I ate: Klang Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut Teh dish born and bred proudly in Klang and enjoyed all over Malaysia and imported overseas in some cases. Its a common sight these days to see hawker stalls selling their own rendition of this humble dish but i was more interested in the true taste of what its original flavour was really like. So i was summoned in the most ungodly hour of 630am on a friday morning to head down to the birth place of this dish Klang.

At the safe hands of a local friend we were pointed in the direction of a reputable BKT joint,Teluk Pulai Bak Kut Teh. Not to sure about the location of this particular restaurant im not too sure but google map might work!

Naturally orders for the usual soup and dry versions were made promptly along with the usual sides of yau char kway and yiu mak choy. Coming to these restaurants and watching the kettle of water to fill your tea boiling precariously next to you sorta completes the whole experience itself.

The soup didnt fail to dissapoint, thick, herby, packed with lots of oomph in each taste with the centre piece of huge pork meat good enough to wake a man half asleep to truly savour its flavours.

As for their interpretation of the dry version which is not a klang original was probably just average. Definitely tried better ones around KL. To me it somewhat lacked that certain amount of spicyness to meet my threshold.

Vegetables were probably just part of my health conscious getting the best of me as for the yau char kway and the chicken feet did add up to the whole sum of the meal giving an extra boost of satisfaction.

The whole idea of waking up at 630 am and going all the way down to klang with a bunch of friends pretty much exaggerated the experience of the entire meal itself. As to whether it was the best of BKT’s i tried i’d think not but definitely did meet my expectations and did set a better gauge for assessing future BKT’s.

Location:

Restaurant Teluk Pulai Bak Kut Teh
32, Jalan Batai Laut 5,
Kaw 16, Taman Intan,
Klang Selangor

Sun You Eats: Yu Kee BKT, SS14 Subang

Following last weeks post on Ah Ping's BKT i had an opportunity to try out another Bkt restaurant located along the same row at Subang SS14. Both shops during dinner hours receives a fair amount of crowd so being seated may take quite some time. As i walked into the shop i was greeted with the ever so familiar herbal scent of bak kut teh as it was being prepared which was a good sign from the beginning.

Orders were placed for both dry and soup version of BKT each with a serving for 2 and the obligatory greens to be shared among the four of us.

Service was speedy even with a large crowd both inside and outside of the restaurant. The soup came first with the usual fare of pork meat both lean and fat,enoki and button mushrooms, tofu pok, pork tripe and intestine. The broth was decent, while not spectacular, with the meat cooked till it had a soft texture to it.

The dry bak kut teh however was pretty good. It was tasty and spicy enough to get my mucus running. We opted for lean meat on this one but i believe fatty meat for dry bak kut teh would have been a much better choice. The lean meat was still good enough as it had absorbed a sufficient amount of sauce and spicyness giving it a strong flavour. Definetly much better than Ah Ping's for both dry and the wet version.

We paid Rm 14 a person and was definetly worth it considering the amount of meat we had. The cold weather made it even more suitable for a nice warm bowl of Bak Kut teh.

Location:

Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh Restaurant
54A, Jalan SS14/2,
47500 Subang Jaya

I ate: Ah Ping Bak Kut Teh, SS14 Subang

Bak kut teh one of Malaysia's best known dishes and synonymous with the town of Klang. But i do believe that this dish has matured beyond its original location and could be found probably at other place around town or another state. Venturing into Subang SS14 where it seems that a little pocket of Bak kut teh joints have mushroomed along the same row of shop houses with 3 restaurants to be exact. So we went for the middle one, Ah Ping Bak Kut Teh which has been around since 1989 and rather popular among folks in this area.

For the 5 of us at the same table we ordered 2 claypots one soup and a dry one each a 3 person portion. The first pot of steaming soup bak kut teh came with the regular mixture of pork both fat and non fat,intestine, ribs,button mushrooms, lettuce and fu chok(dried tofu skin). The soup was pretty tasty with a sufficient herbal feel to it which was enough to trigger my threshold of a good bowl of bak kut teh herbal soup. Credit definitely has to be given to the workers at the restaurant for an excellent service of refilling our bowl with soup each time it was depleted.

The dry version however was a little disappointing as it lacked that spicy punch which is probably a distinctive feature from its counter part. For those unfamiliar with this version, dry bak kut teh is usually cooked with dry chilli, shreds of dried cuttlefish and garlic with plenty of soy sauce which is cooked in a clay pot till its all dried up. This would have been better if it had more dry chilli to it.

Overall it was a pretty satisfying meal coming at RM 12 a person inclusive of drinks. Very reasonable and above all most probably the best way to bridge the gaps formed by time with your long lost buddies.

Location:

Restoran Ah Ping Klang Bak Kut Teh
42, Jalan 14/2Subang Jaya
47500, Petaling Jaya
Selangor

*pictures taken with iphone 4. pretty awesome eh? Thanks Nick!