It was no idle claim nor an "award" that can be bought. It was a Malaysia, country wide search organised by Guang Ming Daily 光明日报 for the best bak kut teh of the nation. The judging panel was led by respected food critic Chua Lam 蔡澜.
In a country where bak kut teh stalls and restaurants run into many hundreds with at least a hundred in Klang, Malaysia's bak kut teh capital, a little stall in Johor Bahru was crowned king.
In a country where Penang, Ipoh, Melaka and the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya) are glamourous food "Meccas", it must be quite grating that "lowly" JB should snatch the crown from the highly fancied hot favourites.
Bak Cheng Bak Kut Teh was founded by Chiang Bak Cheng 江木清 and wife Gan Peng 颜冰 in 1957. Today, everyone calls Mdm Gan Peng, Bak Kut Mah, grandma bak kut which is fitting as she gave a lifetime to bak kut teh. Age 83 today, spritely Bak Kut Mah co-founded Bak Cheng Bak Kut Teh when she was 20 years old. The doting great grandmother still potter around her children's bak kut teh shops.
A rare photo of Chiang Bak Cheng (dated 2005), the king of bak kut teh courtesy of his family (please request permission if you wish to use this). Bak Cheng passed on in 2013.
Bak Cheng's father ran a Teochew beef kway teow stall at JB's Lau Pat Sat (old market) along Jalan Wong Ah Fook which is today occupied by City Square Mall. Bak Cheng worked at a wild game stall and was in charge of slaughtering animals.
Bak Cheng was close friends with the boss of a provision shop at Jalan Segget (the same street where the famous Ah Hua Kway Teow is located today).
Together, young Bak Cheng and the provision shop boss often crossed the Causeway to visit their favourite bak kut teh stall in Woodlands. It was a street side stall near the shipyard (now long forgotten with no records). It might have been along Admiralty Road, nobody knows now.
Bak Cheng loved the Woodlands bak kut teh so much that he didn't succeed his father in selling Teochew beef kway teow nor continued at the wild game stall. Instead, he concocted his own bak kut teh recipe based on his favourite Woodlands bak kut teh.
When he was satisfied with his recipe, Bak Cheng opened his stall at Pasar Kia by the Sungai Segget river in 1957 - he was 23 then. His stall was the second bak kut teh stall in Johor Bahru. The first was by the founder of Ah Bee Bak Kut Teh also at Pasar Kia. In fact, Bak Cheng and Ah B founder were neighbours at Pasar Kia, one stall apart.
Bak Cheng's Pasar Kia stall enjoyed great success. Bak Cheng's fans like the mainly savoury flavour of his bak kut teh soup which was layered with a subtle porcine sweetness and trace of spice and herbs.
For his supply of herbs and spice, Bak Cheng would make trips to dealers in Singapore.
Bak Cheng's elder son runs Bak Cheng restaurant 云顶木清肉骨茶 in Gohtong Jaya in Gentings near Kuala Lumpur.
Daughter-in-law Crystal runs Crystal Bakuuteh 水晶肉骨茶, now located in Taman Sentosa.
Granddaughter runs the Bak Cheng Bak Kut Teh stall at Lao Zi Hao Food Court at Level G of Paradigm Mall in Skudai.
Eldest daughter ran the Bak Cheng stall at Food Tai Soon coffeeshop at Sri Tebrau but that has closed.
Bak Kut Mah said the family has kept to Bak Cheng's recipe which is a closely guarded secret. They have been offered cash for their recipe but declined.
Bak Kut Mah has never tried the Woodlands bak kut teh before but considers Bak Cheng's version as Teochew (as founder Bak Cheng is Teochew).
Bak Cheng's family lived in Kampung Pahang which was a 10 minute walk to Pasar Kia. The family would do business with four children (two boys and two girls) in tow. Bak Kut Mah remembers fondly how customers helped looked out for their children.
Besides his bak kut teh, Bak Cheng the man was legendary for his fiery temper. Regulars at Pasar Kia would often hear the couple quarrel and one of the enduring food lores of JB was the day stunned customers saw Bak Cheng tossed the day's entire pot of bak kut teh straight into Sungai Segget river in a fit of anger 😱
When they started, Bak Cheng only sold bak kut teh, stewed mei cai (preserved mustard) and plain boiled rice. All three were done excellently which accounted for the success of the stall.
The mei cai I had today was soft and rich with gentle savoury flavours with a bit of sweetness from vegetable and pork lard. I like it so much, that I could eat a whole bowl of rice with just this mei cai.
Today, Bak Cheng Bak Kut Teh has a lot more in their menu in keeping with the times.
Besides the classic pork ribs, I also like soft bone and pig tail.
Pig tail has a good balance of soft juicy fat, skin and meat.
Soft bone has soft tender meat attached to crunchy cartilaginous bone which I like to chew and eat.
There are bak kut teh shops related to Bak Cheng though they do not share the same recipe. Soon Chiang 顺江肉骨茶 at Jalan Maju is founded by Bak Cheng's elder brother's family.
Kedai Kopi Malaysian 馬來西亞人民茶室 at Jalan Bukit Meldrum is run by the family of Bak Cheng's younger brother.
Thank you grandma of Johor bak kut teh, champion of Malaysia 2006 and a favourite of many today.
Old fans of Bak Cheng and bak kut teh in Johor, please help build up the history of JB BKT by sharing your insights and memories in the comments. Thank you.
I am a friend of Bak Cheng's friend. One day I go over to his stall to look for his son. As l go off Bak Cheng quietly follow me from behind. He told me not to be his son's friend.l find it funny and confused why a father wouldn't want his son to have friends
ReplyDeleteBy any chance I can hear more about it?
DeleteTony Boey
ReplyDeleteMy version is customer ask for more soup, incognizant of the fact that it is herbal soup and not MSG soup.
He said "No": the soup amount is alloted to the precise ratio of meat, bones and herbs plus spices.
Customer insisted, even to pay for the additional soup.
He said not an issue of money, so he just threw the whole pot of BKT into the drain: meat, bones, soup and all.
Respect for such food sifu: not about money per se; but Respect for food standards and culinary esteem.
My family was eating at pasar kia many many moons ago and although I was too young to remember the incident, my father started boycotting Bak Cheng after witnessing him pouring soapy dish water over his daughter's head. From then on, while he was still alive, we ate at 人民 near Ah Bee. After starting my own family, we still eat at 人民 but when the old auntie isn't cooking, the food is just awful, so for more consistent tasty bak kut teh, we'll visit Crystal instead.
ReplyDelete