My boss, Allison, Pelf Yeen and myself so happened had to go to a place together and after finishing what we were supposed to do, we headed out for lunch.

Seeing that we needed to pass by Cheng and recalling that there’s a bah kut teh restaurant that I wanted to try but yet to, I suggested it and most of us agreed, except for 50%-vegetarian Pelf Yeen. She only eats chicken and fish, the white meat. Sad, right?

SH (Shun Fatt) Bah Kut Teh Restaurant, said to be a branch from somewhere else, and this particular branched could be the 17th or 19th. Why not 18th? There’s a branch in Bachang and that branch is the 18th, according to the signboard, that is.

As it was lunch time, there were quite a lot of customers, occupying most of the tables at that moment.

Garlics, cili padis, dark soy sauce with red chilies. A must, in every bah kut teh meal, together with a pot of Chinese tea.

Since the invention of gas stove, many has ditched charcoal fire but in this particular restaurant, they use charcoals to boil / cook your pot of bah kut teh. Yes, old school style. While using charcoals will give you a smoky smell to your already fragrant dishes, it is not easy to control the heat and fire. Slightly bigger, there goes your food. Anything too small, you get uncooked food.

The pot of bah kut teh, surprisingly, tasted nothing like bah kut teh. The soup was way too clear for bah kut teh, it was almost like those noodles soup. Taste wise, it was more of herbal soup with somewhat slightly stronger angelica (当归) taste. Honestly, after patronizing a few bah kut teh stalls, I wouldn’t call this as bah kut teh.

However, my boss like the soup though.

For the non pork eater, we ordered a small pot of chicken cooked in sesame oil.

The aromatic sesame oil was simply irresistible and I quickly dug in once I took my photos. While it wasn’t the best, it was definitely delicious. Just the right amount of oiliness, with thick soy sauce for the flavour and sesame oil for the fragrance. Yummy! However, it is either they used a very skinny chicken or they simply chopped the meat. There were bones everywhere, I found myself chewing on the bones more than the meat itself. Probably they should have diced it into chicken cubes instead of chopping it like minced meat.

While it wasn’t entirely disappointing, their bah kut teh is definitely not my kind of bah kut teh. However, I got to applaud them for using pork ribs instead of those pathetic sliced meat and meat balls yet proudly declaring it as bah kut teh. It always give me the WTF-feeling whenever I order bah kut teh yet seeing meat balls floating on the soup like some fish balls.

Will I return? Nope.

Just not my kind of bah kut teh lah! It’s an acquired taste kind of bah kut teh. You can try, if you want to. Probably, you, like my boss, would like it!