Ask my husband which is his favourite bak kut teh in Singapore to date and he will definitely reply, “Ya Hua”. He has been regularly patronising Ya Hua BKT during lunch time with his colleagues for quite a while now since their office is nearby so in our earlier BKT adventure, he insisted that I should come here to try their BKT out because ‘it’s the best’.
We came by before noon on a Saturday and the restaurant was rather quiet. Midway into our lunch, droves of customers started pouring in and filling up the entire place.
Just like other BKT places, the menu seemed pretty standard but I did notice a wider variety of vegetable dishes. And they even had seaweed soup too.
Our standard BKT feast would always include BKT, braised pig trotter, salted vegetables, braised peanuts, you tiao and rice. All these for $25.80 incl. GST. There wasn’t service charge but you’d have to pay for wet towels at $0.20 each.
The Bak Kut ($6) was slightly smaller in portion compared to others I had and the ribs were more boney than meaty. But I did like the robust, peppery soup that wasn’t overly spicy and it had a nice garlicky fragrance. The taste of the soup was almost on par with Ng Ah Sio’s but this was less oily (no pools of oil floating on surface!) so I could gulp down a few more helpings with less guilt, lol.
The Braised Pig Trotter ($8.50) was a tad too tough to break apart. Probably because we were here early and this wasn’t braised long enough yet. The braising sauce was nicely balanced with spices but wasn’t as robust as I hoped it would be.
The Salted Vegetables ($3) was really flavoursome (but not overly salty) and though the braising sauce had penetrated the vegetables thoroughly, they still had that crunch and wasn’t soggy at all. Best of all, this wasn’t oily.
The Braised Peanuts ($2.50) had a lovely braising sauce but the peanuts weren’t soft enough. Definitely needed more time on the stove.
Surprisingly, the You Tiao ($1.50) was pretty good here. They weren’t as bready as others I had tried though these were equally oily. No reused oil smell too and they turned out fresh with a slight crisp on the exterior.
Steamed white rice was charged at $0.75 per bowl.
Overall, I thought this was a pretty good BKT. In fact, one of the better ones I’d tried in Singapore so far. The robust peppery broth, flavoursome salted vegetables and tasty you tiao are highly recommended. Will definitely be back again.
Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh 亞華肉骨茶
593 Havelock Road
#01-01/02, Isetan Office Building
Singapore 169641
Tel: 6235 7716
Opening hours:
11.00am to 10.00pm (Sun)
11.00am to 2.00am (Tue & Thu)
11.00am to 3.00am (Wed, Fri & Sat)
Closed on Mondays