Claypot bak kut teh, lettuce & beancurd skin ($25)!
A Teochew-style bak kut teh in a claypot: peppery pork rib soup with tender ribs, plus sides of lettuce and beancurd skin. $25.
A warming Boxing Day dinner with BB: claypot bak kut teh with lettuce and beancurd skin, $25. 😋
What we had ($25):
- Claypot bak kut teh: pork ribs in a peppery soup
- Blanched lettuce
- Beancurd skin
Bak kut teh (肉骨茶) is the pork rib soup, and this was the Singapore-Teochew style, the clear, peppery version rather than the dark herbal Malaysian one. Serving it in a claypot keeps it bubbling hot the whole meal, the ribs sitting just under the surface.
The broth is everything, and this had it: a clear amber pork-bone soup simmered with garlic and white peppercorns, that warming pepper heat tingling at the back of the throat without being chilli-hot. The pork ribs were slow-cooked until the meat slid off the bone with barely any effort.
The two sides round it into a proper meal. The lettuce, blanched briefly in the soup, is the fresh green counterpoint, and the beancurd skin soaks up the broth as it sits until it is saturated with that peppery flavour. With a bowl of rice and a dish of dark soy and cut chilli for dipping the pork, it is comforting, restorative eating, exactly the thing for a cool, year-end evening.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. 😋👍🏼 A peppery, warming bak kut teh with fall-off-the-bone ribs and broth-soaked beancurd skin. Would re-order.
