亞華 Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh (Ngee Ann City): Big fat nope

I'm a small fan of bak kut teh. It is one of those things I started appreciating after growing up. While I cannot claim to have tried everything bkt, I do have experience eating the undeniably top few bkt in Singapore: Ng Ah Sio, Founder's, Song Fa, and lastly Ya Hua.

The wifey, on the other hand, is mostly anti-anything-pork; but she makes a concession for me when it comes to bkt. In a case of you-never-know-until-you-tried-it, we found that she can enjoy the bkt broth; she just does not like the pork ribs themselves.

Last weekend, we found ourselves in Ngee Ann City with no plans for lunch. We visited the SJ50 Matsuri in the morning and was famished by noon. The newly opened branch of Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh in the basement was an accidental find, and we decided to try it as the wifey never had the chance to eat at either the Havelock or Tanjong Pagar outlets.

What we had:

We ordered the normal Bak Kut Teh. The soup was too blend, and lacked any semblance of pepper in it. The meat was too dry and there was not a single piece of rib bone given, which was quite a sham. Even the wifey commented that the soup was not good. This is a far cry from the ones I had before at the Tanjong Pagar branch. In the end, we still downed the soup, but it definitely dragged down the Ya Hua name.

The Braised Intestines. If the soup was just ok, this took the meal way below par. The braise was non-existent and tasted like straight soy sauce. I cannot recommend anyone to eat this.

The Fried Prawn Roll. It was fried just right to give it a crispy skin, and the filling was ok. This was one of the saving-graces of the meal, the other being the you tiao.

The food was just one aspect in a meal filled with disappointment.

Most bkt lovers will have heard of Pek Sin Choon and their 不知香, which goes very well with bkt. Unfortunately, although you can see a picture of the 不知香 packet under Chinese Tea in the menu, the waiter told us that only 铁观音 was available. This was quite a let-down for me.

As 不知香 was not available, we ordered other drinks. The issue for these drinks is that they came when we were almost done with the meal (and only after we asked for our drinks twice). The table beside us had the same issue with their drinks as well. The wifey said this was quite ridiculous, and I was inclined to agree.

Overall, the meal was a big disappointment. These may be teething issues for the 2-week-old outlet, but it will be a long, long while before I consider visiting them again. My recommendation is to stick to the older outlets.

Address: #B2-32 Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238872

Access: 5-minute walk from Orchard MRT station

Website: Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh

PS: the older-is-better branch at Tanjong Pagar:

Outram Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha Restaurant

Address: #01-05/07 PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex, Singapore 089053

#ChineseFood