Song Fa Bak Kut Teh: Serving Teochew-Style Pork Ribs Soup, My Second Favorite Singaporean Dish! (With MICHELIN Bib Gourmand Recognition)
This article is part of the Singapore Food Trip 2024 series. Check out the installments in this series: Maxwell Food Centre (Hawker Centre) | Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (MICHELIN-Starred Bak Chor Mee Hawker) | Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
Literally “meat bone tea'“, Bak Kut Teh is a Chinese pork ribs soup that’s popular in Singapore. It has two common varieties: Hokkien—which has soy-based, herbal broth—and Teochew—which has a clear, garlicky, and peppery broth, and the more common kind in SG (Hokkien and Teochew are Chinese ethno-linguistic groups). This dish is best paired with rice, youtiao (deep fried dough fritters), and beancurd skin.
My favorite bak kut teh spot is Song Fa Bak Kut Teh. It was started by Yeo Eng Song in 1969 as a push cart stall in Johor Road. Now, it is a chain with branches across Singapore and abroad, handled by the founder’s children.
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh
A Mural in Song Fa Bak Kut Teh (I think it’s the founder)
I first tried Song Fa back in 2018. I instantly fell in love with their bak kut teh, and it became my second favorite Singaporean dish, next to Fish Head Curry. So when I returned to the Lion City earlier this year (and this time, I’m married), I made sure to visit Song Fa and make my wife try their bak kut teh as well.
We went to its New Bridge Road branch because it’s the outlet that’s awarded with a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand.
Inside Song Fa Bak Kut Teh New Bridge Road Branch
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh New Bridge Road has a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand recognition
Normally, queues at Song Fa would take at least 30 minutes. But because we went late, we were seated right away!
Thankfully, there’s no queue!]
My favorite in Song Fa is the Pork Ribs Soup with Pig’s Stomach. Of course, the broth is porky, garlicky, and rightly peppery. The pork ribs are tender (but not fall-off-the-bone as I remember it to be), and the stomach is perfectly soft.
Pork Ribs Soup with Pig’s Stomach (SGD9.90)
Song Fa also serves braised dishes, which is integral in Teochew cuisine. We tried their Braised Pork Belly and the Braised Large Intestine, which is nicely flavored with Chinese five spice.
Braised Large Intestine and Braised Pork Belly
The pork belly, as expected, is fatty and tender, while the intestine is soft.
To balance our pork-heavy meal, we got a plate of vegetables (I believe we got the kai lan but all their veggies look alike!), which are fresh and crisp.
Vegetables
And to supplement our entire meal, we also ordered their Braised Sides Platter, which has braised tau kwa (beancurd), braised egg, and groundnuts. The beancurd is soft and silky, while the egg is firm and creamy.
Braised Sides Platter