Bak Kut Teh @ Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha

One of my favourite local comfort food is the "Bak Kut Teh". "Bak Kut Teh" is in the Hokkien/ Teochew dialect and it literally means "Pork ribs and tea". The history of this dish goes back to the olden days where Chinese immigrants from China worked in Singapore and Malaysia as labourers. With their meagre salary, they could only afford the boil the pork bones/ ribs with herbs or pepper and eat the humble dish with rice. Their meals would be accompanied by hot tea.

Well, some how or rather, the Malaysian version is cooked with herbs and the Singaporean version is cooked with pepper instead.

Now, this dish is loved by all walks of ages who loves a comforting bowl of hot soup with their rice. One of my favourite places to have bak kut teh is definitely at Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha. The pork ribs are cooked in a peppery and garlicky soup. Dunk the fried fritters into the soup and you will be heaven when you eat the fritters.

Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha also serves additional accompanying dishes such as pig's kidney in soup, lean meat in soup, braised beancurd, braised beancurd puffs, preserved vegetables, vegetables and fritters (yu tiao).

Address: 7 Keppel Road, PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex