Yow How Fook Bak Kut Teh In Seremban

Bak Kut Teh is one of those dishes that a Singaporean has to try when visiting Malaysia. There are lots of things written about it from how it is to be served, where it originated, the differences between the many versions and where are the best; all documented down with attention to detail similar to the way The New York Times covers Middle East tensions.

So using the ancient and justified method of selection, we simply went to the one that Jeff liked.

In any case, this was all planned weeks in advance and refined over a light breakfast at the hotel. One thing I miss staying at hotels in Malaysia is the lack of bacon. Somehow, beef “bacon” does not taste the same.

Perhaps you might be saying, “Ivan, don’t you think that it is ironic that a predominantly Muslim country would have such excellent pork and that after so many days of eating pork and other pig products, don’t you think that these sad beasts deserve some rest and respite from these senseless slaughter? Don’t you think that you and your gang of fiendish friends have had enough of pork?”

No.

Yow How Fook is a large restaurant that is reminiscent of the large family restaurants like Swee Kee that were in Singapore when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and Benjamin Sheares was not the name of a bridge. As it was lunchtime, the place was full, but trained makankakis that we are, the pack split into three: one group to order, one group to find seats and tables leaving the last group milling around like a bunch of millers.

And once again, we encounter the lovely combination of raw Garlic, dark soya sauce and green chili padi that is ubitiqious all over Seremban. Seriously, you should try this piquant combination for a delicious dip that goes well with everything from Abalone to Zucchini. With bacon in between.

Yow How Fook serves Bak Kut Teh that has a heavy herbal soup. Some say this is typical of the Cantonese style, but I’ve tasted the same from the Hokkiens. Basically there’s so much inter-cultural soup exchange going on that categorizing them into dialect groups seems futile.

And I feel that categorising Bak Kut Teh as “with soup”, “without soup”, “with clear soup”, “with dark soup”, “soup with herbs” etc. is really lame.

The huge claypot of steaming soup arrived and we all dug in and almost finished the soup before there was a chance for it to cool down.

This is yet another myth about serving claypot that I can’t agree with. It is commonly said that the use of claypots is to preserve the heat of the Bak Kut Teh as it is being served. However, with soup so good, there is really no time for it to get cold. Furthermore, all good Bak Kut Teh stalls replenish the bowls with piping hot soup straight from the stove so there is no such thing as cold soup. Hence I don’t see the need for claypots.

I guess it’s a show-thingy. For the tourists.

The soup we had was heavily herbal with a slight bitter-sweet aftertaste, almost like smoking a clove cigarette. Tangkwei and dried Orange peel featured so prominantly in the soup that it gave the sweet flabby taste of pork ribs a pleasant counterpoint.

And yes, it made my lips numb and my tongue tingle too, but the table was outraged when I noted that the restaurant was a little too heavy with the MSG. Yes, this blog is an overly-pampered namby pamby who cannot stand up to some MSG.

Anyway, what makes the Bak Kut Teh in Malaysia so much better than Singapore?

As one alert reader noted, the rice looks very different from the rice we get in Singapore. Therein lies the secret, the “killer app” for all Bak Kut Tehs.

When the rice was served, immediately you can smell the difference. Just like Chicken Rice is cooked with some chicken fat, this had a little pork fat in it. I was also able to detect something pleasantly salty, very much like “meicai” or “Mui Chai”. This made the bowl of rice very very savoury and as you can see, it gave the rice a “wet-look” so prized by the fashionistas of the 80′s.

Spoon in some of the herbal soup, I’d say that’s all you need for a simple lunch.

Of course not. There is always the “youtiao” or “Yew Chia Kuay”. Personally, I feel that a Bak Kut Teh meal is incomplete without the deep-fried fritters. And this one also tasted different.

This blog rarely eats youtiao in Singapore anymore because the taste has changed dramatically with the change in cooking oils. Somehow the youtiao now lacks that kind of “Oomph” I used to enjoy when chomping down on a fresh crispy youtiao with cold soya bean milk. Those youtiao tasted good even when cold unlike the kind you get now.

This is why when You How Fook served us its last bowl of youtiao, I was very happy to relive the taste of my childhood. Granted that the Palm oil used to cook it is so heavily processed that it really is almost all trans-fat, but sometimes you need to die a little to live.

Of course, this is why some people insist on having strong “Tik Kuang Yin” tea with the Bak Kut Teh. It is their belief that such tea will cure all ills by dissolving the fat consumed. This blog would love to believe that but even if it weren’t true, the strong tea – from a merchant with the delightful name of “Pui Pui Heong” – cleansed the palate and was very refreshing.

Bak Kut Teh is one dish that this blog has tried in Malaysia. Granted it was not in Klang – the supposed birthplace of Bak Kut Teh – but seriously, that’s like saying that only Satay in Kajang is the best (no, it’s not). It is a simple but hearty meal that is enjoyed, not because it is served in a claypot, but for it’s warmth and comfort.

And damn, the rice was so good.

Posted on 24th Jun 2007 in Cantonese, Food and Drink, Malaysia, Meat

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There Are 4 Comments

Karen Lim commented on June 24, 2007 at 10:54 pm

I am from Klang and am not biased when it comes to BKT – I have had great ones in Kulai even. It doesn’t matter if it is Hokkien, Teochew style etc – I just need a good broth full of sweetness from herbs, bones and pork, tender pork and intestines with tau kee and tau pok (which soak up the broth), rice fragranced with lots of fried shallots and tons of cili padi with soya sauce…Mmmm…

Ivan commented on June 28, 2007 at 2:33 pm

@Karen Lim: You got that right!

Sandy Quay commented on July 10, 2009 at 4:41 pm

Looks delicious. But Klang rules when it come to BKT.

Anyway, if you’re in KL and looking for bak kut teh, read this.

Here’s a list of the 15 Top Bak Kut Teh places in KL.

These places are some of the most popular Bak Kut Teh places in Klang Valley.

ivan commented on July 10, 2009 at 4:58 pm

With all due respect, but I don’t think you’ve actually read what the contributors of your KL list wrote.

Also, I am not sure if the last two sentences of your comment makes sense.

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