Pao Xiang BKT

A lot of people cook their meat tied in strings. It is mainly done for roasts. I have not heard of anybody boiling their meat this manner. Except a Bak Kut Teh chain of restaurants. We chanced upon this place in Glenmarie, Shah Alam. We have been frequenting this area for food recently. The area hosts many makan outlets - coffee shops, noodle houses, famous Meng Kee char siew from Jalan Alor, and many more. We had tried a noodle shop there and quite liked the place. On a Sunday morning, we decided to revisit it. But the place was closed. So we kicked in plan B, and walked next door into the Pao Xiang (宝香) Bak Kut Teh Restautrant.

The restaurant is located on Jalan Jurureka U1/40, Section U1 in Glenmarie, Shah Alam (N03* 04.874' E101* 34.936'). It is off the Glenmarie main road, Persiaran Kerjaya; on the left hand side if you drive from the Subang Airport road towards Batu Tiga and the Shah Alam stadium. But if you cannot find this place, no worries. For there are nearly 20 Pao Xiang outlets in the Klang Valley, Penang and even Singapore. Visit their website to find one nearest to you.

The place in Glenmarie was tastefully set up - with a contemporary Chinese aura. A very friendly man took our orders. And as we considered the various choices of meat for our breakfast, he went on to explain why they tie the meat with strings. Apparently, tying the meat prevents the inner sections of the meat from "dissolving" into the soup and that in turn retains its flavor and makes it firmer in texture. I am no expert in string-tie cooking. I guess it is plausible.

They serve 2 types of BKT - Klang style and Teochew style. The Klang style is in thick dark gravy while the Teochew is in light clear soup. The BKT were very nicely presented. They came in nice porcelain bowls on a matching porcelain stand that housed a small wax flame. This kept the BKT nice and hot.

Our first bowl was the lean meat. It was Klang style. The meat was not extraordinary in spite of the strings and what not. I did not detect any enhanced flavor nor the texture any better. But the gravy was very good. It was almost like the BKT we had under the Klang bridge. I think they come quite close to the "original". As we tucked in, it certainly reminded me of the bridge experience.

The same was true of the knuckles. This bowl had a lot more fat in it. It was in the same Klang style gravy. Again the meat was good but not extraordinary. I enjoyed the soup more.

This was a bowl of pork ligaments. I like the texture. I don't think they could tie these ligaments.

We didn't like the straw mushrooms. They tasted kind of stale. I didn't think they were entirely fresh.

Four bowls seemed like a lot for 3 people. But we didn't have enough. It wasn't that we were very hungry. The bowls were just very shallow. There was not very much BKT in each. We decided to add on another bowl. We opted for the Teochew style. It was a much bigger bowl of mixed stuffs. In it was ribs, meat, tofu and button mushrooms. The Teochew was much lighter that the Klang. The taste wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed it. But I preferred the Klang style.

The thing I like best in Pao Xiang was their yew char kueh (油炸鬼). For BKT, yew char kueh is a must. Pao Xiang make their own YCK. The YCKs were short and stubby. And they were freshly fried when served. They were crispy yet soft inside. Truly great stuff. We had 2 servings of it.

Finally, we had this plate of choy sum (菜心) to accompany all the meats.

The Pao Xiang is worth a visit wherever you are. But be prepared to dig into your pocket a little. For they are not cheap. Like I mentioned, the bowls are small. You may have to order a few more. And they are pricey. Our damage that morning was nearly a hundred bucks. My wife was somewhat amused when I paid the bill. It was the first time she saw me use my credit card for a breakfast.

Klang BKT Under The Bridge

Klang is perhaps the bak kut teh capital in this county. Talk about BKT and inevitably Klang comes into the picture. They say the best BKT in Klang is found "below the bridge". I had always wondered about this place below the bridge. Heard so much about it and I hadn't the faintest idea where it was.

We finally got there one day. My nephew goggled "bak kut teh under the bridge" and found out that the name of the shop is Seng Huat. He read that the shop does business in 2 sessions - early morning to 12 noon and from 5 pm till 8pm. I could not believe that a BKT eatery would close so early at noon. Anyway, armed with my Garmin and with only about 45 minutes to spare before noon, we drove to Klang. We took a wrong turn and briefly got ourselves lost in Klang in spite of my GPS. We drove up the Jalan Tengku Kelana bridge instead of the side road below it.

When we finally arrived at the place just a few minutes after noon, they were just about sold out. The lady in the shop said she would dish out whatever she had. Later, I saw her turning away customers. Thus I guessed whatever she served us were really from the bottom of her pots.

Seng Huat is located on Jalan Raya Timur and is a short walk from the Klang railway station - co-ordinates N3 02.612 E101 26.895. It is at the corner of a row of shops adjacent to the Jalan Tengku Kelana bridge. The shop is not exactly below the Jalan Tengku Kelana bridge, but near enough.

The shop is very modest. It has a outside dining area which is below the pedestrian walk-up bridge that connects Jalan Raya Timur to Jalan Tengku Kelana. So I guess "under the bridge" is not an entirely wrong description of the shop that so many people refer to.

Along the wall were some newspaper cuttings and old pictures of food personalities and politicians, some of whom I could readily identify.

We sipped our tea....

... and soon after, the food arrived in a deluge. Bowls and bowls of mouth watering BKT inundated our table. Gosh, there were only 7 of us. Were we going to finish the lot?

And finished we did. In fact, at the end of it we wanted more. The BKT was not like any I have tasted. It was heaven. To start with, the soup was different. It was thick and so very delicious. It was in-between a gravy and a soup, not too oily yet so smooth. The herbs in it were aromatic and had a real nice aftertaste. The meat was not overcooked and still was tender and succulent. 

The trotters were simply great. Sinful? Recent reports say that pig trotters are rich in collagen and is a good anti-aging agent. Good reason to indulge more!

This BKT meal was easily one of the best I had - if not the best. This is what BKT is all about. The "place under the bridge" had indeed lived up to its reputation. And I hungered for more.

Before long, I was back there again. This time, I returned with a different set of nephews. And we made it a point to get there early. This second meal was even more satisfying. Simply because we had a better variety. Like this bone meat..

 

And the intestines and tripe.

The chicken feet was very good too.

 

I walked over the serving counter to talk to this nice guy (sorry, forgot to get his name). I asked him why he only served meat in the shop, and there was no vege, no mushroom, no fu chuk (腐竹), no tofu (豆腐) and other accompaniments in his BKT. He said they want to maintain the authenticity of their BKT. Adding the accompaniments would alter the flavor. He also said that the ingredients of their soup, which makes their BKT so very good, is a family secret and that nobody in Klang has been able to duplicate their recipe.

I pointed to a Chinese newspaper cutting on his wall that reported that they were the first BKT shop in Klang. He was very modest. He would not stake the claim. He just said that he was the 3rd generation in the business and that the shop was established by his grandfather. He estimated the business to be about 80 years old.

Wikipedia says that BKT was introduced to Malaysia by Chinese workers in the 19th century. Perhaps Klang was the place where they first introduced it. Was Seng Huat one of the earliest BKT shop in Klang or the country? So, did we had the original BKT? Yes or no, it certainly was yum!

So much BKT. This blog is killing me.

Ang Kee BKT

We finally made it to Klang again for bak kut teh. Since our last visit to Restoran Kuala Pulai (Claypot) Ba Kut Teh, we had not returned to Klang. Our patronage this time was for Ang Kee, which is not far from Restoran Kuala Pulai. It is a modest shop at an end-lot along Jalan Batai Laut 3 in Kawasan 16 of Taman Intan, Klang.

We were there for Sunday brunch. I am sure this place does not serve the best BKT in Klang. But it was good enough for us. This must be the 4th time we have been to this shop. There was no reason why not to go again.

We started the meal with a nice hot pot of Chinese tea. It was nothing less that "char wong" (茶王) - the king of teas. BKT must be taken with a good tea. Tea not only complements the taste of BKT, it supposedly washed away that oil and fat of the sinful meat.

Then it was the yew char kueh (油炸鬼). We ordered 2 portions of it. They came early early. While waiting for our BKT, we had the YCK as a snack to tame our hungry stomachs. And when the BKT finally arrived, we had to order more.

The BKT in soup arrived first - piping hot in a clay pot. It was most appetizing, with meat, tofu pok (豆腐卜), fu chuk (腐竹) and 2 types of mushrooms. I had asked for a mixture of meat and innards. There was some lean and not-so-lean meat, intestines and tripe. The soup was rich with enough oomph. Very delicious.

It was followed by the dry BKT. This was something we could not get in Restoran Kuala Pulai. I once told a friend in Singapore about our dry BKT. He did not believe there could be BKT in any form but soup. Well, it is so common now in Malaysia. We found it even in Penang. I have seen how dry BKT was prepared on television. It is actually the normal BKT cooked until dry with added black sauce, dried chili, dried cuttle fish and some other ingredients.

The dry BKT in this place was flavourful and nice. I think the wet and dry BKT actually complemented each other. It was nice to have some variety in the meal.

We also had a plate of lettuce. It wasn't good. It was quite a mess with too much oyster sauce in it.

Overall the meal was good. Very satisfying. I went over to take some pictures of the chef. He wasn't very friendly. I guess he didn't like me taking his pictures. He gave me a grumpy and suspicious stare. I made a hasty retreat.

But I think he won't be there for long. He is putting his business up for sale. He has a notice in the shop, written in Chinese. He wants to retire and wants RM50,000 for it - negotiable. Interested? The number is on the wall.

I may have to look elsewhere for my BKT cravings....

rou gu cha KING

We arrived in Penang one hot afternoon at about 2.00pm feeling rather hungry and decided to drive straight to the Queensbay Mall to look for food, since it was nearest from the bridge and provided air conditioning comfort. Parking can be a problem at QBM at that time of the day, but we were lucky. A young Malay lass was just leaving and we slotted in nicely.

We were not too fussy that day and spotted this bak kut teh place on the lower ground floor and decided to settle for it. The name of the place was rou gu cha KING (肉骨茶王) - with some additional strokes above the English names. It is the Mandarin pronunciation for bak kut teh.

The place is rather small but comfortable, with a contemporary Chinese decor.

But we were more interested in the food. The menu offers set meals. There were 5 of us. We ordered a BKT set for 4 people and some side dishes to complement.

The set came with 2 pots of BKT - one with soup and the other was dry. Ah... dry BKT! I did not expect to find this in Penang. I still have not returned to Klang for some real nice dry BKT.

Both the wet and dry BKT were just so-so. Cannot match Klang's. Klang is the capital of BKT, so I guess it is not fair to make any comparison or expectation. They were really not too bad but lacked the oomph that we find in Klang. Perhaps it was the hunger, but I did enjoy both the pots.

The set also came with taugeh (which was rather pathetic), yew char kueh, stewed eggs.....

 

.... and some deep fried dim sum (点心).

 

  

The ginger duck was a side dish we ordered to complement the set. It was somewhat salty but otherwise, not too bad in taste. There were 2 duck drumsticks. I found the duck meat rather soft and soggy. I would prefer firmer meat with some texture.

The tofu with braised meat sauce (also a side dish) was OK. Not fantastic. Good enough.

  

Dessert was gui ling guo (龟苓膏) or Chinese tortoise jelly. They came in 4 little plastic containers. Part of the set meal. It was rather bitter which they try to mask with some sugar syrup. I am no fan at all of this queer Chinese dessert. And that day was no exception.

Lunching at the rou gu cha KING was quite a pleasant experience. It was not so much the quality of the food which was just OK, not fantastic. It was more the variety that they offered with the set meal. I would not had expected stewed eggs with BKT, let alone the deep fried dim sum. The variety did add some colours to the meal.

 

rou gu cha KING is a small chain of BKT outlets based in Penang. They have a website here. They currently have 3 outlets on Penang island and plan to have outlets in Seberang Prai and Shanghai.