Founder Bak Kut Teh (Balestier): rainy-day rib soup ($24.60)!
A rainy-evening bak kut teh dinner at Founder Bak Kut Teh (Balestier): the Teochew clear, peppery pork rib soup with you tiao, rice and sides. $24.60 for two.
Bak kut teh with BB at Founder Bak Kut Teh in Balestier on a wet evening. $24.60 for the spread. 😋 The caption says it all (昨晚下雨天吃肉骨茶, “ate bak kut teh on last night’s rainy day”), there’s nothing like a hot bowl of peppery rib soup when it’s pouring outside.
Founder is one of Singapore’s best-known bak kut teh names (its Balestier shop is famously plastered with photos of visiting celebrities), and it does the Teochew style: a clear, peppery broth rather than the dark herbal Malaysian version. The soup is built on pork bones and a heavy hand of white pepper and garlic, so it comes out clear but punchy, warming and a little sinus-clearing, exactly the comfort you want on a cold, rainy night.
The pork ribs were tender with a good bite, and the bowl is refillable, so you keep topping up that peppery soup. Eat it the proper way: ribs with rice, you tiao (dough fritters) dunked into the broth to soak it up, and a pot of Chinese tea alongside to cut the richness, plus a few sides.
Overall: 4.7 / 5. 😋👍🏼 A clear, peppery, refillable rib soup that’s pure rainy-day comfort, and from one of the city’s BKT institutions. Would re-do.
