Had lunch today at the newest Shoon Huat bak kut teh 顺发肉骨茶 outlet at Eco Botanic City in Iskandar Puteri (Nusajaya), Johor. This is Shoon Huat's nineteenth outlet. So, that actually makes this homegrown JB brand, the largest BKT chain in the world. Amazing, am I right?
This Shoon Huat outlet is simply, elegantly laid out and furnished with quality furniture.
Matriarch Ms 孙 is in the house. The first Shoon Huat shop opened in 1975 at Jalan Sutera Satu, then a quiet back street. It was only in the 1980s that Shoon Huat started to have a firm footing and from then on, it has been steady growth. Nineteen outlets on, the old Jalan Sutera Satu shop is still doing a thriving business.
Shoon Huat was the first in JB to serve BKT in a clay pot whereas the norm then was to use small ceramic cockerel bowls 公雞碗.
The clay pot keeps the pork and soup warm longer and also made it easy to add sides like crispy tofu skin, Enokitake mushrooms, liver, kidney, intestines etc.
Shoon Huat's broth is tea coloured and feels light in the mouth. It's flavour is mild - savoury, sweet, herbal. Savoury from soy sauce, herbal from a blend of herbs and sweet from the fresh pork.
I like Shoon Huat's pork a lot. They are super fresh. Shoon Huat uses Johor pork, so they are slaughtered at night and served on your table the next morning.
Shoon Huat BKT broth is finely tuned to bring out the natural sweetness and flavour of the fresh pork. The pork ribs were cooked to just the right texture - tender, has a slight chew to the bite and falls off the bone with a light bite.
I like Shoon Huat's pork ribs a lot.
Shoon Huat's steamed rice is excellent. Whereas, it is common for BKT shops to serve average quality rice, Shoon Huat uses fragrant Thai Jasmine rice. The fluffy rice have a nice tender nutty texture and is not overly starchy.
Shoon Huat's trinity of gentle savoury-sweet-herbal soup, natural sweet tender pork and fragrant tender nutty rice are all I need for a great BKT.
Then, there are lots of other side dishes.
Crispy fried tau puey 豆皮 (bean curd skin).
Braised pork trotter. Tender texture was just nice for me. Cut into too small pieces for my liking. A little heavy handed on the dark soy sauce, masking most of the natural pork flavours.
Sesame Oil Chicken. Also slightly heavy handed on dark soy sauce. Slight sesame oil flavour and aroma. Most natural chicken flavour masked by sauce and oil.
You Char Kway. The next best thing to white rice for enjoying bak kut teh soup.
This salted vegetable was nice - just the right balance of sweet sour and salty for me. The vegetable was crunchy too.
Tau pok.
👉 I like Shoon Huat for their excellent trinity of light tasty soup, fresh pork and quality rice. They also have many side dishes, so there is lots of variety besides bak kut teh.
Shoon Huat BKT is one of the new shops just opened in the Eco Botanic commercial hub in Nusajaya, Johor. Eco Botanic is one of Johor's newest township.
Restaurant name: Shoon Huat Bak Kut Teh 顺发肉骨茶
Address: Jalan Eko Botani 1/1, Taman Eko Botani, 81200 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
GPS: 1°26'49.9"N 103°37'13.5"E | 1.447188, 103.620428 (very rough - use WAZE App "Eco Botanic Commercial Centre")
Hours: 11:30am to 10:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 29 July 2017
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Tony, this should be a more accurate GPS loc 1.43951, 103.61914. Its next to La Strada Coffee
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