in Kulai – so it is not hard to locate.

At Sze Hwa, the bak kut teh made using fresh pork is brewed in these large enamelled pots over charcoal fire.

When properly done after hours of brewing, the bak kut teh is brought to the front of the shop for serving.

At Sze Hwa, customers can pick the specific cut of meat that they fancy. As usual, I ordered my favourites, which are meat with soft cartilage and small intestines. They will actually carefully pick the specific cut of meat you ordered - I liked that :-D

RM8 got me this bowl of Kulai style bak kut teh with rice.


The naturally sweet meat was tender yet it still has the right amount of firmness for us to chew on. The small intestines had a tender yet bouncy texture. It too was naturally sweet.

Also, for me, I love to bite and chew on the soft cartilage :-D

The tasty soup was delicately herbal and not too oily.

->> Sze Hwa is definitely one of the best bak kut teh shops in Johor – little wonder then, that it put Kulai on the local food map.

Restaurant name: Restoran Sze Hwa

Address: 2, Jalan Seruling 1, Taman Sri Kulai Baru, Kulai, Johor

Map: http://g.co/maps/kyv75

GPS: 1.668189,103.587137

Hours: 8:00am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 9:00pm (closed on Monday)

Non Halal

Date visited: 2 May 2012

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