Update: Happies Bak Kut Teh has permanently closed.
While waiting in line for my porridge and fried bee hoon from Chang Ji Gourmet, the Doraemon decal on the shutters of Happies Bak Kut Teh caught my eyes.
After some googling, I found out that the stall owner Connie Chan, is a fan of this anime character. If you check out their Instagram account, they occasionally have Doraemon's merchandise available for sale.
I myself is a fan of the robotic cat from the future hence my particular interest in this bak kut teh stall at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre.
You might be interested to know that their bak kut teh is neither the Teochew nor Hokkien style. Theirs has been labeled as the "Cantonese style" by their elderly Cantonese customers.
Being a Cantonese myself, I have to admit that I have not heard of Cantonese bak kut teh before however, according to the great wiki, it does exist:
There are three main types of Bak Kut Teh.
- The Teochew style, which is light in color but uses more pepper and garlic in the soup.
- The Hoklo (Hokkien), uses a variety of herbs and soy sauce creating a more fragrant, textured and darker soup.
- The Cantonese, with a soup-drinking culture, add medicinal herbs as well to create a stronger flavoured soup.
That certainly piqued my interest to want to try my own dialect's version of bak kut teh!
Beyond the shutters, more traces of Doraemon can be found on the counter top and even on the fridge when I revisited the stall. After studying the menu, I ordered a bowl of bak ku teh soup ($6) with a bowl of rice (50¢).
In the bowl of soup, there are pork ribs, tau kee, button mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, meatballs and lettuce. Although the Hokkien version is also herbal, the Cantonese one has a much more distinct flavor of Chinese medicinal herbs.
I could taste the bitterness of the dang gui and sweetness from the wolfberries. Even the color of the soup is vastly different.
Initially, I find the bowl rather small for $6 but together with the rice, the portion is actually quite substantial. I wonder how many hours have the pork ribs been simmering in the robust broth to achieve such tenderness? There is absolutely no effort required to separate the flesh from the bone.In the bowl of soup, there are pork ribs, tau kee, button mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, meatballs and lettuce. Although the Hokkien version is also herbal, the Cantonese one has a much more distinct flavor of Chinese medicinal herbs.
I could taste the bitterness of the dang gui and sweetness from the wolfberries. Even the color of the soup is vastly different.
What's heartening is that Happies Bak Kut Teh have their own pay-it-forward program to give back to society.
Working with volunteer groups, they sponsor free meals for the less privileged and also provide free rice for customers 60 years old and above. Further discounts of 10% and 50% will also be given to those above 70 and 80 respectively.
Do give them your support to keep their cause going.
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