These three claypots encapsulate a little known 70 year old story of one of the main streams of Singapore bak kut teh. The traditional brownish colour soup (at top right) is the father of today's quintessentially Singaporean clear peppery soup with prime rib.
Sim Choon Lian owner of Lau Ah Tee Bak Kut Teh indulged my curiosity about Singapore bak kut teh by making BKT according to an old recipe no longer sold in Singapore.
You see, starting from the early 1960s, Sim worked nearly 20 years at his uncle (mum's brother) 黄美松 Ng Mui Song's bak kut teh stall at River Valley Road (Clarke Quay). Ng Mui Song is 黄亚细 Ng Ah Sio's father (that's a story for another post).
Ng Mui Song started selling bak kut teh in the 1950s after learning the recipe from another BKT seller. In those days, there was a kampung spirit among hawkers, helping each other by generously sharing recipes (a phenomenon I noticed also in Johor Bahru during the same period).
Learning the ropes from his uncle, Sim ran the night shift of Ng Mui Song's bak kut teh stall while his uncle and cousin ran the day shift. Sim said they sold 40kg of pork a day during weekdays, 60kg on weekends. The fresh pork was cooked in 10kg batches, so customers always get freshly cooked bak kut teh.
Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh is another famous spin off from Ng Mui Song bak kut teh. Ya Hua's founder Mdm Gwee Peck Hua was one of Ng Mei Song's workers at his River Valley Road (Clarke Quay) stall in the 1970s. (Another story for another post 😄 )
Indulging my request, Sim made this bak kut teh for me using Ng Mui Song's old 1960s recipe. Its main ingredients are simply Chuen Cheong brand soy sauce, old garlic, Sarawak peppercorn and fresh pork ribs / pig tail. By this time, Ng Mui Song already left out the medicinal herbs in the original coolie tonic concoction.
The brownish light body, clean tasting soup was savoury sweet with layers of mild spiciness from garlic and peppercorn. The sweetness came from old garlic and fresh pork. (Sim uses only fresh Indonesian pork from Pulau Bulan.) No sugar or seasoning powders were used.
In those leaner days of old Singapore, they used cheaper cuts of short ribs, neck bones and pig tail for bak kut teh. The taste of Ng Mui Song's old brownish bak kut teh reminded me of Johor Bahru's legendary Bak Cheng and Hwa Mei (Ah B) bak kut teh of the same era. Difference is Bak Cheng and Ah B do not use pepper in their BKT soup.
By the 1970s, with greater affluence, the current version with premium cut prime rib in clear soup (sans soy sauce) debuted in Singapore bak kut teh shops. From a coolie dish, bak kut teh became the meal / pastime of choice of towkays (businessmen).
Gradually, the prime rib clear peppery soup BKT edged out their brown soup cousin and became synonymous with Singapore bak kut teh today.
If you ask me, I count Lau Ah Tee as the best three bak kut teh in Singapore now. You see, Sim has only one shop and so has no pressure to scale up his production. This means Sim doesn't need to change his cooking method or recipe to increase "productivity" - read mass produce. Lau Ah Tee's bak kut teh of today is the same as BKT of 1970s Singapore, same recipe cooked in small 10kg batches - a true living legacy not just in brand name only.
Yeah... I know right... . Such a huge chunk of meat intimidates me too. But, one bite into this fresh pork and it's as easy to finish as an ice cream, really. The fall-off-the-bone lean meat and visceral fat were tenderly juicy sweet and had a subtle light crunch to the bite, almost like biting into a soft juicy pear (believe me). Fresh pork does have clear advantages over frozen pork. (Despite using fresh pork, this pot of prime rib bak kut teh costs just SGD10 which is good value for money.)
Recommended for you 👍 Lau Ah Tee is one of the last old school Singapore bak kut teh using heritage recipe, fresh pork and stubbornly cooked in the old (read - not mass produced) way. The HDB kopitiam (public housing coffee shop) setting adds to the authenticity of the experience - you will be eating with locals, not bus loads of 打卡 "me too social media check in" tourists. This is a gem as most big Singapore BKT brands have long scaled up production which required change of recipes, ingredients and cooking methods (meaning they don't taste like before lah).
Lau Ah Tee Bak Kut Teh today 👈 click
Ng Mui Song's son Ng Siak Hai (better known as Ng Ah Sio) continued his father's legacy taking over in the 1970s, making it one of the most famous brands of Singapore bak kut teh. Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh today 👈 click
Restaurant name: Lau Ah Tee Bak Kut Teh 老亚弟肉骨茶
Address: Blk 34, Whampoa West, #01-67, Singapore (beside Boon Keng MRT station)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Yc8N4
GPS: 1.319889,103.862391
Nearest MRT station: 5 minutes walk from Boon Keng station
Hours: 7:00am to 9:00pm daily (close at 3pm on Weds)
Tel: +65 9755 5250
Non Halal
Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh is another famous spin off from Ng Mui Song bak kut teh. Ya Hua's founder Mdm Gwee Peck Hua was one of Ng Mei Song's workers at his River Valley Road (Clarke Quay) stall in the 1970s. (Another story for another post 😄 )
Indulging my request, Sim made this bak kut teh for me using Ng Mui Song's old 1960s recipe. Its main ingredients are simply Chuen Cheong brand soy sauce, old garlic, Sarawak peppercorn and fresh pork ribs / pig tail. By this time, Ng Mui Song already left out the medicinal herbs in the original coolie tonic concoction.
The brownish light body, clean tasting soup was savoury sweet with layers of mild spiciness from garlic and peppercorn. The sweetness came from old garlic and fresh pork. (Sim uses only fresh Indonesian pork from Pulau Bulan.) No sugar or seasoning powders were used.
In those leaner days of old Singapore, they used cheaper cuts of short ribs, neck bones and pig tail for bak kut teh. The taste of Ng Mui Song's old brownish bak kut teh reminded me of Johor Bahru's legendary Bak Cheng and Hwa Mei (Ah B) bak kut teh of the same era. Difference is Bak Cheng and Ah B do not use pepper in their BKT soup.
(By the way, Johor Bahru is known as Little Swatow as Teochews make up the majority of Chinese in JB town. Singapore bak kut teh is often referred to as Teochew BKT even though Little Swatow is also a BKT stronghold. BKT is even more entrenched in the lives of JB folks where there are more BKT shops than chicken rice shops. I digressed 😅 )
By the 1970s, with greater affluence, the current version with premium cut prime rib in clear soup (sans soy sauce) debuted in Singapore bak kut teh shops. From a coolie dish, bak kut teh became the meal / pastime of choice of towkays (businessmen).
Gradually, the prime rib clear peppery soup BKT edged out their brown soup cousin and became synonymous with Singapore bak kut teh today.
If you ask me, I count Lau Ah Tee as the best three bak kut teh in Singapore now. You see, Sim has only one shop and so has no pressure to scale up his production. This means Sim doesn't need to change his cooking method or recipe to increase "productivity" - read mass produce. Lau Ah Tee's bak kut teh of today is the same as BKT of 1970s Singapore, same recipe cooked in small 10kg batches - a true living legacy not just in brand name only.
Yeah... I know right... . Such a huge chunk of meat intimidates me too. But, one bite into this fresh pork and it's as easy to finish as an ice cream, really. The fall-off-the-bone lean meat and visceral fat were tenderly juicy sweet and had a subtle light crunch to the bite, almost like biting into a soft juicy pear (believe me). Fresh pork does have clear advantages over frozen pork. (Despite using fresh pork, this pot of prime rib bak kut teh costs just SGD10 which is good value for money.)
Recommended for you 👍 Lau Ah Tee is one of the last old school Singapore bak kut teh using heritage recipe, fresh pork and stubbornly cooked in the old (read - not mass produced) way. The HDB kopitiam (public housing coffee shop) setting adds to the authenticity of the experience - you will be eating with locals, not bus loads of 打卡 "me too social media check in" tourists. This is a gem as most big Singapore BKT brands have long scaled up production which required change of recipes, ingredients and cooking methods (meaning they don't taste like before lah).
Lau Ah Tee Bak Kut Teh today 👈 click
Ng Mui Song's son Ng Siak Hai (better known as Ng Ah Sio) continued his father's legacy taking over in the 1970s, making it one of the most famous brands of Singapore bak kut teh. Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh today 👈 click
Restaurant name: Lau Ah Tee Bak Kut Teh 老亚弟肉骨茶
Address: Blk 34, Whampoa West, #01-67, Singapore (beside Boon Keng MRT station)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Yc8N4
GPS: 1.319889,103.862391
Nearest MRT station: 5 minutes walk from Boon Keng station
Hours: 7:00am to 9:00pm daily (close at 3pm on Weds)
Tel: +65 9755 5250
Non Halal
👆Ask Tony where to eat in Johor & Singapore
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