My friends visiting from overseas often asked to try Singapore bak kut teh - BKT is a Singapore food icon up there with chicken rice and chili crab.
I usually bring them to one of Song Fa's many branches as I am confident of their food quality, consistency, service and it is highly accessible with many outlets throughout Singapore (e.g. at Northpoint, Suntec City, Northshore, etc). Most importantly, Song Fa serves a delicious Singapore Teochew bak kut teh.
Song Fa serves the peppery Teochew style of bak kut teh. The soup made mainly with white pepper, garlic and spices is tea coloured, slightly cloudy. The pork ribs are done till the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. Their signature is prime ribs which has nice marbling giving the meat a soft texture, juiciness from fat and natural porcine sweetness.
They have many side dishes and my favourite is the humble yu char kway or fried Chinese cruellers as they sponge up the flavourful soup well and I love the soft chewy feel of wet yu char kway with a bit of residual crispness.
Song Fa is Singapore's largest bak kut teh brand with 13 outlets in Singapore and 15 overseas though it was just a humble pushcart stall not that long ago. Song Fa is a remarkable bak kut teh transformation and success story.
Founder Yeo Eng Song started as a helper at a Teochew moay (porridge) stall around Clarke Quay in 1967. The porridge stall also sold bak kut teh as one of its dishes.
In 1969, Yeo Eng Song, then 21, started his own bak kut teh stall on a pushcart at Johor Road (now expunged). He sold only pork ribs and pig tail without any side dishes. Business didn't start with a big bang. Yeo kept experimenting, improving his bak kut teh, paying attention to customers' feedback.
In 1975, Yeo moved to a Victoria Street coffee shop. Here Song Fa built their reputation and fan base by word of mouth. Yeo was particularly grateful to taxi drivers who like to hangout at the stall as it was near the Singapore - Johore express bus terminal. Besides their bak kut teh, Sing Fa's fans were also attracted by their blend of tea. Eating pork rib soup and drinking Chinese tea always go hand in hand together.
In 1999, from Victoria Street, Song Fa moved to another coffee shop at the Rochor Square flats (now demolished).
When the Rochor Square flats were earmarked to be demolished for redevelopment, eldest son Yeo Hart Pong joined his father and moved Soon Fa to New Bridge Road in 2007. This turned out to be a turning point for Song Fa (and Singapore bak kut teh as well).
Opening a bak kut teh restaurant was a bold move as at that time, bak kut teh vendors either operated from hawker centre or coffee shop stalls. Song Fa at New Bridge Road was well received from Day 1. Soon business expanded to an additional restaurant two shoplots away. When Song Fa expanded to a third outlet, second son Yeo Zhi Yong who has an engineering degree joined the trade.
With the third outlet and prospect for more to come, the question of quality and consistency came into focus. With his engineering background, Zhi Yong looked to automation and mechanisation to scale up production while maintaining quality.
For example, the peppery pork broth is made with industrial size pressure cookers. The pork broth is made with huge amounts of pork bone and other pork parts. Due to the sheer amount of ingredients that go into each pot, the taste of Song Fa's bak kut teh broth cannot be easily replicated at home or even by smaller BKT stalls.
While the broth (the soul of the dish) is centrally prepared, the fresh pork ribs (heart of bak kut teh) are cooked at the outlets so that customers only get freshly cooked bak kut while the soup is consistent across all outlets.
Frying the white pepper, the defining ingredient in Singapore Teochew peppery bak kut teh is now also automated. Song Fa fries their white pepper with a customised coffee roaster with computerised controls to ensure the pepper meets their exacting standards. The test of the pudding is in the eating. The success of Song Fa in retaining old regulars (from the founder's time) and drawing new younger customers in droves is a fine testimony to how modern technology can integrate with and enhance a business based on traditional dishes.
One of the stand out points about Song Fa is their generosity with the broth. The free top ups are the same quality as the broth which the ribs are served in (never a diluted or watered down version).
Sister Diana joined the team in charge of corporate affairs, branding and marketing. As a former SIA cabin crew, she sets the standards of service at Song Fa's outlets. You will notice the difference in service crew turn out, attentiveness and enthusiasm when you dine at Song Fa.
Song Fa believes in long term good relations with their suppliers. Song Fa founder Yeo Eng Song has been partnering Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants since the 70s.
With Pek Sin Choon's fourth generation owner Kenry Peh, this friendship has extended to Song Fa's next generation - together they take bak kut teh and tea into the future.
Pek Sin Choon created King's Garden Tea specially for Song Fa. It is a blend of oolong, green tea and chrysanthemum flowers.
Besides the traditional Kung Fu tea style, the younger generation enjoy King's Garden Tea as an iced tea.
King's Garden Tea can even be enjoyed as a fizzy ale with a respectable 4.8% alcohol. I like beer, so I like this sweetish fragrant tea beer.
Another example, Song Fa works with the same rice supplier since it was established. They stick to the same partner for better quality fragrant rice even though there are other cheaper sources.
Grateful for the opportunity to learn the history of bak kut teh from the founder of Song Fa.
Alice Peh said on Johor Kaki Facebookk:
ReplyDelete"I remember my dad used to like his bak kuk teh very much.We used to eat at Victoria Street.That was a long long time
Dad passed away in year 1985.The soup till now still maintain the peppery smell.
It's still very nice."
The grandfather sells durian.
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